In August 2020, it was confirmed that in addition to playing Alana Beck, Amandla Stenberg would collaborate with Pasek & Paul on the writing of a new song for her character. In August 2021, the title of this new song was revealed as "The Anonymous Ones".[2][3] Stenberg, speaking to MTV News, had said that writing the song was mostly attributed to her resonation with the character, "I really love the way it unfolded, because we were able to capture the thing we were talking about in all of our meetings together, which is the fact that we're all going through it".[4] The track was sung by American Singer, SZA who instantly connected with the song and came with few demos of the track.[5] She opined that her version was "completely different and new, but also really respectful to the original melody and lyrics of the song".[4] The cast performed most of the songs live on set.[6]
With the official film website being launched in May 2021, it confirmed that the following songs would be included: "You Will Be Found", "Waving Through a Window", "For Forever", and "Words Fail".[7] On the same day, Ben Platt stated in a Vanity Fair interview that "I think there's nothing major gone that anyone's going to miss. All of the major beats and all of the favorite songs are very much intact", while also hinting that another new song, entitled "A Little Closer", had been written for the film, later revealed to have been written for the character of Connor Murphy.[8][3] On August 24, 2021, it was announced that the film's incidental underscore would be composed by Justin Paul and Dan Romer.[9]
Four songs from the stage musical – "Anybody Have a Map?", "Disappear", "To Break In A Glove" and "Good For You" – were excluded from the soundtrack.[9] This creative decision was negatively received by critics and audiences, largely due to the filmmakers' main goal to capture and immortalize Ben Platt's performance. Chbosky, in an interview to Variety, explained about the same saying:[10]
"We had many discussions about what each number did and what we needed. It was hard. The one song I love so much and was so sad to see go was "Anybody Have a Map?" It’s a great song and on stage, it works so well as an abstraction. It opens the show, we meet the families and the characters. But we felt the best way to tell the story was to start with Evan, start with "Waving Through a Window". And then, when you meet Connor’s parents, they’re strangers to us. We’re really on Evan’s journey. It freed us up to meet all the characters through Evan. And it binds the audience to a way in Evan that is so valuable. These were the kinds of discussions we had a lot."[10]
Release
The film's soundtrack album was released by Interscope Records through digital and physical formats on September 24, 2021, the same day as the film's theatrical release. It also includes covers of five of the songs by popular artists, such as Sam Smith, Finneas O'Connell, Carrie Underwood, Dan + Shay, and Tori Kelly.[11][12][13] The first of these covers, "Only Us" (by Underwood and Dan + Shay) was released on September 3, 2021, alongside the film's version of the song.[14] Prior to that, the film's renditions of "Waving Through a Window" and "You Will Be Found" were released as promotional singles on August 26, 2021.[15] To promote the film, Platt performed the solo version of the latter on Season 16 of NBC's America's Got Talent,[16] and also performed the track on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on September 15, 2021.[17]
Both Stenberg and SZA's versions of "The Anonymous Ones" were released on September 10, 2021, the day after the film's world premiere.[18] This track was later included as one of the unreleased songs from SZA's studio album Ctrl (Deluxe) on its fifth anniversary in June 2022.[19] SZA's version of this song and Sam Smith and Summer Walker's version of "You Will Be Found" play over the closing credits, the latter song being released to the public on September 17, 2021.[20] These were followed by "Sincerely, Me", which was released prior on September 13, 2021. Sam Smith and SZA further recorded cover editions for the soundtrack.[21] The vinyl soundtrack was released on January 14, 2022.[22]
