America’s favorite sweetheart, Jennifer Lawrence, soared to fame with her appearance in The X-Men films and her star has shined even brighter with her role in The Hunger Games films, rocketing her to superstardom. The multi-talented, Academy Award-winning actress has inspired and delighted audiences worldwide, but, until now, it had seemed that acting was where those talents were focused. She has now added singing to her list of talents.
It wasn’t long ago that Jennifer Lawrence appeared on Late Show With David Letterman , confessing to Dave and to viewers that her greatest fear has always been public singing, comparing her crooning to a “tone-deaf Amy Winehouse voice.” This topic of course came up in the television interview, during a discussion of her performance in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 , wherein she sings “The Hanging Tree.” She confessed to having had an upsetting experience with a Christmas pageant as a child, her performance in that children’s show turning out far worse than she’d imagined. She stated that the incident had caused a great aversion to public singing to develop, and it was something she had never done again, until it was called for in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1.
Lawrence had asked the filmmakers to allow her to lip-sync, but her suggestion was declined on the basis that the scene required that the musical number be heard in her own voice.
“I do not like singing in front of other people. It’s like my biggest fear. I cried on set that day. That was awful.”
As it turned out, her performance was a big hit with her fans. Her rendition of “The Hanging Tree” is headed for the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and analysts expect the song to sell more than 150,000 downloads by the close of business on November 30. Those sales figures would be more than enough to qualify Jennifer’s version of “The Hanging Tree” to debut on the Billboard charts. The Top 10 of that list will be made public on December 3, according to Billboard . The song, a part of the score album created by James Newton Howard, was released on November 24.
Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games series, co-wrote the song with The Lumineers’ Jeremiah Fraites and Wesley Schultz. Jennifer Lawrence, in the role of Katniss Everdeen, sings the song a cappella, before a choir and orchestra join the performance, reports Fashion & Style.
Listen to “The Hanging Tree” right now:
Need more Jennifer Lawrence? Check out this Inquisitr article on the release of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 , which is currently playing in theaters. Consult your local listings for venues and show times.
[Image courtesy of scifinow.co.uk]