Saleka Shyamalan took notes on Taylor Swift’s popular culture affect whereas creating her character, Woman Raven, and all the unique music for her and pa M. Evening Shyamalan’s new movie, Entice.
“I believe Taylor Swift, when it comes to her affect in society, was a extremely attention-grabbing issue,” Saleka, 28, completely informed Us Weekly whereas discussing the upcoming psychological thriller. “I believe on the planet of Woman Raven, she’s not as huge as Taylor Swift, however I believe the concept of how related her followers really feel to her and the way going to her live performance is such an enormous second of their lives and the way they really feel within the room surrounded by different women which might be loving her songs.”
She continued, “I believe that concept was actually highly effective and the consequences that an artist, {that a} musician, can have on children, particularly and younger women, I believe is a lovely factor. And Taylor Swift is a tremendous instance of that.”
Saleka stars as Woman Raven in Entice, the pop star acting at a large live performance that’s getting used to catch an notorious serial killer often known as The Butcher (Josh Hartnett), who has taken his daughter to see the present.
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The movie is written and directed by Saleka’s dad, M. Evening, with Saleka composing, performing and producing all the unique music which options particular visitors Child Cudi, Russ, and Amaarae. The soundtrack boasts 14 unique songs, every crafted particularly to the script and narrative of the movie by mixing Saleka’s classical piano coaching together with her distinct dark-pop-R&B manufacturing and tonality.
When it got here to crafting Woman Raven’s discography, Saleka — who studied music manufacturing and composition at Brown College — mentioned she pulled from each her personal life and that of her character’s in hopes of constructing the music an amalgamation of actual and imagined.
“It is vitally a lot myself and I wished to make an album that I felt related to and that I cherished, so I attempted to search out connective tissue between me and Woman Raven,” she defined. “[I] additionally [wanted to pull from] what’s occurring within the film for every tune and take inspiration from that however make it lyrics that I wish to sing and that I’d have enjoyable with, hopefully attending to sing these songs for the remainder of my life and really feel related to them.”
Saleka additionally turned to Hartnett’s character — a.okay.a Cooper a.okay.a The Butcher — to permit the music to sync up together with his story arc and comply with alongside “together with his mindset” as he begins to spiral uncontrolled.
“I wrote to the script nearly like how a composer would write a rating to the film,” she defined, noting that if a tune didn’t match the script it didn’t go within the film. ”So the script was type of just like the structure and the figuring out issue of what wanted to be there, after which I wrote to that.”
As M. Evening — finest identified for The Sixth Sense, Indicators, The Village and extra — and Saleka have all the time shared an appreciation for music-driven movies, the duo primarily constructed the idea of Entice throughout kitchen desk conversations. As soon as the script was completed, Saleka used it as supply materials to present perspective to the music.
Channeling the acts of a serial killer into chord progressions and finger slides isn’t any straightforward feat, however past Entice’s extra horror-esque parts is a narrative concerning the love between fathers and daughters. It was these story beats — in addition to her relationship together with her personal father — that Saleka targeted on when composing the movie’s soundtrack from scratch.
“I believe on the core of this film is this sense of, ‘Would you continue to love your dad if he was a serial killer?’ And I believe it’s, like, this final type of unconditional love between guardian and youngster,” she informed Us.
Saleka added that her family is equally as tight-knit: “My mother and father and my siblings and I are all very shut, particularly [me and] my dad; he’s a rock of our household,” she mentioned. “My sisters and I are finest buddies, so we do have that type of familial love on the core of all the things that retains us grounded and sane whereas all the things else is loopy round [us].”
Saleka, after all, isn’t simply singing in Entice — she’s additionally making her main performing debut. That meant working alongside Hartnett, who Saleka known as each an “unbelievable” actor and the “nicest human.”
Josh Hartnett as Cooper and Ariel Donoghue as Riley in “TRAP” Courtesy of Warner Bros. Footage
“He’s simply so humble. It’s actually fantastic to see, and, like my dad, he’s a grasp at his craft,” she gushed. “Simply watching [him] is an unbelievable expertise. Attending to witness that and seeing how he embodies the character and all of the work that goes into it and what he brings to the web page that you just couldn’t even think about. It was actually magical.”
Working with Hartnett elevated Saleka’s personal efficiency. The multi-hyphenate would watch Hartnett’s “free and spontaneous power” throughout rehearsals so as to get “out of [her] head” and into character.
“Generally when [Josh] was off digital camera, he would actually assist prep me into the emotion of it by simply being extremely darkish,” Saleka recalled. “Generally when [it isn’t an actor’s coverage], they’re not [performing] full out, however he would go full out for me so I may really feel the emotion of it. It’s a extremely unbelievable and devoted factor to do.”
Whereas getting into Woman Raven’s footwear — with Hartnett and her dad as her guides — was an expertise she gained’t neglect, writing and performing music continues to be Saleka’s past love. It’s one thing she appears ahead to selecting again up as soon as Entice hits theaters on Friday, August 2, as she preps for varied upcoming tasks. However she’s additionally not ruling out this performing factor, both.
“As quickly because the film comes out, I’ll be again dwelling writing new songs and dealing on an album, and hopefully I’d like to preserve writing for movie and tv,” she informed Us. “I believe that that’s a ardour of mine. And whether or not that signifies that I’m in [the movie] or writing for the background music, I’d like to do all of these issues.”
Entice hits theaters on Friday, August 2.
Woman Raven (Unique Music From The Movement Image Entice) can also be out tomorrow.
