Ms. Marvel

This trailer wastes no time in putting the music front and center, with The Weeknd’s recent (2019) hit “Blinding Lights” setting the tone: at eight seconds in, the first frame of action coincides with the downbeat of the drums, synched to the clicking of a pen. An instrumental version of the track serves to underpin a variety of dialogue. At 0:26 the music pauses for a punchline. As the music returns, some extra accent hits punctuate the scenes where Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani, as Kamala Khan) makes an appearance. A clock that appeared earlier in the trailer comes in at 0:33, where a ticking sound rises to the fore in the arrangement. For whatever reason, as we’ve noted before, ticking has become a go-to sonic element in the trailer’s musical arrangement; it could simply be for the sense of presence and vitality it suggests, or it could be that the pandemic has made us more conscious of passing time.

At 0:35 we see and hear our second clear synch point (after the clicking pen), with a finger snap cutting off the soundtrack. It takes until 0:43 for the music to feature a chord, or really a discernible pitch-based element, having spent so much of the preceding minute mainly in dialogue. At 0:47 the arrangement takes on a very interesting new character that diverges from The Weeknd’s version entirely, with dynamic, syncopated strings as well as more epic percussion lending a whole new layer and dynamic to the proceedings. At 0:58 some triumphant chords and triplet percussion—now almost a trailer cliché—move the soundtrack away from the original arrangement entirely, with a choir at 1:01 clearly representing a total transformation, as we witness Kamala becoming Ms. Marvel.

All of this occurs before we finally hear the musical motif from “Blinding Lights” appearing at 1:05, with the readily recognizable synth sounding more like a peak than an opening after the orchestral arrangement preceding it. Note at 1:24, after an iteration of the chorus, the re-appearance of the epic elements, which prolong the penultimate chord with a melodic embellishment. This occurs as the strings climb and the epic percussion gives one more flourish, with a blackout at 1:31 that offers satisfying punctuation before a one-liner and the main title card.

The Ms. Marvel trailer effectively trailerizes a recent pop song, offering an arrangement early on that allows for time to establish some dialogue and incorporate some elements of epic music. At the same time, it judiciously shies away from divulging the main theme or even the identity of the music in terms of melody until the middle of the trailer. This allows for a satisfying combination of the epic and popular musical elements as the former component returns in the third section, adding on even more (such as the choir). In other words, it is assiduous in maintaining variety to maintain interest and steadily build excitement, deferring critical elements—such as the song’s melody, or the inclusion of a choir—for the most impactful time. Ms. Marvel arrives on Disney+ June 8th.

— Curtis Perry