On November 3, 2023, Olivia Rodrigo officially released her single “Can’t Catch Me Now” for the new Hunger Games film The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Sometimes the songs made for movies fall short of the artist’s usual ability as they must write for the movie and not their own experiences and sometimes do not even get to take part in writing the song. However, Olivia Rodrigo’s single is the opposite of that, encapsulating the Hunger Games universe perfectly while sticking to her style.
song breakdown
Olivia Rodrigo has the ability to create pop music and also beautiful ballads with this song playing more into the latter. The barebones minimal instrumentals and beat allow for Rodrigo’s voice to truly stand on its own. Her voice instantly grabs the listener’s attention, making people pay attention to what she is saying. In addition, the layering of her voice later in the track is extremely well executed and takes your breath away.
However, it is not only Olivia Rodrigo’s voice that makes this song stand out but also the lyrics. The prequel book the film is based on follows President Snow going down the path of pure evil we see in the original trilogy following his insecurities resulting in him ruining his relationship with District 12 victor of the 10th Hunger Games, Lucy Gray Baird. Lucy Gray is a headstrong performer who begins to show Snow the issue with the games and how cruel they really are. However, Snow’s greed for power and self-doubt result in him believing Lucy Gray is untrustworthy. Snow thinks she will reveal the murders he committed towards the end and thus he tries to kill her. However, the ending leaves it up to interpretation whether she died or got away. Thus, this song describes Lucy Gray essentially taunting Snow as now he is unsure if she lived or not and her legacy of bravery and rebellion will live on in some capacity as seen eventually with Katniss leading the rebellion that takes him down. The song displays the true full circle that happens with Lucy Gray being one of the original rebels to be outwardly against the Capitol and go against rules set, showing her anger while being reaped and using the song to show emotion in a way that begins to show the Capitol people the tributes are humans too.
conclusion
Overall, I thought this song was a great balance of Olivia’s typical style and encapsulating the story being told. The tone lends to this poignant ballad of rebellion starting. This story is especially important as there is much destruction and wrong in the world and by speaking out like Lucy Gray and starting that flame of rebellion, it makes it possible that real change can happen.