His “I See Fire” is a delicate, airy ballad full of soft vocal harmonies, spare violins and echoing drums - the calm before the action. The fantasy one: The world of Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” may be a fantastical one, but the one conjured by Ed Sheeran adheres a little closer to home. Co-written with Jack Antonoff of the band fun., “Sweeter Than Fiction” shifts from frenetic beats to mid-tempo strumming and is built around the repeatable, hook-first vocals from Swift. Taylor Swift’s “Sweeter Than Fiction” from the feel-good “One Chance” is the artist at her most genre-hopping approachable. The song opens sparsely and waits until it crosses the minute mark before ascending keyboard notes lead it to more forceful ground.
The superstars: U2’s first new song in four years, “Ordinary Love,” graces the biopic “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,” and it sees Bono & Co. And “Shine Your Way” from “The Croods” merges synthy dance-pop with deft cinematic overtures. Then there’s “Happy” from “Despicable Me 2" with its silky-cool clap-along vibe delivered by hit maker Pharrell Williams, who decorated the song with a low-key Philly-soul groove and understated keyboard shading. From the husband-and-wife songwriting team of Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, the song starts with a light flurry of piano notes and gets stronger, tougher and more chaotic with each verse until, finally, the orchestra hushes and vocalist Idina Menzel declares the “past is in the past.” The song then levels out in its final moments, a sigh of relief as much as a statement of independence. The animated front-runner: Ice sculpting gets its Broadway moment in Disney’s “Frozen,” courtesy of “Let It Go.” The grandest song in a film full of big musical numbers, “Let It Go” arrives when Princess Elsa runs from her home to construct a palace amid the snow.