The Kitchen soundtrack: All the songs in dystopian Netflix drama
A vast array of artists from Giggs to Fela Kuti can be heard in the directorial debut from Daniel Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares.
New Netflix film The Kitchen has landed, starring Top Boy star and grime pioneer Kane Robinson in the lead role.
The dystopian sci-fi film, which is the directorial debut of Daniel Kaluuya, is set in a near-future London on a dilapidated council estate called the Kitchen.
The action is accompanied by a brilliant score from Labrinth and Alex Baranowski, as well as an eclectic mix of songs, with artists from Giggs to Fela Kuti among those that can be heard on the soundtrack.
Ahead of the release, Tavares spoke exclusively to RadioTimes.com about putting that soundtrack together and how he wanted to draw on a diverse range of musical influences to help shape the "sonic aesthetic" of the film.
"I love that part of it," he explained. "It starts really early. Like, if I look at my Spotify lists, I've got [playlists called], like, Kitchen, Kitchen New etc. Over the years, as your tastes change, they start to influence you when you're writing.
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"And it's sort of like this thing that all sort of starts to come together [...] and you eventually start to kind of find a sonic aesthetic, and the soundscape for your film, and then it becomes clear what should be and what shouldn't be in and what's it doing emotionally, how is it kind of driving and pushing the story?"
"It's definitely a sort of process of elimination and starting pretty broad, and we had to sort of build the soundscape the same we did the world – in a sense, we were still trying to push for, like, this idea of layers and this idea of colours and this idea of building what's there.
"So then you'll see, like, a mix of influences that we have, whether it's garage, drum and bass, grime, and some more sort of classically composed things.
"We all listen to a mix of those things, and so it's just sort of bringing them together to serve the story."
You can check out a full list of the songs that feature in The Kitchen below.
Who composed the soundtrack for The Kitchen?
Singer-songwriter Labrinth and composer Alex Baranowski co-scored the music for The Kitchen.
Labrinth previously scored hit HBO series Euphoria, while Baranowski has scored movies including Locked In and The Teacher.
The duo previously worked together on orchestral arrangements for sets at Coachella.
What other songs feature in The Kitchen soundtrack?
Alongside the score, The Kitchen features a handful of songs performed by various artists.
You can find the full list of songs featured in the soundtrack for The Kitchen below:
- Holding On performed by Tirzah
- Party Popper performed by Backroad Gee
- En blue jeans et blouson d'cuir performed by Salvatore Amato
- Kyenkyen Bi Adi M'awu performed by Alhaji K Frimpong
- How 'Bout Us performed by Champaign
- Odo Nwom performed by Kofi Nti feat Ofori Amponsah and Barosky
- AK47 performed by Sayfar, Cyfred, 2woBunnies
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- Living Like I Do performed by SBTRKT & Sampha
- Lock Doh performed by Giggs
- Stay So performed by Busy Signal
- Zombie performed by Fela Kuti
- Candy performed by Cameo
- Xtra (Instrumental) performed by Ruff Sqwad
- Walk Away (Dub Mix) performed by Bitty McLean
- How Great Thou Art performed by cast
The Kitchen is currently showing in select UK cinemas and will be on Netflix from 19th January 2024. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what’s on tonight.
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