If movies are all about immersion and world-building, one of the best ways to do this is to add believable details, like a hit song, for example. Movie soundtracks are a great way to turn a good song into a hit, especially when the movie itself turns out to be popular. This mainly happens with songs that already exist, or songs written by a band or singer to be played over the credits of a film, but sometimes the effect can be reverse engineered.
Some of the best successes come from the world of cinema. That is, a song that is “already” a hit in the movie can escape the matrix and become a hit in real life. These are the kind of songs that are written to be hits, most of the time taking a few cues from actual popular songs that already exist. A lot of times, this happens in parody movies, where the sheer cheesiness of the song is what makes it so catchy. In a way, all of these “fake” songs are written that way, with a degree of self-awareness, and they’re great even for that.
For this list, we’ve found 12 of the best fake hits in cinema, from funk hits to futuristic pop hits, ’70s and ’80s jams that never existed, self-deprecating rap tracks, and ballads that beg to be heard. will be sung during the nightly karaoke. These songs may have faked their initial popularity, but there is no denying that they are now real hits.
12 “Fake” Movie Songs That Are Actually Great
This is what happens when a song that is “already” a hit in a movie escapes the matrix and becomes a hit in real life.
Gallery credit: Emma Stefansky
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