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Fifty Shades of Grey (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the film of the same name adapted from E. L. James's eponymous novel that was released through Republic Records on February 10, 2015. It was the seventh best-selling album of 2015 with 2.2 million copies sold worldwide.[1]
| Fifty Shades of Grey (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Soundtrack album by Various artists | ||||
| Released | February 10, 2015 | |||
| Length | 61:41 | |||
| Label | Republic | |||
| Producer | Various
| |||
| Fifty Shades soundtrack chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Fifty Shades of Grey | ||||
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Meetings about the album took place nearly two years prior the album's release when plans of a film were announced. Mike Knobloch, president of film music and publishing at Universal said: "We really wanted the songs to be part of the fiber of the film — nothing crowbarred in or just auxiliary to the experience. There was a very deliberate effort to create as much original material as possible, to tailor the production, the lyrics, and the performance."
Beyoncé was one of the first singers approached for the film. Knobloch said: "She thought it was an opportunity to do something that aligned nicely with her brand and agenda." Sia was approached by Knobloch and music supervisor Dana Sano with a scene they had in mind: "It's a pivotal moment, when the two protagonists have an ecstatic and intimate first sexual encounter. [Sia] played us songs and we would say, 'That's good, but could it be more of this, or less of that?'. By the end we left her spinning her wheels about what she had to do to deliver just the right song to us for the film."[2] The Weeknd was involved in the project very early. Tom Mackay, a manager at Republic Records, explained: "He worked on a number of songs for a number of scenes. Some were working and some weren't, but he just kept at it, and kept at it, and kept at it. In the end, he wrote 'Earned It' and it's the biggest song of his career to date. It's the only song that's in the movie twice."[2]
On January 12, 2015, E. L. James announced the soundtrack would be released on February 10, 2015.[3][4]
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The soundtrack was preceded by the release of two singles. "Earned It" by Canadian singer the Weeknd was released as the album's lead single on December 23, 2014,[5] peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100 and was included on his second album Beauty Behind the Madness.[6] "Love Me like You Do" by English singer Ellie Goulding was released as the second single on January 7, 2015;[7] it reached number one on the national charts of 16 countries including the UK Singles Chart, and peaked at number three on the Hot 100 and was included on her third album Delirium.
Promotional singles
"Salted Wound" by Sia was released as the first promotional single on January 27, 2015.[8] Two further promotional singles, "One Last Night" by Vaults and "I Know You" by Skylar Grey, were released on February 3, 2015. "I'm on Fire", a Bruce Springsteen cover performed by Awolnation, was released as the fourth promotional single on February 9, 2015.[9]
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Commercial performance
The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with sales of 258,000 units (210,000 copies of traditional albums) in its first week behind Drake's If You're Reading This It's Too Late.[10] As of January 2017, it had sold 913,000 copies in the United States.[11]
The album debuted at number two on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 18,000 copies.[12] As of July 2015, it had sold 89,000 copies in the country.[13]
Critical reception
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 65/100[14] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [15] |
| Billboard |  [16] |
| Los Angeles Times | [17] |
| Newsday | B−[18] |
| New York Daily News | [19] |
| New York Post | [20] |
| Rolling Stone | [21] |
| USA Today | [22] |
![[icon]](#/media/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (February 2015) |
In contrast to the near-universal panning of the film, its soundtrack has received generally favorable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the soundtrack received an average score of 65, based on 7 reviews. Kenneth Partridge of Billboard rated the soundtrack three-and-a-half out of five stars, writing that the soundtrack "wisely skews mainstream".[16] Chuck Arnold of Rolling Stone compared the soundtrack to those of The Twilight Saga and The Hunger Games while noting that the Weeknd's "Earned It" brings "Bond-theme drama" to the soundtrack.[21] However, AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine described the soundtrack as "suitable for any romantic evening" and a seduction.[23] Jim Farber of the New York Daily News claimed that the lyrics speak of "romanticized sex", while highlighting the album's "soft-edged production".[24] Writing for ABC News, Allan Raible described the soundtrack as a collection of "sultry electro blues pop", but criticized the inclusions of older publications.[25] Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times called the soundtrack a "slog" and criticized the album's midtempo tracks, while comparing the album's commercial performance to that of Taylor Swift's 1989.[26]
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| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "I Put a Spell on You" (Fifty Shades of Grey) (performed by Annie Lennox) | Screamin' Jay Hawkins |
| 3:30 |
| 2. | "Undiscovered" (performed by Laura Welsh) |
| Haynie | 2:53 |
| 3. | "Earned It (Fifty Shades of Grey)" (performed by the Weeknd) |
| 4:10 | |
| 4. | "Meet Me in the Middle" (performed by Jessie Ware) |
| Okumu | 5:08 |
| 5. | "Love Me like You Do" (performed by Ellie Goulding) |
| 4:10 | |
| 6. | "Haunted" (performed by Beyoncé) (Michael Diamond Remix) | 5:08 | ||
| 7. | "Salted Wound" (performed by Sia) | Kraus | 4:30 | |
| 8. | "Beast of Burden" (performed by the Rolling Stones) | The Glimmer Twins | 3:29 | |
| 9. | "I'm on Fire" (performed by Awolnation) | Bruce Springsteen | Aaron Bruno | 2:34 |
| 10. | "Crazy in Love (2014 Remix)" (performed by Beyoncé) | Boots[c] | 3:46 | |
| 11. | "Witchcraft" (performed by Frank Sinatra) | Dave Cavanaugh | 2:51 | |
| 12. | "One Last Night" (performed by Vaults) |
|
| 3:19 |
| 13. | "Where You Belong" (performed by the Weeknd) |
| Dean | 4:57 |
| 14. | "I Know You" (performed by Skylar Grey) |
|
| 4:58 |
| 15. | "Ana and Christian" (performed by Danny Elfman) | Danny Elfman | Danny Elfman | 3:24 |
| 16. | "Did That Hurt?" (performed by Danny Elfman) | Elfman | Elfman | 2:54 |
| Total length: | 61:41 | |||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17. | "Rude" (performed by Terence Coles and Leon "RoccStar" Youngblood) | Leon Youngblood | Leon "RoccStar" Youngblood | 3:30 |
| 18. | "Call Me" (performed by St. Paul and the Broken Bones) | Ben Tanner | 2:51 | |
| Total length: | 68:02 | |||
Notes
- ^[a] signifies a vocal producer
- ^[b] signifies a remixer
- ^[c] signifies a remixer and main producer
- ^[d] signifies a co-producer
- "Crazy in Love (2014 Remix)" contains samples from "Are You My Woman (Tell Me So)", written by Eugene Record and performed by The Chi-Lites.
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Credits for the soundtrack adapted from AllMusic.[28]
- Graham Archer - additional production, programming
- AWOLNATION - primary artist, vocals
- Ahmad Balshe - composer
- Steve Bartek - orchestration
- Jonathan Martin Berry - guitar
- Beyoncé - featured artist, primary artist
- Jay Bicknell - engineer, programming
- Alison Bjorkedal - harp, instrumentation, programming
- Simon Bloor - guitar, keyboards
- Boots - composer, engineer, instrumentation, producer, remix producer, string arrangements, vocals (background)
- Richard Brook - percussion
- Sandy Brummels - art direction, package design
- Aaron Bruno - instrumentation, mixing, primary artist, producer, programming
- David Bukovinszky - cello
- Paul Bushnell - bass
- Mattias Bylund - editing, engineer, string arrangements, strings
- Peter Carlsson - vocal editing, vocals (background)
- Shawn Carter - composer
- Dave Cavanaugh - producer
- Michael Chaves - guitar, instrumentation, omnichord, programming
- Adam Christgau - instrumentation, percussion, programming
- Philip Cohen - music business affairs
- Cy Coleman - composer
- Martin Cooke - engineer
- Jason Cooper - drums, instrumentation, programming
- Rich Costey - mixing
- Mike Dean - composer, drums, engineer, guitar, keyboards, mixing, producer, programming
- Michael Diamond - remixing
- Derek Dixie - mixing consultant
- Gerald Eaton - composer
- Danny Elfman - composer, primary artist, producer
- Mike Fennel - engineer
- Simon Finch - trumpet
- Nicolas Fournier - engineer
- Robin Fredriksson - vocals (background)
- Vanessa Freebairn-Smith - cello
- Barnabas Freeman - composer
- Barney Freeman - producer, programming
- Sia Furler - composer, instrumentation, programming, vocals
- Brian Gardner - mastering
- Serban Ghenea - mixing
- Amanda Ghost - composer
- Oscar Görres - vocals (background)
- Ellie Goulding - primary artist, vocals
- Skylar Grey - composer, featured artist, primary artist, vocals
- John Hanes - engineer
- Rich Harrison - composer
- Jay Hawkins - composer
- Emile Haynie - composer, producer
- Dan Heath - producer
- Justin Hergett - mixing assistant
- Chris Hill - guitar (bass)
- Hit-Boy - drum programming
- Sam Holland - engineer
- Oscar Holter - vocals (background)
- Ivan Hussey - cello
- Stephen Hussey - orchestration, viola, violin
- Devonté Hynes - composer
- Mick Jagger - composer, vocals, vocals (background)
- Mattias Johansson - violin
- Jessica Kelly - art direction, package design
- Mike Knobloch - executive in charge of music
- Beyoncé Knowles - composer, producer, vocal producer
- Savan Kotecha - composer, vocals (background)
- Oliver Kraus - cello, composer, instrumentation, producer, programming
- James Krausse - mixing assistant
- Mattias Larsson - vocals (background)
- Carolyn Leigh - composer
- Annie Lennox - featured artist, percussion, piano, primary artist, string arrangements, vocals
- Rachel Levy - music supervisor
- Tom MacKay - A&R
- Blake Mares - assistant engineer
- Margot - string arrangements
- Andre Marsh - A&R
- Max Martin - bass, composer, drums, keyboards, percussion, producer, programming, vocals (background)
- Tony Maserati - mixing
- Stephan Moccio - arranger, composer, keyboards, piano, producer, programming
- Yoad Nevo - mixing
- Tove Nilsson - composer
- Evin O'Cleary - assistant engineer
- Dave Okumu - composer, engineer, instrumentation, producer, programming
- Ali Payami - bass, composer, drums, keyboards, percussion, producer, programming, vocals (background)
- Blythe Pepino - composer, producer, programming
- Jason "DaHeala" Queeneville - composer, engineer, producer, vocal engineer
- Eugene Record - composer
- Dave Reitzas - mixing
- Keith Richards - composer, guitar, vocals, vocals (background)
- Ramon Rivas - engineer, mixing assistant
- Eric Robinson - engineer
- Kate Robinson - violin
- The Rolling Stones - featured artist, primary artist
- Ilya Salmanzadeh - composer, vocals (background)
- Dana Sano - soundtrack producer
- Sia - featured artist, primary artist
- Jo Silverston - cello
- Frank Sinatra - primary artist, vocals
- Noah Snyder - engineer, mixing
- Ludvig Söderberg - vocals (background)
- Bruce Springsteen - composer
- Eric Stenman - engineer, mixing
- Mike Stevens - guitar, keyboards, mixing, organ (hammond), programming, string arrangements
- Jordan Stilwell - engineer
- Rob Suchecki - assistant engineer
- Patricia Sullivan - mastering
- Sean Tallman - engineer
- Abel Tesfaye - composer, vocals
- Nicol Thomson - trombone
- Urban Soul Orchestra - string engineer
- Vaults - primary artist
- Ben Vella - producer, programming
- Benjamin Vella - composer
- Jessica Ware - composer
- Jessie Ware - primary artist, vocals
- Charlie Watts - drums
- The Weeknd - primary artist, vocals
- Laura Welsh - composer, primary artist, vocals
- Brian West - composer
- Stuart White - engineer, mixing, vocal engineer
- Neal Wilkinson - drums
- Ron Wood - guitar, vocals, vocals (background)
- Bill Wyman - guitar (bass)
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Weekly charts
|
Year-end charts
Decade-end charts
|
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| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[76] | Platinum | 70,000‡ |
| Austria (IFPI Austria)[77] | Platinum | 15,000* |
| Belgium (BEA)[78] | Gold | 15,000* |
| Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil)[79] | Gold | 20,000* |
| Canada (Music Canada)[80] | Platinum | 89,000[13] |
| Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[81] | Platinum | 20,000‡ |
| France (SNEP)[82] | Platinum | 100,000* |
| Germany (BVMI)[83] | Platinum | 200,000‡ |
| Mexico (AMPROFON)[84] | Platinum | 60,000^ |
| Poland (ZPAV)[85] | 3× Platinum | 60,000‡ |
| Sweden (GLF)[86] | Platinum | 40,000‡ |
| Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[87] | Gold | 10,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[88] | Platinum | 300,000‡ |
| United States (RIAA)[89] | Platinum | 1,000,000[11] |
|
* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||
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