Every song in Taika Waititi's 'Klara and the Sun' — from Violent Femmes to Chopin
The soundtrack list for Taika Waititi’s Klara and the Sun is here, and it swings hard between alt-rock singalongs and classical nocturnes. The film, adapted from Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, stars Jenna Ortega as Klara, a robotic Artificial Friend who waits in a shop window hoping someone will choose her.
When Josie (Mia Tharia) finally picks Klara, her mother Chrissy (Amy Adams) hesitates — older models are being undersold by the newer “Fancy Friends” down the street. But the bond between Klara and Josie is instant. Josie is “lifted,” genetically enhanced, yet gravely ill, and Klara spends the film trying to lift the spirits of both the girl and her mother. Natasha Lyonne, Aran Murphy, Steve Buscemi and Rachel House round out the cast.
The soundtrack leans on character more than chart hits. Violent Femmes’ “Good Feeling” and Television’s “Days” sit alongside Lesley Gore’s “Sunshine Lollipops and Rainbows,” giving the film its jangly, hopeful textures. Then it drops into Chopin’s “Nocturne No. 20 in C-sharp minor” and a movement from Vivaldi’s “Gloria,” which lends the story its softer, more melancholic register.
The full song list
- “Sunshine Lollipops and Rainbows” — Lesley Gore
- “Straight Jackin Fools” — Owen Chaim
- “Days” — Television
- “Okay” — DecadeZ
- “Believe in Yourself” — Disasteradio
- “Good Feeling” — Violent Femmes
- “Nocturne No. 20 in C-sharp minor” — Chopin
- “Gloria in D major, RV 589” — Vivaldi
- “Mandala” — Stomu Yamashita (from The Man Who Fell to Earth)
- “Fistful of Love” — ANOHNI and the Johnsons
The most striking entry might be ANOHNI and the Johnsons’ “Fistful of Love,” whose sweeping, almost hymn-like arrangement fits a story about an artificial being learning what devotion looks like. Chopin’s posthumous nocturne is the emotional anchor, a spare piano piece that underscores Klara’s quiet observation of the family she’s bound herself to.
Klara and the Sun was produced by Sony’s 3000 Pictures and marks Waititi’s latest move away from his looser comedies into more tender, literary territory.