EL James has a lot to answer for. Since her mega-selling Fifty Shades erotic novel series started in 2011, James has given the world a seedy fascination with low-level bondage that has since become an empire, even inspiring a raft of parodies (Fifty Shames of Earl Grey by, erm, “Fanny Merkin”), and more thinkpieces than you could crack a whip at. And, via its two (and soon to be three) hugely successful soundtracks (arriving in tandem with the blockbuster film adaptations), it has also become the default franchise for artists looking to “go adult” and add a sense of risk to their brand.
While 2015’s Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack sold 2.2m copies worldwide (and was one of the Top 10 albums of 2015), its career boost for artists such as the Weeknd and Ellie Goulding proved there was real power behind its presence. For the Weeknd, his brand of sexually explicit tunes had yet to be fully embraced by the mainstream, but found their perfect match in Fifty Shades’ soft BDSM (with Earned It). Goulding, meanwhile, scored her first real solo worldwide hit with Love Me Like You Do, from the soundtrack. Both were nominated for Grammys that following year, and both peaked at No 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“I think the team that assembled the soundtrack for the first Fifty Shades of Grey film treaded carefully with their picks, assembling an assortment of artists both on the cusp of mainstream and already planted firmly in it,” says Steven J Horowitz, senior editor at Billboard. “After Fifty Shades of Grey proved it could launch careers even further into the stratosphere, Fifty Shades Darker became the soundtrack that artists should be on if they wanted to expand their audience.” Both Taylor Swift and Zayn jumped onboard for the 2017 soundtrack with the sultry I Don’t Wanna Live Forever, new sonic territory for Swift especially. That song arguably laid the foundations for last year’s Reputation album.
The Fifty Shades Freed soundtrack arrives just in time for Valentine’s Day, with newer acts such as Hailee Steinfeld hoping to benefit from its repositioning Midas touch with songs that reflect the brand’s M&S approach to S&M. Even Jamie Dornan, perhaps with an eye on Ryan Gosling’s actor-turned-singer crown, tries his hand at crooning with Maybe I’m Amazed. Perhaps Fifty Shades’s biggest benefactor, however, is Rita Ora who, having cameoed in both films (she reprises her role as Mia Grey in Freed), has been given the album’s lead single in the shape of For You featuring Liam Payne. With Ora’s only US hit a cameo on Iggy Azalea’s Black Widow, this could be the single that takes her, if not to the Weeknd’s level, then somewhere approaching shampoo enthusiast Ellie Goulding’s.
