Ever since Bon Iver released 22, A Million in late 2016, fans have been clamoring for new music from Justin Vernon. Fortunately, he’s delivered on multiple occasions. Earlier this year, he debuted unreleased music live, and a few months ago, he released a joint project with The National’s Aaron Dessner under the name Big Red Machine. Now he’s released more new music, and this time, it comes via the Creed II: The Album, which was released today.
Bon Iver’s contribution to the record is an interlude-type track called “Do You Need Power? (Walk Out Music),” a soulful and short (it’s under two minutes) tune that, having not seen the movie, I imagine sets the mood for an emotionally intense moment.
Creed II: The Album, which was produced by Mike Will Made-It, has a lot to offer beyond Bon Iver, as it’s packed with new music from some big names. Kendrick Lamar and Pharrell collaborated on “The Mantra,” and beyond that, there are also contributions from Lil Wayne, Vince Staples, Ella Mai, Schoolboy Q, Young Thug, Rae Sremmurd, Nas, and a whole bunch of others.
Mike Will previously said of the soundtrack:
“There was a time where movie soundtracks had people just as excited as an artist’s album, and that’s the feeling I was going for when creating this project alongside Ludwig Göransson and Fam Rothstein. After people hear the music, I want them to say movie soundtracks are back. I approached the music by first watching Creed II and then creating a playlist of songs people could work out to, chill to, vibe to or to get them through any struggle which matched specific scenes in the movie. It’s important to show the new generation that soundtracks can be just as exciting as traditional albums if put in the hands of the right curator.”
Listen to “Do You Need Power? (Walk Out Music)” above.
Creed II: The Album is out now via Interscope. Get it here.
