Atlantic
Urban Contemporary, 2015

Furious 7 continues the tradition of other soundtracks for this franchise – I’m not sure what to call the series now, to be honest. Is it The Fast and the Furious, Fast & Furious, Fast, or Furious? Anyway, there are plenty of fast beats, hard bass lines, heavy sampling, and furious riffs on themes often involving the words “ride” and “blast” and “money”. After all, there is nothing too complicated about fast cars and hot people in dramatic chases and heists. Here, the word “family” comes up often too, because the movie is now all about the main characters group hugging 24/7. I suspect it’s all Vin Diesel’s idea.

This one, however, has an added poignancy in tracks like Ride Out (by Kid Ink, Tyga, Wale, YG, and Rich Homie Quan) since all that talk about “last rides” can hit hard considering the real life tragedy of Paul Walker’s fatal car accident that took place during the filming of the movie. Most of the tracks here are on the generic side, but there’s no denying that they work in creating the right atmosphere for the movie. Go Hard or Go Home by Wiz Khalifa and Iggy Azalea, for example, sound exactly like things each has done before, but it does its job perfectly fine for this occasion.

See You Again by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth is the undisputed highlight of this soundtrack, as it’s all about paying homage to Paul Walker while Mr Puth’s falsetto delivers the hard hitting chorus with lines like:

It’s been a long day, my friend
But I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again

Simple, uncomplicated lines, but ouch, they hurt so hard when taken in context with the last few frames of the movie. I personally avoid listening to this admittedly beautiful song too often, though, as it is already being played to death on the radio and everywhere else. It won’t be long before it joins My Heart Will Go On as one of the most reviled tunes in history due to overexposure. I personally feel that the best song here is the Rihanna sound-alike How Bad Do You Want It (Oh Yeah) by Sevyn Streeter. That one is hot, sexy, and fabulous. The obligatory “happy Latin tune” here, Meneo by Fito Blanko, is pretty okay too, but I just can’t listen to it often because it’s used for a happy moment that features CGI Paul Walker, sigh.

At any rate, Furious 7 is pretty much what one expects it to be, and it meets expectations perfectly.