Tron: Ares (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the 2025 film of the same name. The score was composed by the American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. The band's members, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, had not taken their band's name for a film score after composing over a dozen such works, and were inspired to do so when speaking to a Disney executive following their work scoring Pixar Animation Studios's Soul (2020).
The album will be released on September 19, 2025. The first single, "As Alive as You Need Me to Be", was released on July 17, 2025, with "Who Wants to Live Forever" planned to be released as a single.[according to whom?]
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross were chosen to score the third entry in the Tron film series following electronic musician Wendy Carlos's score to Tron (1982) and French house duo Daft Punk's score to Tron: Legacy (2010).[1] Daft Punk had broken up since scoring Legacy, and at the behest of Ares producer Sean Bailey, Reznor and Ross were approached by Tom MacDougall, president of Walt Disney Music, to work on Tron: Ares shortly after completing work on the film Soul (2020).[1] The duo had not before taken their band's name for a film score in their repertoire spanning over a dozen films,[2] and Disney's request about them being credited as their band was unexpected to them.[1]
Reznor said that he was pressured not only by the expectation of succeeding Carlos and Daft Punk, but also the implications of taking the band name—he quipped that "I wake up at four in the morning slightly more often than I used to, sometimes, getting this film done".[1] While Daft Punk used an orchestra for their score to Legacy, Reznor and Ross did not utilize "one second". They described the sound as "precise and unpleasant at times", though not feeling it was "an atonal, punishing" score.[1] With the inclusion of original songs besides the composed score, Reznor said that a listener could listen the soundtrack just as they would a conventional Nine Inch Nails album.[1]
Nine Inch Nails' soundtrack for Tron: Ares will be released by Interscope Records on September 19, 2025, consisting of 24 tracks.[3][4] The single "As Alive as You Need Me to Be" was released on July 17, 2025, after the title was teased on T-shirts sold at the band's Peel It Back Tour. It was produced with the band's collaborator Boys Noize.[4]
^ abcdefGodfrey, Alex (August 2025). "They Revolutionised the Film-Score Landscape. Now, as Nine Inch Nails Take On Tron: Ares, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross Tell us How They're Shaping The Future". Empire. No. 443. Bauer Media Group. pp. 54–59.
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