Soul (Original Motion Picture Score)

The score for the Disney/Pixar animated film Soul was composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Even though they have made several collaborations together, Soul marks their first Disney one.

After being pushed back due to the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 from June 19 to November 20 of the same year, Disney released a sneak peak of the film featuring the original song “Parting Ways” by Cody ChesnuTT. With the announcement of Universal Studios‘ animated sequel The Croods: A New Age getting a theater release on the same day, Soul was pushed back again to Christmas Day, 2020; this time, exclusively on their streaming platform Disney+.

On November 3, two vinyl album pre-orders were revealed on Amazon, one for the film’s score and the other for the film’s soundtrack, both with placeholder album art. The tracklist, final cover art and release date were revealed on December 11, the day after Disney Investor Day 2020.

Reznor, Ross, and Batiste won the Oscar for Best Original Score for this music. It was the first Oscar win for Batiste and the second for Reznor and Ross, who had previously won for their score for The Social Network.