Whether or not Fifty Shades of Grey is the disastrous smutty mess we are all expecting, the soundtrack is shaping up to be one of the year’s best. Maybe a Bodyguard for the 2010s?
At the center of it all is “Love Me Like You Do”, sung by British pop star Ellie Goulding and produced by the inescapable Max Martin. It is a sweeping ballad, a musical cousin to Goulding’s dreamtime anthem “Anything Could Happen”, without much of its wistfulness. Here, Goulding is kept tethered to the ground instead of playing in the clouds. Beneath all of the airy synths is an ominous beat that gives the song some nice weight and subtly compliments the film’s greyer themes. The drama is also heightened through the Tove Lo-penned lyrics about a doomed romance presumably from Anastasia Steele’s mousy perspective. Thankfully, Goulding has more personality than the film’s heroine, delivering a best-ever vocal that is both ethereal and powerful, sometimes both. It all fuses into a grand, romantic ballroom epic that’s bursting with passion. It’s the perfect companion to Fifty Shades of Grey, maybe a better one than it really deserves.
Rating: 8/10
Check the music video out below:
