Challengers, the new tennis-based film starring Zendaya, is out in cinemas tomorrow (April 26).

It’s the latest film from acclaimed director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name, Bones and All), and centres on an intense love triangle between tennis coach Tashi Duncan (Zendaya) and rival racket-thrashers Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) and Art Donaldson (Mike Faist), who is also her husband.

In a four-star review of the film, NME wrote: “The performances are exceptional, with off-the-scale chemistry between all three leads. Zendaya, in particular, is a force of nature, and you feel her angry frustration at her own career path (which was cut short by injury) in every scene. O’Connor and Faist are equally good, and if the film has a flaw, it’s only that it doesn’t explicitly dig deeper into their feelings for each other, leaving it as an underlying suggestion instead.”

Who made the Challengers soundtrack?

The film’s techno-inspired original score had been composed by Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor, alongside his regular partner Atticus Ross. Their previous film credits together include The Social Network, Gone Girl, Soul and Guadagnino’s previous film Bones & All.

Speaking about the music, Reznor has spoken about the guidance that the director gave him: “Luca said, ‘What if all the music was driving, thumping techno, like a heartbeat that makes the movie fun?’”

“It’s about the excitement and simultaneously there’s an order and a thoughtfulness to the score,” Ross added.

What is the tracklist?

The full score by Reznor and Ross is now available to stream, with the following tracklisting:

  1. ‘Challengers’
  2. ‘”I Know”‘
  3. ‘Yeah x10’
  4. ‘L’oeuf’
  5. ‘The Signal’
  6. ‘Brutalizer’
  7. ‘Stopper’
  8. ‘Brutalizer 2’
  9. ‘The Points That Matter’
  10. ‘Lullaby’
  11. ‘Final Set’
  12. ‘Pull Over’
  13. ‘Friday Afternoons, Op. 7: A New Year Carol’
  14. ‘Friday Afternoons, Op. 7: A New Year Carol (Part 2)’
  15. ‘Challengers: Match Point’
  16. ‘Compress / Repress’
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In addition, a version of the soundtrack has been mixed by the German DJ Boys Noize into a half-hour continuous piece. The producer was hand-selected by Reznor and Ross to “deconstruct and subsequently reimagine” their compositions, mixing nine tracks into one piece.

Speaking about the project, Boys Noize said: “It’s been a fun challenge to turn this into one fluid experience and take it even further by redesigning the tracks, creating new elements and changing certain parts – especially on ‘Compress / Repress,’ which turns super epic in the end. Working with Trent and Atticus has been a dream come true; they’ve been so great and helpful during the entire process.”

The tracklist for ‘Challengers [MIXED]’ is: 

  1. ‘I Know’ [MIXED]
  2. ‘Yeah x10’ [MIXED]
  3. ‘L’oeuf’ [MIXED]
  4. ‘Challengers’ [MIXED]
  5. ‘Pre Signal’ [MIXED]
  6. ‘The Signal’ [MIXED]
  7. ‘Brutalizer’ [MIXED]
  8. ‘Compress / Repress’ [MIXED]
  9. ‘A New Year Carol’ [MIXED]

Where can I listen to the soundtrack?

The full nine-track soundtrack album is available on all major streaming platforms now, including Spotify and Apple Music.

The Boys Noize mix is also available to listen to on YouTube:

What other formats is it on?

The Challengers score has been released via Milan Records, but details of a physical release have not been confirmed.



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