One of the year’s most highly anticipated films, “The Hunger Games,” has released a soundtrack with an impressive collection of songs by various artists.

The soundtrack presents music from Taylor Swift and Miranda Lambert to Kid Cudi and Maroon 5. When I looked at the list of artists, there was a handful that I have never heard of as well. Grammy and Oscar winner T-Bone Burnett is the executive director on this soundtrack.

The first song on the soundtrack is “Abraham’s Daughter” by Arcade Fire. I have never heard of or heard any music by Arcade Fire. I found that they are an indie band that creates theatrical music. This track has very few lyrics, with only 14 lines. The background music is very slow and just lingers throughout. After researching the lyrics, the song refers to Genesis 22:5 and 22:8 when God commands Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. I can see where this relates to the movie because Katniss volunteers to sacrifice herself in the place of her little sister who was chosen for the games.

The next track is “Tomorrow Will Be Kinder” by The Secret Sisters. I have also never heard of The Secret Sisters or their music. As I stated before, it continues the gloomy feel. I actually enjoyed this song. I really like the message it displays, that there’s always tomorrow. There’s a line that goes “But I know the present will not last and tomorrow will be kinder”. That lyric caught my attention. I think it’s important to live life one day at a time, and although we have bad days, there’s always tomorrow.

I’m a fan of Taylor Swift, so the two tracks that she has on this CD I had already listened to, “Safe & Sound” and “Eyes Open.” I really like both tracks, possibly due to the fact that I like all of her music, but also I think because it’s something different to hear from Swift. All of Swift’s music is relationship related, and while it gets redundant, it’s relatable. However, these songs go with the feeling of the movie, and it’s cool to hear Swift in a different type of genre.

The rest of the CD is decent. Maroon 5 presents a song that is a far shot from their usual ballads. It’s kind of creepy in a way, but not awful. The rest of the artists I am unfamiliar with, but I got a chance to hear new voices such as The Civil Wars and Neko Case that were pretty good.

It definitely is not a CD I would like to listen to all the way through because it’s sort of depressing, but I would definitely download five or six of the songs.