Soul: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by various artists
Released	December 18, 2020
Genre	Jazz (Music from and Inspired by Soul) new-age space (Soul: Original Motion Picture Score)
Length	60:04
Label	Walt Disney
Producer	Cody Chesnutt Daveed Diggs Jonathan Snipes Jon Batiste Tom MacDougall William Hutson
Pixar soundtrack chronology
Onward (2020) Soul: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2020) Luca (2021)
Trent Reznor andAtticus Ross chronology
Mank (2020) Soul (2020) Bones and All (2022)
Jon Batiste chronology
Music from and Inspired by Soul (2020)

Soul: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the 2020Disney-Pixar filmSoul. The soundtrack is acompilation of all 23 score pieces byTrent Reznor andAtticus Ross from theSoul: Original Motion Picture Scorevinyl album as well as 16 original songs byJon Batiste from theMusic from and Inspired by Soul vinyl album. All three albums were released throughWalt Disney Records on December 18, 2020.

Reznor and Ross composed anew-agescore for the metaphysical segments of the film, while Batiste composed a number of originaljazz songs for the New York City-based segments of the film. The Japanese version used a jazz rendition ofJUJU’s "Kiseki Wo Nozomu Nara" for the ending theme.^[1][2][3]

The soundtrack received critical acclaim as an integral part of the film and won both theGolden Globe and theOscar for Best Original Score.

Trent Reznor andAtticus Ross (left) handled thescore, whileJon Batiste (right) composed a number of original jazz songs.

During the 2019D23 Expo,Trent Reznor andAtticus Ross were revealed to be composing the film's score, whileJon Batiste was set to be writing jazz songs for the film.^[4] Reznor and Ross had been brought in on the recommendation of sound designerRen Klyce, who had worked extensively with the duo onDavid Fincher films.^[5] Batiste composed jazz music for the film's New York City sequences while Reznor and Ross wrote an instrumental score for the scenes taking place inthe Great Before.^[6] Batiste said that he wanted to create jazz music that felt "authentic", but also "accessible to all ages".^[4] He also wanted the themes to tie into the "ethereal nature" of the Great Before while still being on Earth.^[4] Batiste also sometimes worked with Reznor and Ross to "blend the two worlds, musically".^[4]Cody Chesnutt also wrote, produced, and performed an originalfolk-soulballad for the film, titled "Parting Ways".^[7][8] It also features ahip hop interlude performed byDaveed Diggs titled "Rappin Ced".^[7] Other musicians who were consulted during the creative process includeHerbie Hancock,Terri Lyne Carrington andQuestlove, the latter of whom also does voice work in the film.^[9] Batiste drew inspiration from and wanted to payhomage to jazz legends such asRoy Haynes,Harvey Mason,Branford Marsalis,Kenny Kirkland,Charlie Parker andThe Headhunters.^[5] Batiste also arranged a new version of the song "It's All Right", originally performed byThe Impressions, for the film.^[10] This solo version debuted during a performance byNelly on the29th season of American competition TV seriesDancing with the Stars^[10] and is featured in the end credits of the film while a duet version with American-born British soul singerCeleste is not included in the soundtrack.^[11] In January 2021, Trent Reznor revealed toConsequence of Sound that he and Atticus Ross had composed six films' worth of music forSoul and also further explained his creative process, stating:^[12]

As we started early on, it's like, "I can't wait to see this character"… that doesn't exist because he’s not even in the film anymore. Or this expansive moment where you're watching a beautiful scene for a minute and a half, which is now three seconds, because a joke popped up, and now it's a different thing. So, I think we started a lot earlier last time than we would in the future. But it was fascinating to see the process. And I remember as we were getting into it, they could say, "Let’s see. Trust the process. We’ve come up with a way to do this." And I don’t mean a factory assembly line, but a strategy of openness and collaboration between not just two or three or four or five people but possibly lots of people.

Soul: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released digitally on December 18, 2020, a week before that of the film. The two vinyl albums, namelySoul: Original Motion Picture Score byTrent Reznor andAtticus Ross andMusic from and Inspired by Soul by Jon Batiste, were also made available for purchase on December 18, 2020.^{[13][14][15][16][17]} Despite not featuring on any of the three albums, the duet version of "It's All Right" withCeleste that features during the end credits was also released digitally as a standalone single on December 18.^[18][19]

The soundtrack received a positive response from bothmusic critics andfilm critics alike.^{[9][20][21][22]} Many film reviews praised the score as a major highlight of the film.^[23] Leslie Felperin ofThe Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Featuring possibly the best soundtrack in a Pixar film since the firstToy Story,Soul sports a jazz score that is not just an adornment to the story or an emotional enhancement, but an utterly integral part of the narrative."^[22] Reznor and Ross's compositions during the metaphysical segments of the film was described musically asnew-age andspace age, while Batiste's work was described musically asjazz.^[24][7][25] In a film review forThe A.V. Club, A.A. Dowd described the score as "uncharacteristically soothing",^[26] while Matt Goldberg ofCollider described it as "spellbinding",^[27] andA .O. Scott ofThe New York Times described it as "cerebral".^[28]

A week before the release of the film, the soundtrack album debuted on the UK Soundtrack Albums chart at number 35.^[53] After the film was released on December 25, the soundtrack rose to number 12 on this chart and also was credited as two separated entries, one for score and one for soundtrack, on bothBillboard's Soundtrack Albums chart andCurrent Album Sales chart.

All songs are written and performed byTrent Reznor andAtticus Ross, except where noted.

• 2020 soundtrack albums
• Jazz soundtracks
• Pixar soundtracks
• New-age soundtracks
• Walt Disney Records soundtracks
• Atticus Ross soundtracks
• Trent Reznor soundtracks
• 2020s film soundtrack albums
• Jon Batiste albums
• Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media
• Scores that won the Best Original Score Academy Award
• Scores that won the BAFTA Award for Best Original Music
• Scores that won the Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Musical Score
• Scores that won the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Original Score
• Scores that won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Music
• Scores that won the Black Reel Award for Outstanding Original Score
• Scores that won the Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Music in a Feature Production
• Scores that won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score
• Scores that won the Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Original Score in an Animated Film
• Scores that won the Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Original Score
• Scores that won the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Score

• CS1 errors: generic name
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• CS1 Italian-language sources (it)
• Use mdy dates from December 2020
• Articles with short description
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• Album articles lacking alt text for covers
• Pages using multiple image with auto scaled images
• Album chart usages for UKSoundtrack
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• Album chart called without album
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• Album chart usages for BillboardSoundtrack