"Southside with You" Soundtrack Lyrics

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"Southside with You — Music From the Motion Picture (2016)" – Album Guide to Tracks and Key Scenes

Overview

How do you score a first date that everyone already knows the ending to? By letting the songs do the flirting. Southside with You — Music From the Motion Picture is a compact, period-perfect set of late-’80s R&B, Motown deep cuts, and golden-age hip-hop, with Stephen James Taylor’s warm, unobtrusive score breathing between the radio moments. The music frames a single Chicago day in 1989 as memory — sunny, specific, and quietly momentous.

Arrival → adaptation → rebellion → collapse: the album rides that arc in miniature. The arrival is pure radio bliss (Janet on the dial), adaptation happens as the pair roam the Art Institute and a community meeting, rebellion hums as tougher grooves and street sounds push back against small frictions, and any collapse is emotional — the late-evening exhale into tenderness. Styles mapped to meaning: quiet-storm & new jack swing — confidence, attraction; Motown — heritage, continuity; conscious hip-hop — values and voice; light orchestral score — breath between beats.

How It Was Made

The film’s needle drops were curated to feel like a South Side mixtape from summer ’89 — the year of Do the Right Thing, new jack swing, and big-hearted soul revivals. The compilation album arrived via Columbia Records/Get Lifted Film, while the separate score album showcases Stephen James Taylor’s gentle cues for museum halls, park walks, and that ice-cream-parlor glow. John Legend, also an executive producer on the film, contributed the closing-credits ballad “Start,” written to dovetail musically with Taylor’s preceding score cues.

Tracks & Scenes

“Miss You Much” — Janet Jackson
Where it plays: Opening minutes (~00:02). Barack sits in his dented car, cigarette dangling, radio up; the camera clocks rust, sunlight, and that unmistakable jam as he heads to pick up Michelle (diegetic car radio).
Why it matters: One needle drop and we’re in 1989 — instantly. It’s swagger, it’s summer, it’s a handshake with the audience.

“Hey Young World” — Slick Rick
Where it plays: Daytime city drive between stops (~00:20–00:30). The lyric’s gentle counsel floats over street scenes and small talk; the world outside the windows becomes part of the conversation (diegetic/transition montage).
Why it matters: Values on vinyl — the cue frames their talk about purpose and community.

“Nite and Day” — Al B. Sure!
Where it plays: An easy cruise after the museum (~~00:35). Windows cracked, traffic humming; attraction turns from quips to quiet (diegetic radio).
Why it matters: New jack swing as chemistry meter — soft edges, forward motion.

“A Love Like Yours (Don’t Come Knocking Everyday)” — Martha Reeves & The Vandellas
Where it plays: Early evening bridge (~~00:50). A classic Motown cut threads over a walking-and-talking interlude; the film lets the groove carry the subtext (non-diegetic overlay).
Why it matters: Heritage in the background — a Chicago courtship set to America’s songbook.

“Moanin’ and Groanin’” — Bill Withers
Where it plays: Brief interiors stop (~~00:56). A sly, bluesy wink under a scene about work/life balance (source needle in-room).
Why it matters: Texture. Withers’ grit grounds the sweetness.

“Close the Door” — Teddy Pendergrass
Where it plays: Twilight glide toward the community center (~~01:00). The strings purr; the conversation deepens (diegetic radio).
Why it matters: Sensual classic reframed as respect — connection without rush.

“I Gave to You” — The Delfonics
Where it plays: Night walk and the famed ice-cream stop (~~01:10). Soft falsetto over streetlights and smiles; a first-date moment turns iconic (non-diegetic into ambient source).
Why it matters: Old-school romance for a new-school couple — a perfect bow.

“Start” — John Legend
Where it plays: End credits (immediately after the final scene). A tender, contemporary coda that musically resolves from the score into song form.
Why it matters: Title as thesis — beginnings, chosen and cherished.

Score moments — Stephen James Taylor
“Walk with Me (Southside Main Title)” — a gentle motif that sets an unhurried pace.
“Art Museum (Ernie Barnes)” — warm chords and space for conversation, letting the Barnes discussion breathe.
“Walk in the Park” — light percussion and guitar as counterpoint to city noise.

Notes & Trivia

• The compilation album is released by Columbia Records in partnership with Get Lifted Film Co.; the separate score album is issued by IM Global Music.
• Janet’s “Miss You Much” opens the film — a one-cue time machine.
• The soundtrack’s hip-hop conscience comes via Slick Rick’s “Hey Young World,” a 1989 single woven into the day’s drives.
• Stephen James Taylor’s score album cues are short, intimate vignettes — museum, park, neighborhood — rather than big symphonic statements.
• John Legend’s “Start” was tailored to the key/mood of the score cue that leads into the credits.

Music–Story Links

When that opening radio hit kicks in, we meet Barack not through exposition, but taste — cool, current (for 1989), a little scuffed. As the day widens, hip-hop counsels (“Hey Young World”) and Motown comforts (Martha & the Vandellas) echo the duo’s talk about community, family, and ambition. New jack swing turns the car into a safe little world; Delfonics’ velvet seals the night. The score steps in where silence would be — museum halls, a park bench — giving the conversation room to change them.

Reception & Quotes

Reviewers called the film a warm, patient romance with a deft sense of time and place; the soundtrack choices are a big reason why. As one review put it, the specific radio cues (that Janet opener!) ground you in the year without underlining too hard. And John Legend has said the closing song was written to sit exactly where the score left off — a musical handshake at the credits.

“From the opening with Janet Jackson playing, it feels good.” — John Legend, interview

“Grounded in its 1989 setting — ‘Miss You Much’ on the radio, Do the Right Thing in theaters.” — EW capsule

“A love song to Chicago and its denizens.” — review line

Interesting Facts

• Two releases: a 9-track “Music From the Motion Picture” compilation and a 15-track original score album.
• Label pairing: Columbia Records handled the compilation; IM Global Music issued the score.
• Ernie Barnes connection: the museum scene’s art talk is mirrored by a notably spacious score cue.
• Mixtape logic: Motown → new jack swing → conscious rap mirrors the date’s conversational flow.
• Get Lifted stamp: the film comes from Legend’s Get Lifted Film Co., which also appears on the album rights line.
• Ice-cream canon: the first-kiss stop outside an ice-cream shop became the movie’s poster-moment — and a late-cue musical pivot.

Technical Info

• Title (compilation): Southside with You — Music From the Motion Picture
• Title (score): Southside with You — Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
• Year / Type: 2016 — Film soundtrack (various artists) + Original score
• Labels: Columbia Records / Get Lifted Film, LLC (compilation); IM Global Music (score)
• Key tracks (compilation): “Miss You Much” (Janet Jackson); “Hey Young World” (Slick Rick); “Nite and Day” (Al B. Sure!); “A Love Like Yours” (Martha & the Vandellas); “I Gave to You” (The Delfonics); “Close the Door” (Teddy Pendergrass); “Start” (John Legend)
• Composer (score): Stephen James Taylor — cues include “Walk with Me (Southside Main Title),” “Art Museum (Ernie Barnes),” “Walk in the Park”
• Release timing: Albums issued around the U.S. theatrical launch (late Aug.–mid-Sept. 2016, territory-dependent)
• Availability: Digital/streaming; retail download via major storefronts

Questions & Answers

Is there one album or two?

Two: a Columbia Records compilation of songs heard in the film and a separate IM Global Music release of Stephen James Taylor’s score.

What song opens the movie?

Janet Jackson’s “Miss You Much” — coming straight from Barack’s car radio in the first minutes.

What plays over the end credits?

John Legend’s “Start,” written to segue out of the score’s final cue.

Who composed the score?

Stephen James Taylor, whose cues keep things intimate — museum, park, neighborhood textures.

Any hip-hop on the soundtrack?

Yes — notably Slick Rick’s “Hey Young World,” which threads the film’s drives and values talk.

Canonical Entities & Relations

Subject	Relation	Object
Southside with You (film)	music by	Stephen James Taylor (score)
Southside with You — Music From the Motion Picture	released by	Columbia Records / Get Lifted Film, LLC
Southside with You — Original Motion Picture Soundtrack	released by	IM Global Music
John Legend	performs	“Start” (end credits)
Janet Jackson	needle-drop	“Miss You Much” (opening car radio)
Slick Rick	needle-drop	“Hey Young World” (drive montage)
Al B. Sure!	needle-drop	“Nite and Day”
Martha Reeves & The Vandellas	needle-drop	“A Love Like Yours (Don’t Come Knocking Everyday)”
The Delfonics	needle-drop	“I Gave to You”

Sources: Apple Music listings; RogerEbert.com interview & review; Entertainment Weekly; Vanity Fair; IMDb soundtrack; Spotify/IM Global listing for the score; official trailers.

A soundtrack can really say little of the narration line of the film, which is in most cases true. You could never tell upfront that this film is about love of Michelle and Barack Obama – most powerful couple on Earth right at the moment. For example, A Love Like Yours by Martha Reeves & The Vandellas is like a mirror to all the songs of this soundtrack. They all tell of passion and love in their lyrics. It is like a big huge goodbye gift to two times president of the United States, one of the best presidents in the lifetime of the USA ever. He lead the country out of recession, bigger than 1930-ieth one and created several millions new work places throughout the country, which is huge! And in addition to being the first black president of the United Stated, he is a direct predecessor of another brand new president – a woman, Hillary Clinton, who is becoming one in just a few months, 2017. The only pop here, Miss You Much, is produced by Janet Jackson. Every other song is either blues, R&B or soul. And a song Moanin' and Groanin' presumably telling of their first night after their first date, which in a trailer is called ‘one of best first dates ever’. The film also reveals the character of a man, who in many years from this point becomes a president of the most powerful country in the history of a Mankind, which 50 years ago let the first astronaut on a Moon, which is wow! The entire soundtrack is like a box of sweet chocolate candies, the same as Nite & Day song’s lyrics. There is no place for bad thoughts or feelings and the plot tells the story of how a simple man can become a total novice in some area, if he tries really hard. Maybe not directly, but this film gives a hope for millions of people worldwide. In heart feelings and in life goals, which is so cute, like a sleepy fluffy kitten.

November, 27th 2025

Read about "Southside with You" on Wikipedia, visit movie pages on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes

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