The National have premiered their new song "Lean," made especially for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack. The track is a brooding but delicate folk song that fits in with the darker themes of Catching Fire. Matt Berninger sings, "Every body knows the world's about to end / Every body wants to know what the end will. Everybody wants to look before they leap... Dying is easy / I believe my love and my love relieves me."
Back in September Beringer told NME that the song almost didn't make the soundtrack. It was called "Dying Is Easy" but was deemed "too dark" so they changed it to "Lean."
"The song almost didn't make it because it was too dark for The Hunger Games soundtrack, which I thought was sort of funny because it's about killing kids, I don't know how a song can be darker than that?" he told them. "So we had to change the name of the song; I actually like the name 'Lean'."
About the writing process for the song, he told them, It was a cool change from how we normally work on things - to write something for something else. It was kind of a pressure release thing and it was fun, we really enjoyed it."
Also on the soundtrack is Lorde, The Weeknd, Santigold, Ellie Goulding, Christina Aguilera, Coldplay and more. It is due out Nov. 19 via Republic Records and the film in theaters Nov. 22.
Check out "Lean" here, and let us know what you think in the comments section below!
Hunger Games: Catching Fire Soundtrack Tracklist:
01. Coldplay – “Atlas”
02. Of Monsters and Men – “Silhouettes”
03. Sia (feat. The Weeknd & Diplo) – “Elastic Heart”
04. The National – “Lean”
05. Christina Aguilera – “We Remain”
06. The Weeknd – “Devil May Cry”
07. Imagine Dragons – Who We Are”
08. Lorde – “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”
09. The Lumineers – “Gale Song”
10. Ellie Goulding – “Mirrors”
11. Patti Smith – “Capital Letter”
12. Santigold – “Shooting Arrows at the Sky”
13. Mikky Ekko – “Place for Us”
14. Phantogram – “Lights”
15. Antony & the Johnsons – “Angel on Fire”
