The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Music from the Motion Picture) is the soundtrack album to the 2021 film, released on February 19, 2021, by Warner Records. The film is based on the life of singer Billie Holiday, and also from the book Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs by Johann Hari. Directed by Lee Daniels, it stars Andra Day as Holiday. The soundtrack features several compilations of songs composed and performed by Day. She also wrote the original song "Tigress & Tweed" and co-produced the album with Salaam Remi, and Raphael Saadiq and Warren Felder. Lynn Fainchtein and Daniels were the music supervisors.

The 13-song soundtrack album is composed mostly of western, contemporary classical, pop and soul music originated from the 1930s and late-1950s, reflecting on Billie Holiday's time period. It was recorded mostly live on sets and conceptualized in late-September 2019, even before the film's shooting began, the following month. The soundtrack won the Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media at the 64th Grammy Awards, with the track "Tigress & Tweed" being nominated for Best Original Songs at the Golden Globe, Critics' Choice Movie Award and Black Reel award ceremonies in 2021.

The film's original score, composed by Kris Bowers, was released as a separate 12-track album titled The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Original Motion Picture Score) on February 26, 2021, by Lakeshore Records, which coincided with the film's streaming release on Hulu.

Background The songs were recorded live on sets, and mostly used period instruments from 1930s and 1950s to capture the essence of contemporary classical music. Salaam Remi co-produced the original songs with Day, with the film's director Lee Daniels and Lynn Fainchtein jointly supervised the music. Remi and Fainchtein, in an interview to Variety, had spoken about the production of the compiled tracks. For Remi, "it was an understanding of what the original arrangements were, and how they would have done them at that time, but also how they were playing out in the movie". Both wanted the music to be as authentic to the time period, though the layers of the music and the orchestration, are more like the pop of the '70s than the jazz of the '40s or '50s. Remi stated that "On a lot of Billie Holiday recordings, you can't always hear [the detail]. There might have been one mic going straight to vinyl. I had to augment because I was recording digital at the highest possible bit rate." All the tracks were composed prior to the film's shooting, in Miami, in September 2019. Day, had sung for most of the tracks in the film, whom Remi had claimed that she "had the vocal chops and was nailing it from the beginning".

Mark Isham, Craig Harris and Christopher Gunning were previously announced to compose for the score, until Kris Bowers, was approached by the makers and recording for the background score were completed by late-December 2020.

Release Prior to the soundtrack release, Day's cover versions of "All of Me" and "Strange Fruit" were released as digital singles on January 13 and 21, 2021, respectively. The original song "Tigress & Tweed" was released as the third track from the album on January 27. Day co-wrote the song with Raphael Saadiq, who also composed and produced the track. The track list for Music from the Motion Picture was first released on February 1, with pre-orders beginning on the same date through the Amazon.com website. Warner Records released the soundtrack digitally on February 19, followed by a physical release on March 19, and a vinyl edition being released on July 23. Original Motion Picture Score, which contains Kris Bowers' compositions for the film score was released on February 26, coinciding with the streaming release on Hulu.

Track listing

Charts

+Chart performance for The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Music from the Motion Picture)Chart (2021)PeakpositionUK Compilation Albums (OCC)89UK Soundtrack Albums (OCC)43US Billboard 200137US Soundtrack Albums (Billboard)44

+Chart performance for The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Original Motion Picture Score)Chart (2021)PeakpositionUK Soundtrack Albums (OCC)48

Release history +Release dates and formats for The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Music from the Motion Picture)RegionDateFormat(s)LabelCatalogVersion(s)VariousFebruary 19, 2021Warner RecordsStandardUnited StatesMarch 19, 2021CD093624883395CanadaEuropeJapanApril 21, 2021WPCR 18422BrazilMay 6, 2021093624883395United StatesAugust 13, 2021VinylUltra093624883388Limited edition

Personnel Credits adapted from AllMusic.

Instruments

Strings – Stephen Coleman (arrangements), Dan Higgins (arrangements) Bass – Salaam Remi, Raphael Saadiq Drums – Salaam Remi, TFOX Guitar – Vincent Henry, Charlie Hunter Horns – Vincent Henry (arrangements) Saxophone – Vincent Henry (arrangements), Khari Allen Lee Clarinet – Vincent Henry Orchestra – Czech Film Orchestras Piano – Alex Bugnon, James Poyser, Daniel Crean (programming), Eren Cannata (programming) Trumpet – Emilio Lopez Flugelhorn – Emilio Lopez Keyboards – Oak Felder (programming)

Production

A&R – Rani Hancock, Joanna Terrasi (administration) Arranged By – Salaam Remi Music co-ordinator – Nik Boskoff Design – Stephen Walker (packaging) Executive producer – Aaron Bay-Schuck, Amanda Ghost, Lynn Fainchtein, PJ Bloom, Rani Hancock, Tom Corson Legal advisor – Jason R. Heller Management – Jeffrey Evans, Chris Atlas (marketing), Shawnaé Corbett-Rice (marketing), Nacho Burgoa (music clearance) Mastered by – Chris Gehringer (tracks: 1, 2, 4 to 13), Dave Kutch (tracks: 3) Mixed by – Eric J. Dubowsky (tracks: 4, 6), Hotae Alexander Jang (tracks: 3), Jimmy Douglass (tracks: 1, 2, 5, 7 to 13), Salaam Remi (tracks: 1, 2, 5, 7 to 13), Matt Curtin (tracks: 4, 6; mixing assistance) Photography by – Philippe Bosse Producer – Andra Day (tracks: 3), Raphael Saadiq (tracks: 3), Salaam Remi (tracks: 1, 2, 5, 7 to 13), Warren Felder (tracks: 4, 6) Recorded by – Hotae Alexander Jang (tracks: 3), Ryan Evans (tracks: 1, 2, 5, 7 to 13), Downtown Trevor Brown (tracks: 4, 6), Warren Felder (tracks: 4, 6) Supervised by – Lynn Fainchtein

Recording

Recorded at – Bay Eight Mixed at – The Magic Mix Room Mixed at – Instrument Zoo Mastered at – Sterling Sound Mastered at – The Mastering Palace

Awards and nominations AwardDate of ceremonyCategoryRecipient(s)ResultBlack Reel AwardsApril 11, 2021Outstanding Original Song"Tigress & Tweed" – Andra Day & Raphael Saadiq Critics' Choice Movie AwardsMarch 7, 2021Best Song"Tigress & Tweed" – Andra Day & Raphael Saadiq Golden Globe AwardsFebruary 28, 2021Best Original Song"Tigress & Tweed" – Andra Day & Raphael Saadiq Grammy AwardsApril 3, 2022Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual MediaThe United States vs. Billie Holiday (Music from the Motion Picture) Hollywood Music in Media AwardsJanuary 27, 2021Best Original Song in a Feature Film"Tigress & Tweed" – Andra Day & Raphael Saadiq Best Music Supervision – FilmLynn Fainchtein NAACP Image AwardsFebruary 26, 2022Outstanding Soundtrack/Compilation AlbumThe United States vs. Billie Holiday (Music from the Motion Picture) – Salaam Remi, Andra Day, Raphael Saadiq, Warren Felder

References

External links