"The Host. Choose To Listen." Soundtrack Lyrics

"The Host — Original Motion Picture Score & Choose To Listen (Music Inspired by the Film)" – Album Guide to Tracks and Key Scenes

Overview

What happens when a love triangle has four voices, but only two bodies? Andrew Niccol’s The Host (2013) leans into that sci-fi riddle, and its music is the quiet mediator. The score by Antonio Pinto threads a reflective, crystalline timbre through a story about invasion and consent, while a companion “songs” set — Choose To Listen — leans indie/electro to give the desert refuge and teenage resolve a pulse.

Pinto’s cues favor glassy pads, plucked pulses, and weightless motifs that mirror Wanderer’s (the “Soul” inside Melanie) tentative empathy. The writing rarely shouts; instead it suspends time — a musical ceasefire while identities negotiate. Around it, the curated songs (Active Child, Ellie Goulding, X Ambassadors, Imagine Dragons) add oxygen to key beats: longing, suspicion, surrender. It’s YA sci-fi, yes — but the music aims for tenderness over thunder.

Styles & meanings, in phases: ambient electronica — interior monologue; indie folk — human warmth/memory; alt-pop swells — romantic jeopardy; trailer-era bass and drums — marketing spectacle and “resistance” energy.

How It Was Made

Composer Antonio Pinto (City of God, Senna) scored the film proper, delivering a 27-track album of restrained, textural writing shaped around memory fragments and the film’s desert acoustics. In parallel, a 10-song “music inspired by” set (The Host: Choose To Listen) gathered artists whose palette fit the YA-sci-fi romance lane — most prominently Active Child’s “Evening Ceremony,” Ellie Goulding’s “Hanging On,” X Ambassadors’ “Litost,” and Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive” (in remix form for marketing/album use).

Music supervision balanced two briefs: keep Pinto’s inward score forward in narrative scenes, and deploy select songs at hinges (montage, intimacy, end roll, and — loudly — the trailers). Licensing steered toward 2012–2013 alt/indie names with rising heat, dovetailing with the fanbase from Stephenie Meyer’s readership.

Tracks & Scenes

Note: Below blends the film’s score placements with the companion songs set and trailer cues so you can connect what you hear to what you see.

“Radioactive” (Imagine Dragons)

Where it plays:

Prominently featured in the film’s official trailers; album appearance as the Dirty Tees remix. The cue underscores the takeover stakes and the insurgent romance tone in marketing spots (notably the Open Road Films trailer cut).

Why it matters:

Positions the film in contemporaneous alt-rock zeitgeist; grit and drop sell rebellion more than the film proper does, setting expectations for scale and voltage.

“Evening Ceremony” (Active Child)

Where it plays:

Used as a signature mood piece for releases/companion album; associated with late-film intimacy/closure in promotional materials and widely recognized by fans as the “end-of-the-journey” song for Wanda/Melanie’s arc.

Why it matters:

Pat Grossi’s choir-tinged falsetto mirrors the film’s dual-soul interiority — a prayer over identity and surrender. It’s the emotional north star of the songs set.

“Hanging On” (Ellie Goulding)

Where it plays:

Used in campaign materials/companion album context; the airy synths map to Melanie’s memories and Wanderer’s cautious attachment in romance-tilted promos.

Why it matters:

Textbook YA-romance sound design — breathy, weightless, bittersweet — reinforcing the push-pull between human memory and alien calm.

“Litost” (X Ambassadors)

Where it plays:

On the companion album and fan-circulated scene associations with the rebel hideout’s reflective beats (quiet cave sequences, post-conflict reconciliation energy).

Why it matters:

Title refers to a Czech untranslatable — a sudden sight of one’s own misery. That’s the movie in miniature: a being seeing itself, and not liking what it’s done.

“Lost” (Die Mason Die)

Where it plays:

Appears on the “Choose To Listen” set; tied by fans to wandering/desert traversal images and post-escape breathers.

Why it matters:

Dark-folk color that humanizes the bleakness between chases — the sand, the hiding, the doubt.

“Cat Howlin’ Ted” (Brett Andow)

Where it plays:

Credited in film sources alongside the early “implant”/possession setup, i.e., the clinical opening where a captured human receives a Soul.

Why it matters:

One of those blink-and-you-miss-it source/texture cues that sell the strange calm of the new world order.

Score highlights (Antonio Pinto)

“Outer Space,” “Soul Inside,” “Wanderer”

Opening reel IDs that sketch Wanderer’s inner temperature — quiet arpeggios, tremulous pads. They make the body a landscape.

“Escape,” “Into the Cave,” “River Fight”

Momentum cues: hand-percussion ticks and synth swells that never go fully “action,” keeping the focus on tension over spectacle.

“Goodbye Wanderer,” “Home”

Resolution cues, gently cathartic — strings and glassy keys braided to suggest coexistence and parting at once.

Notes & Trivia

• The project shipped with two official music products: Pinto’s score album and a songs/companion set branded Choose To Listen.
• “Radioactive” became the campaign’s calling card; its remix branding on the album reflects a marketing-forward choice rather than an in-scene banger.
• Active Child’s “Evening Ceremony” emerged as the fan-favorite closer vibe even for viewers lukewarm on the film — a case of music outlasting movie memory.
• Pinto’s score continues his skill for empathetic tension over mayhem, previously heard in character-driven films (Senna, Lord of War).
• Several “Choose To Listen” artists (Goulding, X Ambassadors) were cresting 2012–2014 waves across other YA franchises and trailers.

Reception & Quotes

Critics split on the film but often singled out the music as tastefully restrained for the genre, with the campaign songs doing heavy lifting in the marketing memory.

“A brazen combination of familiar sci-fi themes and teen romance — saved, at times, by a gentler musical touch.” Major broadsheet review, spring 2013

“Active Child’s ‘Evening Ceremony’ is the movie’s lingering echo.” Music press roundup, 2013

“Pinto writes for breath, not bombast.” Film-music blogger, 2013

Interesting Facts

• Trailer DNA: The trailers’ sound — crunchy bass, cinematic drops — is far rowdier than the film’s introspective score.
• Untranslatable title track: X Ambassadors’ “Litost” references a Czech mood of sudden self-recognition — a neat fit for the story’s moral turn.
• Companion curation: The songs LP functions like a mixtape for the cave community — more vibe than diegetic world-building.
• Remix logic: “Radioactive (The Dirty Tees Mix)” gives extra lift for TV spots and album cohesion.
• Soft synths ≈ chrome world: Pinto’s timbres echo the Souls’ clean, chrome aesthetic — beauty with a clinical edge.

Technical Info

• Title: The Host — Original Motion Picture Score; The Host: Choose To Listen (Music Inspired by the Film)
• Year: 2013
• Type: Film score + companion songs set
• Composers: Antonio Pinto (score)
• Music supervision: Studio-backed curation for companion album; campaign syncs led with Imagine Dragons
• Selected notable placements: “Radioactive” (trailers/marketing); “Evening Ceremony,” “Hanging On,” “Litost,” “Lost” (companion set associations)
• Release context: Theatrical release March 29, 2013; albums issued spring 2013 (digital/streaming) with later physical pressings
• Label/album status: Score released by Metropolis Movie Music; companion songs released via Interscope/Vagrant affiliates
• Availability: Both albums stream widely; some tracks cross-listed on artist EPs/singles

Questions & Answers

Is “Radioactive” actually in the movie or just the trailers?

It’s the campaign’s flagship trailer cue; the remix appears on the companion album. The score, not the song, drives most in-film scenes.

Which track best represents Wanda/Melanie’s inner dialogue?

Pinto’s “Soul Inside” and “Wanderer” for score; Active Child’s “Evening Ceremony” as the songs-side mirror.

Where can I hear the full score?

On major platforms under The Host (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Antonio Pinto.

What’s on the companion album?

Ten artist tracks “inspired by” the film — Active Child, Ellie Goulding, X Ambassadors, Imagine Dragons (Dirty Tees remix), and more.

Are there diegetic songs in the cave sequences?

Music stays mostly non-diegetic; the world’s “clean” aesthetic keeps source music sparse.

Key Contributors

Sources: IMDb Soundtracks; WhatSong; Hollywood Reporter (music news); The Playlist; Apple Music (album page); Spotify (album page); Open Road Films trailer on YouTube; Slice of SciFi track list feature; Film Wikipedia entry.

November, 28th 2025