Tag: Music

There are so many fantastic moments in the new movie Hustlers, but one stands out above the rest to me. (Caution: Spoilers for the film ahead.) It’s when Ramona (Jennifer Lopez) and Destiny (Constance Wu), two strippers fresh off making some serious cash, go shopping for a new car. Once they’ve settled on one they like—it’s expensive, of course—they turn on the radio, and Britney Spears’ “Gimme More” starts blasting. “That’s my motherfuckin’ song,” Ramona says, her voice oozing with enthusiasm and excitement. This is directly followed by a money-making montage set to Spears’ 2007 hit, in which we see Destiny, Ramona, and their stripper friends literally get more: more money, more clients, more everything. We watch the Wall Street dudes who frequent the strip clubs line their pockets, as well. The scene is rich: decadent, delicious, and totally indicative of the pre-financial crisis era it’s set in.

This is just one example of how Hustlers uses sound to tell its story. The movie, based on The Cut’s 2015 article “The Hustlers at Scores,” centers on a group of strippers who used drugs, alcohol, and sheer sex appeal to scam their wealthy clients out of thousands. It’s the type of story that demands a loud, epic soundtrack—and Hustlers certainly delivers.

“Most of the music choices were also written into the script,” Lorene Scafaria, the movie’s director, tells Glamour. “I had obviously imagined scenes to these songs, and we shot to these songs, but you never know if you’re going to get the rights.”

She did get the rights, thankfully, and the movie is better for it. The aforementioned money-making scene just wouldn’t have popped the same way without Spears’ breathy, distorted vocals. “[‘Gimme More’] was a song that was really a perfect time capsule of that era, both of the Wall Street guys and the girls working,” Scafaria says. “Being able to intercut to that song was crucial.”

“Crucial” is a perfect word to describe the music in Hustlers. All the sonic choices in this film feel deliberate and necessary. Take the fact that Ramona, a seasoned stripper, shows newcomer Destiny some tricks of the trade in a scene set to classical music. The takeaway? Pole-dancing is an art that requires the same level of talent and discipline as playing the piano.

Or how about Ramona’s first dance in the film, set to “Criminal” by Fiona Apple. The song’s title alone makes it perfect for Ramona, who eventually becomes a criminal, but read some of the lyrics: “It’s a sad, sad world/When a girl will break a boy/Just because she can.” The entire plot of Hustlers centers on women metaphorically “breaking” morally-corrupt men. Of course, their reasons are a bit deeper than “because they can,” but the takeaway is the same. Scafaria could’ve picked any vacant electronic song to soundtrack this scene, but instead she chose something specific.

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