British composer Daniel Pemberton was named Film Composer of the Year at the World Soundtrack Awards on Saturday, marking his third top honor at the Ghent-based ceremony. He previously took the prize in 2021 and won Discovery of the Year in 2014. His recent slate includes work on “Project Hail Mary,” “The Drama,” “The Bad Guys 2,” and “Masters of the Universe.”
For “Project Hail Mary,” Pemberton utilized unconventional sound sources, experimenting with wood, metal, and glass, and citing a friend’s leaky faucet as inspiration. “It was a case of throwing every crazy idea we could into the score, but at the same time, it had to be really emotional,” Pemberton said during a roundtable ahead of the closing ceremony. “I spent a lot of time trying to make people cry.”
In the music category, EJAE and songwriter Mark Sonnenblick secured Best Original Song for “Golden,” the hit from “KPop Demon Hunters.” The victory extends a winning streak that already includes a Grammy, a Golden Globe, and a remix by David Guetta. The winners were unable to attend the ceremony in person.
EJAE has previously distinguished her artistic identity from industry labels. “As an artist, I don’t want myself to be boxed into being a ‘K-pop’ artist because I don’t really view myself as a K-pop artist or a pop artist,” she told Variety last year. “I view myself as a songwriter of every genre.”
Jeff Russo was honored as Television Composer of the Year for his work on “Alien: Earth,” “Cape Fear,” and “Citadel.” Russo noted that his scores for “Cape Fear” and “Alien: Earth” drew heavily from the legacies of Bernard Herrmann, James Horner, and Jerry Goldsmith. For “Cape Fear,” he incorporated themes from Herrmann’s original 1962 composition. “That made my job both easier and much harder,” Russo explained. “I had to figure out how Herrmann writes harmonically so the two scores could sound sympathetic and live together.”
For “Alien: Earth,” Russo referenced Goldsmith’s approach to dread and Horner’s militaristic action style from the “Aliens” franchise. He adopted a delayed horn motif from Goldsmith’s original score, describing it as an easter egg for fans. “I thought it was fun [for franchise aficionados to recognize the easter egg]. We’re all here to have fun, right?”
Other award recipients included Kevin Smithers, who won the Public Choice Award for the Mexican stop-motion film “Soy Frankelda,” and Hannah Peel, who took home Discovery of the Year for “Midwinter Break.” Peel is currently scoring the Netflix adaptation of “Assassin’s Creed,” while Smithers is developing a new musical stop-motion project with “Frankelda” directors Arturo and Roy Ambriz. Nicolas Garcia won the Game Music Award for “Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss.”
The evening’s closing gala featured conductor Dirk Brossé and the Brussels Philharmonic performing selections for guest of honor Hildur Guðnadóttir and lifetime achievement recipient Trevor Jones, both of whom attended. Guðnadóttir joined the orchestra onstage on cello. The program included themes from titles such as “Tár,” “Joker,” “The Dark Crystal,” and “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.”
Additional winners included Margaret Hermant for Belgian Film Composer of the Year with “A La Cara: Mallorca Confidencial,” and Xabier Doural García for the Award for Best Original Composition by a Young Composer.
EJAE refusing to be boxed into the K-pop label is refreshing. Proving that songwriting transcends genre labels entirely.
Did anyone else think the leaky faucet inspiration was a bit of a stretch for Project Hail Mary? Still, the emotional score was undeniably powerful.