The latest sci-fi drama starring Ryan Gosling has audiences talking not just about the emotional story of a lone astronaut, but also about the incredible music filling the theater. Project Hail Mary, directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, arrived in cinemas on March 20, 2026, and features a unique blend of an original score and a collection of well-known songs that play a key role in the plot.
The film follows Ryland Grace (Gosling), a science teacher who wakes up on a spaceship far from Earth with no memory of how he got there. He soon discovers his mission is to save Earth from a cosmic crisis. Along the way, he forms an unlikely friendship with an alien he calls Rocky. Music becomes a central theme of their communication, making the soundtrack more than just background noise—it is part of the story itself.
Here is a complete guide to every song you hear in the movie and the details behind the score.
The Complete List of Songs in the Movie
The film uses several popular tracks as “needle drops” during key scenes. From a memorable karaoke moment to songs that play on the spaceship, the selection is diverse. One of the most talked-about scenes features Sandra Hüller (who plays Eva Stratt) singing a karaoke version of a Harry Styles hit.
Below is the full list of songs featured in Project Hail Mary:
- ‘Sign Of The Times’ – Harry Styles (Karaoke version performed by Sandra Hüller)
- ‘Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down’ – Kris Kristofferson
- ‘Rainbows’ – Dennis Wilson
- ‘Pata Pata’ – Miriam Makeba
- ‘The Final Bell’ – Bill Conti (from the film Rocky)
- ‘Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off’ – Ella Fitzgerald (Karaoke version)
- ‘Gracias a la Vida (En Vivo)’ – Mercedes Sosa
- ‘Stargazer’ – Neil Diamond
- ‘Wind Of Change’ – Scorpions (Karaoke version)
- ‘Po Atarau – Now Is The Hour’ – St Joseph’s Maori Girls College
- ‘Glory, Glory’ – Ike and Tina Turner
- ‘Two Of Us’ – The Beatles
- ‘Theme From Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ – John Williams (Heard in a brief clip)
For fans of The Beatles, the track “Two of Us” holds particular significance as it plays a role similar to its function in the original novel by Andy Weir.
Who Composed the Project Hail Mary Score?
While the licensed songs add flavor to the human moments on Earth and the ship, the emotional weight of the space journey is carried by the original score. The music was composed by Daniel Pemberton, a frequent collaborator of directors Lord and Miller.
Pemberton is known for his work on the Spider-Verse films (Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse) and The Trial of the Chicago 7. For this project, he called it the “most challenging” and “most complicated” score of his career.
How the Unique Sound of the Film Was Made
The music in Project Hail Mary does not sound like a typical Hollywood blockbuster. Pemberton and the directors wanted to avoid a standard orchestral sound to match the story of a man trying to survive using his wits and science.
Instead of relying solely on a symphony, Pemberton created a sound world using unusual instruments and recording techniques. Some of the key elements of the score include:
- School Children: Pemberton recruited a group of kids to record sounds of clapping, stomping, and slapping to create a rhythmic, human pulse for the music.
- A Squeaky Faucet: One of the earliest sounds he used was the creak of a water pipe, which he turned into a musical instrument to represent the fragile and unstable start of the mission.
- The Cristal Baschet: This rare glass instrument from the 1950s was used to create the otherworldly tones associated with the alien Rocky.
- Wood Blocks: While the directors joked about scoring the whole film with one wood block, Pemberton did use it extensively. The eight-minute cue titled “Time Go Fishing” starts with a single wood block and builds into a massive piece that uses every musical idea from the film.
“I wanted to create an organic and unusual sound world that hopefully felt new and unexpected yet still reached and touched the emotional beats that we long for in great film making experiences.”
– Daniel Pemberton, Composer
Pemberton explained that his goal was to make the audience cry. He spent a long time focusing on specific emotional moments, using small changes in volume or melody to pull at the audience’s feelings. One track he mentioned, “A Moment” (which plays during a beautiful scene involving the “Petrova Line”), still makes him emotional even after hearing it thousands of times.
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The Project Hail Mary Score Track List
For those who want to listen to the score after leaving the theater, the album Project Hail Mary (Original Motion Picture Score) is available on digital platforms and for pre-order on CD and vinyl. The vinyl release features over 85 minutes of music, including tracks named after key moments and the film’s famous catchphrase.
The main tracks from the score include:
- Ryland Grace, Cognition Assessment
- Humanity
- You Were Loved (Burial)
- The Message
- Barrier Language
- Learning To Communicate
- A Moment
- Time Go Fishing
- Amaze Amaze Amaze (Fist My Bump)
- Goodbye My Friend
- Believe in the Hail Mary
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