The Force Awakens Rey's Theme – John Williams' Best Theme Yet?

[BLUMENKOHL 1,081]

By golly...I feel like I'm about to vote YES!

It's already shot up to the top ten of my iTunes play counts.

[Damien F 1,777]

Well, it obviously isn't better than his golden age work or some of his 90s themes, but it is my favourite post original trilogy Star Wars theme with the exception of Dual of the Fates. I love Anakin's theme and Across the Stars but there is something really special about Rey's theme that those two don't have.

[Not Mr. Big 4,742]

Too soon...

[BLUMENKOHL 1,081]

It's not as efficient as Jaws. Or as cheery as Star Wars. Or as catchy and "hummable" as Imperial March.

But as a piece of music to listen to it? It beats em all, I think.

[Ricard 2,270]

Where's the option "NO, but it's a brilliant theme"?

[KK 3,308]

Yeah, I'm looking for that too...

Wonderful theme, but this is a man who has written some of the finest melodies of our time, and I'm not even talking about the famous ones.

[Damien F 1,777]

Yeah, I'm looking for that too...

Wonderful theme, but this is a man who has written some of the finest melodies of all time, and I'm not even talking about the famous ones.

Yeah I agree, I absolutely love Rey's theme but I'm unsure I'd put it above Jaws' End Credits for example.

It is also a difficult question because we've been listening to Rey's theme for just days, whereas we've had other themes for literally four decades with all the emotional and nostalgic attachment that brings.

[KK 3,308]

Indeed. Its a great score, but I think there's been a lot of knee-jerk reactions to it all across the forum. Only time will tell how people will view TFA against JW's body of work.

[nightscape94 966]

I don't think anything will ever beat the Force theme (Han/Princess comes close), but Rey's theme is a winner. Jewel of TFA!

[Muad'Dib 1,876]

I think it might be among his top 10 in my opinion. I find myself thinking about it quite a lot while walking on the street.

[KK 3,308]

That's usually the case when you have a good Williams tune!

[Muad'Dib 1,876]

Yeah, but for example, I didn't got caught so much with the melodies of Tintin -despite adoring that score, the only theme that really got stuck with me was Haddock's, and it appropiately showed up when I was drunk.

[KK 3,308]

I agree that it's his finest theme in years.

[John Dutton 7,506]

It's better than everything.

[Code 000. Destruct. 0. 4,260]

I don't know if right now it can surpass Monica's theme or the Blue Fairy theme. But it might get there?

[Will 2,254]

Well. I love it. But Williams has written some mighty impressive themes in the past. Even the wonderful Rey's theme can't match some of his older works.

[Damien F 1,777]

This evening, I played Rey's Theme for my friend who doesn't listen to scores or orchestral music and hates Star Wars, and it brought a smile to her face. That shows how great it is as a musical composition.

[King Mark 3,730]

NO, but it's pretty good

[The Train Station 8,882]

Sounds like a Harry Potter reject.

[John Dutton 7,506]

I prefer it to any of the Harry Potter themes.

[nightscape94 966]

Well, thankfully we can enjoy them both!

[John Dutton 7,506]

I don't need anything else now that I have TFA.

[Jay 39,768]

Where's the option "NO, but it's a brilliant theme"?

This.

[Tom 5,153]

Well, obviously the poll is borderline insane, but I will take the bait and say this: at this point, I would place the theme in the top 10 of Williams' themes. It has a mature, sublime quality that borders on some of his best concert works but with a more accessible style. I do not think the three minute track itself is a top ten piece, though it could be with a longer arrangement. I know it is wishful thinking, but he could easily incorporate the flute-theme in the final track and work up a more substantial piece.

[nightscape94 966]

His use of it throughout the score is great too. Love the various statements of it during "The Ways of the Force". The dark version @ 0:33, the do-or-die version @ 0:52 and powerful version @ 2:52. It's all good.

[Romão 2,324]

It's the best of all the Star Wars sweeping themes

[crumbs 14,905]

I'm on my second listen of The Jedi Steps and End Credits... wow. This theme is just sublime. The way he plays with it in the credits is a sheer delight; I only wish he'd played with it more in the film score proper.

Anyone who thinks Williams has lost his touch has no clue. What a transcendent, emotive, intellectually and heartfelt written theme. Not one other composer in Hollywood could've written such a layered and complex piece for a modern film.

[Taikomochi 1,257]

I think this thread is pretty hyperbolic, but I'd say Rey's theme is easily one of Williams' best developed themes. That is, it's continued use and evolution throughout the film.

[Alex 2,888]

I think it's definitely one of his best post-2000 themes

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,446]

Yes. I would absolutely agree with that.

It's also the first time since 1983 that the new lead character theme for a SW movie feels like it accurately represents that character.

Anakin's theme is lovely, but it really never fitted much with the character IMO.

Across The Stars is an epic lovetheme for a completely unappealing romance

Battle Of The Heroes...What? Anakin is a hero?

With the Prequels I guess Williams was stuck scoring concepts of characters rather then actual characters. TFA gives him more to work with.

[Quintus 5,468]

Absolutely not.

[Brónach 1,307]

I've loved it since my first listen.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,446]

Absolutely not.

Agreed, but it is one of his stand-out ones from the last 15 years. The Golden Age stuff is all but unassailable though.

[artguy360 1,910]

Rey's theme is used to great effect but because it has so many parts it sounds more motivic than melodic. Purely as a piece of music, I prefer the major themes from Lincoln and War Horse over Rey's theme partly because those themes are more lyrical and less segmented. Rey's theme is way stronger than anything in Book Thief or Tintin though.

[aviazn 273]

I think Sayuri's Theme is a better-constructed melody in this same vein of character writing. The first six notes of Rey's theme seem to meander slightly awkwardly around the tonic. And the transition into the B part of the theme bugs me. That bit is stunning on its own, but always seems pasted in, like Williams never really figured out how to merge the two ideas. In the concert track, he switches to the B theme at two different points in the A theme, and neither sound perfect to me. Minor quibbles, but to me, the melody falls short of the "inevitable" quality that his best themes have.

Having said that, it is my favorite of all the character themes in all of Star Wars. I think it conveys the broadest, most complex range of emotions of any theme in the series—maybe of any of his themes, ever—and it's the only one in the series that feels like it captures a character's personality and not their archetype.

Like, to me, Leia's theme is a princess theme—it's hummable, but it doesn't really capture what makes her great as a character, her courage or her military leadership. The Imperial March is a bad guy theme—maybe the best of all time—but it doesn't capture Vader's internal struggle.

Part of that is probably that Rey is maybe the most fully-formed Star Wars character to ever appear within the space of one movie. I mean, we didn't know that Vader had good in him in ESB. But it also seems like a deliberate shift in philosophy from Williams—like he's saying, "Ok I've done the heroic theme, the love theme, the bad guy theme, etc." and now in the new trilogy he's going to take a more character-driven approach to the material and score them more like straight-up dramas. To me, that makes me excited for the rest of this trilogy.

[Bryant Burnette 692]

Good theme. Not even in his top 100.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,446]

Top 50, surely!

[A24 4,605]

It didn't manifest itself all that greatly in the movie, right?

[Romão 2,324]

I really don't like ranking things against each other, but I do think the theme is absolutely terrific

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,446]

I never got the point of ranking themes. here are so many, and so many different types that do different things. It's really apples versus oranges.

But yes, Rey's Theme is smashing.

[The Train Station 8,882]

I'm having trouble remembering it. I must be able to remember it and hum it for it to be good. They say Herrmann's music wasn't hummable, but it was!

[A24 4,605]

I don't know, I can hum quite a bit. Doesn't mean it's good.

[Bowie 46]

At about the 0:47 mark (the flighty B-section melody), in the second phrase (0:53), he 'dots the crotchet' which hints at her lineage...

[crumbs 14,905]

I'd be staggered if Williams wasn't given direction about the next two films, as far as hinting character origins and whatnot.

[Diego 21]

Very extreme options, it's ok, not even a top 50 JW theme for me.

[SafeUnderHill 205]

[nightscape94 966]

Seriously, how cool is this section of the finale when he plays the Force theme and Rey's theme off of each other?

7:26 - 7:46

[Damien F 1,777]

Yeah, I absolutely love that part. A nice interplay of new and old.

[gkgyver 1,647]

Typical new-Williams-release overreaction. No, it is not.

It doesn't grab immediate attention, it lacks the long lined Williams punch, and is just uninteresting in the score except for the concert Theme itself and the finale Piece.

[John Dutton 7,506]

I adore it.