The Idea of You (soundtrack)

Did You Know?

• The first single "Dance Before We Walk" was released on March 6, 2024.
• A deluxe edition featuring live performances of four songs was released on the same day as the film.
• The original score album, composed by Siddhartha Khosla, was released on May 17, 2024.

Production

Music producer Savan Kotecha wanted the songs for the fictional boy band August Moon to feel oversized, making the group seem larger than life. The film’s music supervisors, Frankie Pine and Marcus Tamkin, looked to real boy bands like One Direction, Maroon 5, NSYNC, and BTS for inspiration. Kotecha, who had written songs for One Direction before, made clear that the film’s music wouldn’t rely heavily on that band’s sound. Nicholas Galitzine, who plays August Moon’s lead singer Hayes Campbell, came to the role with his own musical experience. Kotecha approached the character as if Campbell were a real artist, drawing on his own industry background and talks with musicians to imagine who Campbell would be and what he would feel. The original songs were meant to show August Moon’s shift from a fresh-faced boy band to a staple on the radio, while also tracking Campbell’s growth as a person and a musician. The track “Taste” was described as edgier and sexier, appearing on the band’s second album. “Guard Down,” from their third album, dealt with the downsides of fame. “Closer” marked the romantic connection between Campbell and Solène Marchand at Coachella. “Dance Before We Walk” had a bubbly, teenybopper feel and played when Campbell left the band; it appeared in fragments with piano and guitar interludes and lyrics written piece by piece. “The Idea of You” and “Go Rogue” highlighted Campbell’s move into solo work. The only song not originally made for the film was “I Got You,” which got extra production from Ilya Salmanzadeh and Babyface. Kotecha spent two to three months starting in June 2023 writing and arranging the songs to fit Galitzine’s voice. Galitzine recorded his vocals in Sweden over three days, though a typical session would take three weeks, with each song normally needing two days. Kotecha then brought in friends and collaborators to fill out the rest of the band and provide backing vocals.

Critical reception

The soundtrack received mixed reactions from critics. One reviewer found some songs weak but praised Nicholas Galitzine's soulful vocal performance. Others called the music catchy and described it as believable pop songs. A critic compared the tracks to One Direction hits, noting they have a similar earworm quality. The music was characterized as standard boy band material, though the focus on Galitzine's vocals alone made the group concept feel unconvincing. Another review described the original songs as bland background music within the film's fictional band August Moon, but found the boy band nostalgia charming and effective for its intended young audience, with Galitzine's suave presence adding credibility. A different critic argued the August Moon tracks do not merely imitate a specific boy band sound but stand as solid pop songs on their own.