A24 just launched A24 Music in April 2025, but the indie powerhouse has been building one of the sharpest musical identities in modern cinema for over a decade.
While other studios slap generic orchestral scores over their films, A24 turned soundtracks into full characters.
From horror scores that crawl under your skin to needle drops that hit harder than the twists, here are 15 tracks proving A24 understands music better than most record labels.
1. “Everytime” by Britney Spears – Spring Breakers (2013)
James Franco in a white suit, three girls in pink ski masks and tiger print bikinis, shotguns in hand. Franco sits at a white grand piano and croons Britney’s heartbreak ballad before it melts into a montage of armed robberies.
Director Harmony Korine called the moment “the culture of surfaces, this candy-coated neon haze,” a beauty masking violence beneath it. Franco once said Britney was “one of the greatest singers of all time.”
Spring Breakers uses Britney’s vulnerability like a weapon, turning a 2003 breakup ballad into something chilling. The scene became instantly iconic, earning its place in A24’s early cult canon.
2. “Cucurrucucu Paloma” by Caetano Veloso – Moonlight (2016)
In Barry Jenkins’s Best Picture winner, Chiron drives from Atlanta to Miami to see Kevin as Brazilian legend Caetano Veloso’s rendition of this Spanish classic plays. It nods directly to Wong Kar-wai’s Happy Together, right down to the lonely highway framing.
Written by Tomás Méndez in 1954, the song means “the cooing dove.” Veloso’s version had already become cinematic shorthand for unrequited love, famously used in Almodóvar’s Talk to Her.
Jenkins drops it at Moonlight’s most hopeful moment—Chiron cruising the highway, reconciled and ready for something new. It stretches time, holding grief and possibility in the same frame.
3. “Reborn” by Colin Stetson – Hereditary (2018)
Canadian saxophonist Colin Stetson crafted one of horror’s most unnerving scores using circular breathing, throat overtones, and resonant drones that feel alive rather than electronic.
Director Ari Aster wrote Hereditary with Stetson’s music in mind. Stetson avoided watching horror films while composing, sidestepping the genre’s usual strings and shrieks.
“Reborn” swells from breath-like textures into a choral surge that sounds like worship gone wrong—a dark hymn announcing the family’s fate.
4. “The Morning” by The Weeknd – Uncut Gems (2019)
The Weeknd appears as his 2012 self in a cramped New York club, still on the cusp of fame. The Safdie Brothers and composer Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never) originally created new songs, but settled on “The Morning” to preserve that pre-fame tension.
The moment captures that eerie thrill of watching someone destined to explode but not yet aware of it. One character even predicts his stardom—a detail that lands differently in 2025.
Oneohtrix Point Never’s score leans on Moog One synth textures and retro-futurist tones, channeling Akira’s energy while mirroring Adam Sandler’s spiralling tension.
5. “Claw Machine” by Sloppy Jane feat. Phoebe Bridgers – I Saw the TV Glow (2024)
Haley Dahl said she wrote it about “deep, relentless longing,” remembering crying herself to sleep and “missing the future.” Recording it with her high school friend Phoebe Bridgers felt “celebratory and healing.”
The song plays during a pivotal bar scene as director Jane Schoenbrun bends reality and memory together. The soundtrack features 15 artists, from Caroline Polachek to yeule and Jay Som. Schoenbrun asked each to imagine the song they’d play at Buffy’s Bronze in the ’90s—a perfect cue for the film’s teen-goth heart.
6. “Crash Into Me” by Dave Matthews Band – Lady Bird (2017)
Greta Gerwig personally wrote to Dave Matthews calling the song “the most romantic ever.” It plays twice—first as Lady Bird sobs in a car with Julie, later when she defends it against her pretentious boyfriend. That moment of standing by what she loves sums up the film’s spirit.
Matthews later said, “It was so lovely to see the song used as a central tool in someone else’s story.”
7. “The Ballad of Howie Bling” – Uncut Gems (2019)
The film opens inside a gemstone as Lopatin’s synths shimmer and pulse like trapped light. It’s the sound of obsession before we even meet Howard Ratner.
Lopatin’s second score for the Safdies after Good Time uses analogue Moog patterns to create a world that’s futuristic yet grimy, mirroring Howard’s endless chase for luck.
Want to dive deeper? Visit Neon Music for more expert takes on film scores, soundtrack secrets and the intersection of cinema and sound.
8. “Starburned and Unkissed” by Caroline Polachek – I Saw the TV Glow (2024)
Polachek wrote the grunge-inspired song during her Desire, I Want to Turn Into You sessions but saved it for Schoenbrun’s film. It plays over VHS montages of The Pink Opaque, handwritten notes, and teenage isolation—mirroring the movie’s themes of disconnection and identity.
9. “Hello Stranger” by Barbara Lewis – Moonlight (2016)
The 1963 soul track hums on a diner jukebox during Chiron and Kevin’s reunion. “How long has it been?” Lewis asks, and the background singers reply, “It seems like a mighty long time.” No dialogue needed—just memory and forgiveness in stereo.
10. “Ava” by Geoff Barrow & Ben Salisbury – Ex Machina (2015)
Portishead’s Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury built a score mixing acoustic instruments with manipulated electronics—celeste, brass, and stretched samples. They called it “a mix of beauty and discomfort,” reflecting Ava’s blend of allure and unease.
11. “Cell Therapy” by Goodie Mob – Moonlight (2016)
Jenkins peppers Moonlight with deep cuts from soul and hip-hop archives, but Goodie Mob’s 1995 anthem roots the film in a specific time and place. Its paranoia about surveillance feels prophetic, connecting Chiron’s quiet paranoia to a larger social lens.
12. “Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl” by yeule – I Saw the TV Glow (2024)
Schoenbrun once said the original Broken Social Scene track felt “mysterious and queer.” Singaporean artist yeule turns it spectral, their modulated vocals stretching like memory on rewind. It soundtracks the trailer and sets the film’s tone—nostalgic, lonely, and beautifully strange.
13. “Hot Girl” by Charli XCX – Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)
Charli’s electro-rock anthem captures the film’s dark energy—hedonism teetering on collapse. Composer Disasterpeace layers metallic synths beneath it, giving the track the throb of a party about to implode. It became a viral hit and cemented A24’s pop-savvy Gen-Z appeal.
14. “The Middle of the World” by Nicholas Britell – Moonlight (2016)
Britell fuses orchestral composition with chopped-and-screwed hip-hop rhythms, creating a sound that’s both classical and Southern. “The Middle of the World” mirrors Chiron’s transformation—conflicted, tender, and quietly triumphant.
15. “Funeral” by Colin Stetson – Hereditary (2018)
The opening cue sets the tone immediately—low drones, uneasy harmonics, and chimes that feel like they’re mourning something unseen. Stetson builds dread without relying on jump scares, just pressure and breath.
The A24 Music Legacy
A24 Music launched in April 2025 as a social channel for the studio’s music division, though early speculation suggested it might expand into a full label. The studio partnered with Secretly Distribution in 2021 to manage releases like the Stop Making Sense 40th anniversary tribute album.
Music supervisor Jessica Berndt once said an A24 project was her dream job because the studio treats music “like a character.” That philosophy runs through every score and needle drop.
A24 has collaborated with everyone from artists across pop and hip-hop to avant-garde composers. The US trailer even leans on Travis Scott and The Weeknd’s ‘Pray 4 Love,’ underlining how A24 blends current pop with score.
A24 understood something other studios missed: in the streaming age, a great soundtrack can keep a film alive long after its release. Billboard even reported that songs from Euphoria saw streaming jumps of around 2,300% after appearing in the show.
The studio now curates Spotify playlists, limited vinyl runs, and collectible merch—everything from I Saw the TV Glow pink vinyl and more.
With Frank Ocean’s feature film in production, the line between cinema and record label grows thinner by the day.
With A24 Music now official, expect the next decade of soundtracks to sound—and feel—like nothing we’ve heard before.