Hocus Pocus 2 (soundtrack)

Hocus Pocus 2 (Original Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the 2022 fantasy comedy film "Hocus Pocus 2"; a sequel to the 1993 film "Hocus Pocus". John Debney, who scored for the first film, returned for the sequel in October 2021. The album consisted of 28 tracks: two original songs, seven adapted songs and Debney's score containing the remainder of it. It was digitally released by Walt Disney Records on September 30, 2022 (the same day on the film's Disney+ release), and will be followed by a physical release on November 11.
Production.
John Debney recalled on scoring "Hocus Pocus 2", as a wonderful and emotional experience, and further said "It was quite a wonderful experience It was rather emotional. How often does a composer get to rework material that they wrote so many years ago, to try to make it fresh, and pay respect to its lineage". He archived the original sketches of the score he recorded for "Hocus Pocus", and re-recorded them along with the fresh themes he composed for the sequel. He felt it as an interesting education, to replay original cues and worked well with the film, and further Debney said "I've also grown as a composer in different ways. The new material, the new themes for this film, they're for a more contemporary audience that likes darker sounds. It’s the encapsulation of new material, the old material, and then the blending of the two, and it worked out really well."
Debney opined that creating darker sounds for the film was akin to the composition for "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (2010), that had a magical witchcraft score" from the classical world. While the score for the first film had female choir, he opted for using a solo female vocals, to give a "more personal, almost childlike sound that evokes a much darker palette". On the instrumentation of the film's score, Debney said:
"There are a lot of contemporary techniques – we’re using the strings and manipulating them and having them do "glissandi", and do trimming things; a lot of tonal things with choir getting tonal textures here and there. I’ll let the readers a little bit under the hood: our demos are sounding so good these days that many times my demo sounds bigger than the orchestra. That can be good - and it can be bad. In this case, the orchestra was big-sounding, but I really needed some of the darker colours and basslines of the synthetics to really make it fill up the screen, as it were."
Debney wrote new themes for the Sanderson Sisters, which Debney described it as "sing-songy dark waltz" fashioned theme, and added "It's in the lighter moments, sometimes you'll hear it as Sarah's waltz or there’s a great scene towards the end of the film when I get a very dark version with the horns and the Wagner tubas." The recording consisted of two sessions held at the Newman Scoring Stage in 20th Century Studios and Sony Scoring Stage, as he felt that "each stage had its own distinct tone"; nearly 80 minutes of orchestral music have been recorded for the film.
Songs.
Apart from Debney's score, the album featured two songs performed by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy, who played the Sanderson Sisters. The first track is titled "The Witches Are Back", a re-written version of the Elton John single, "The Bitch Is Back" (1974), featuring additional lyrics by Midler and Marc Shaiman. The second song titled, "One Way or Another", is a cover of the 1979 single by Blondie. The cover version of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' track "I Put a Spell on You" (1956), a track that was featured in the first film, was also included in the sequel too, with the trio again rendering. Other tracks include: "Skeleton Sam" by LVCRFT, "Planet Claire" by The B-52's, "Ghosted" by DBone and The Remains, "Afraid of the Night" by DBone and The Remains and Earl St. Clair, "Hocus Pocus Voo Doo" by Big Bob Kornegay, and a remixed version of Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me" by The Urban Renewal Project. Some of the tracks, featured in the film and not included in the soundtrack include, "Skate" by Silk Sonic and "Garden of Magic" (an original song) by Jessica Parker.
Promotion.
On October 10, 2022, as a Disney+ Night tribute, the track "The Witches Are Back" was performed by Jessie James Decker and Alan Bersten, at the 31st season of Dancing with the Stars. Debney is set to perform the score from the sequel at the live concert tribute to the film, titled "Hocus Pocus in Concert". The event will be held in London from October 23 to 28.
Reception.
The musical numbers and Debney's score were highlighted as the positive aspects off the film. Ani Bundel of "Elite Daily" opined that the songs are "spooky bangers" and are "just begging to be part of your Halloween playlist". Zoe Adams of "Heart" further added that the songs "make the perfect soundtrack for Halloween".