Midsommar is about a couple and their group of friends visiting a beautiful Sweden land for one of the friend’s traditional Midsommar festivals. The main character, Dani, experiences am extreme loss, hoping this trip would be good for her heart’s healing. However, the more time passes in this new, strange place, the more things start to seem wrong. Through horrifying customs and unfaithful partners, Dani’s eyes are forever opened to the true meaning of family and horror itself.

To capture the essecne of this twisted movie, I mirrored the song selections to only amplify the uncomfortable beauty of the film;

First on the list is “Spies” by Coldplay. I chose this song to play during the scene when Dani finds out about her parents and sisters deaths. In the movie, there’s a dramatic panning of the scene where Dani’s sister committed a murder suicide, with dark coloring in each transition. “Spies” by Coldplay would be the perfect song for this scene because of its ominous, chilling guitar. While Dani gets the news, the pan-out of the murder suicide, followed by Dani crying in her boyfriends, Christian, arms, “Spies” is just the perfect song to play in the background to amplify the twisted beginning to a twisted movie.

For the Scene where Dani and her friends make it to Sweden taking in the amazing view I choose “Throw Me Away” by Yoe Mase. For any regular movie with a pretty pan-out scene, the background song of choice would be more calming and pretty. “Throw Me Away” is a pretty, but without the calm. It has more of an uneasy effect; the exact effect that I want this song to present foreshadowing.

I chose “Nangs” by Tame Impala to play whenever all of the friends get high on mushrooms for the first time in Sweden. The camera zooms in on Dani’s face the entire time while you can still hear everyone else’s conversations around her. I want “Nangs” to be playing when the camera zooms in fully on Dani when she looks at her surroundings. Tame Impala wrote “Nangs” while tripping, so its fitting to see it line up with Dani’s first trip.

For the scene where the eldest man and woman of the village jump from a mountain, I chose the song “Closer” by Kings of Leon. With lyrics like “and it’s coming closer” add another foreshadowing effect for the audience due to the very first traumatic event of the trip to Sweden. The ominous beginning only adds more of an effect for what is about to happen that the characters, and the audience, aren’t aware of yet.

In the movie, Dani has a nightmare that all of her friends and her boyfriend leave her in Sweden alone. In this nightmare, she screams, but black smoke pours out of her mouth while flashbacks of her family and the elders run through the screen. For this song I chose “Underwater” by Porches because of its scary ending. This song creates an element that, once again, amplifies the danger and twisted nature of the movie.

Next, I chose “Nocturne in E-Flat Major, Op.9 No.2” by Frederick Chopin to play when the Mayflower feast commences. A beautiful instrumental song that will highlight this scene’s elegance while also creating an uneasy feeling. In other words, this song is the gateway to the calm before the storm.

After the Mayflower feast Dani’s boyfriend, Christian, is put in a trance to perform sexual intercourse with one of the village natives. When it is over, Christian wakes from this trance and runs around the village in horror of what he had done. For this scene, I chose “Lemon Glow” by Beach House. This song has chaotic energy, which is exactly what this scene is during Christians awakening. The song also slows down and presents an uneasy feeling for when Christian finally puts two-and-two together on what’s really going on.

For the final scene of the movie, I chose “If You Can’t Love This All Goes Away” by Flo Morrisey. In this last scene, all of the friends, including Christian, that Dani traveled with to Sweden are now found dead and are being burned in a temple. While everything is burning, we see Dani smiling. This song is perfect for this scene, and especially that shot, because of the lyrics and euphoric sound. The Lyric “if you can’t love this all goes away” will be sung right when Dani starts smiling. The perfect end that shows the true meaning of the movie; family is everything, not love.

For the ending credits I chose “The Holy Mountain” by Poppy. In the movie, the village where the Midsommar festival took place, the villagers believe this festival is a part of their religion, and it only takes place every 90 years. Hence, the lyric “it was the only time we got to climb the holy mountain.” It was “the only time” because they all die in the end, and “holy mountain” because of the religious Midsommar festival.

The creativity I had to find for this soundtrack was a fun adventure. This movie is one of my favorite scary movies using some of my favorite songs. I can’t wait for next week; I will be creating a soundtrack for the movie Love, Simon!