What song plays before each game in Squid Game?

South Korean survival drama Squid Game has been a huge hit ever since it first launched on Netflix on September 17th, 2021. The gory horror show follows a game in which contestants can win millions of dollars, but if they lose, they die.

While the Netflix series aptly brings some mystery and horror to screens in the spooky month of October, Squid Game also provides viewers with some audio from centuries way back. Here’s a look at the classical music that’s played before the games on Squid Game.

Which classical music tracks feature in Squid Game?

As well as many other music genres, Squid Game features classical songs such as Trumpet Concerto by Joseph Haydn, Johann Strauss II’s By The Beautiful Blue Danube and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings.

Thirty-one minutes into Squid Game season 1 episode 1, the game players wake up to the sound of Trumpet Concerto.

By The Beautiful Blue Danube plays during season 1 episode 6 around 1 minute 30 into the episode and again in episode 7 around 15 minutes into the episode. It also plays in episode 8 during the finalists’ dinner.

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The Squid Game soundtrack explored

If it wasn’t the classical, but the other music featured in Squid Game that had you interested, a 20-track playlist is available to listen to via Spotify.

Way Back then by Jung Jaeil, Pink Soldiers by 23 and The Fat and the Rats by Park Min Joo are just some of the songs featured in the 2021 Netflix series.

Squid Game | Official Trailer | Netflix

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Squid Game | Official Trailer | Netflix

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Squid Game is trending on TikTok

#SquidGame is the latest hashtag to go viral on TikTok in 2021. The Korean Netflix series looks to have viewers hooked and even completing related challenges on TikTok.

Many TikTok users have shown fans how to make a honeycomb toffee called Dalgona, from an episode of the series.

The Squid Game hashtag has 27.7bn views at the time of writing.

• READ MORE: Why did Sangwoo kill himself in Netflix’s Squid Game?

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After studying for her BA in Journalism at Solent University, Helen went straight into writing for GRV Media as years of binge-watching the Real Housewives of Atlanta finally started to pay off. Helen has been with the company for over three years, writing about reality TV and specialising in USA and UK content. Outside of work you’ll find her rustling up Nigella’s latest recipes, or at the beach walking her dog.

As Netflix’s currently most popular new show, it’s likely you’ve already come across Squid Game. Hwang Dong-hyuk’s intensely entertaining nine-part series is keeping millions on the edge of their seats (and covering their eyes), helped along by what is fast becoming an iconic soundtrack – featuring classical favourites and some catchy original music.

What’s Squid Game all about?

The series sees a group of rather down-on-their-luck individuals tempted into a series of games at a secret facility on a remote island off the coast of South Korea. Most of the players, millions of Won in debt, are in line for a truly life-changing sum of prize money, but it comes at a great cost. The games, though simple and child-like, see the losers quite literally eliminated. As each contestant is dispatched, the prize money only increases. Though their very lives are at stake, the lure of billions keeps them playing… and audiences gripped.

Who wrote the music for Squid Game?

The music of Squid Game is overseen by music director and composer Jung Jae-il, one of South Korea’s most high profile artists. A multi-instrumentalist and composer, Jung is perhaps most familiar to western audiences as the music director and composer for Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning film Parasite (2019). He also worked with the director on his film Okja (2017) and, before that, Haemoo (2014) – which Bong produced.

Jung studied at Seoul’s Jazz Academy and began working in film music very early in his career – he was just 15 when he started. Since then he has become one of his home country’s leading music artists, working with many South Korean stars, including the singer Park Hyo-shin.

The soundtrack also features music by Park Min-ju and an artist called ‘23’, who appear to be somewhat enigmatic.

What’s the music for Squid Game like?

Jung Jae-il’s original music for Squid Game is led by guitar and percussion, which has an almost contemporary Western vibe – though not a cowboy in sight. Gritty and edgy, with electronic hues, he adds an increasingly pervasive haunting piano theme as the series progresses. It’s a suitably dramatic and emotional accompaniment.

However, it’s the quirkier tracks that are making Squid Game’s soundtrack iconic, notably Mr Jung’s piece called Way Back Then, a jaunty almost folk ditty for recorder and traditional Korean percussion. The music by the mysterious ‘23’ and Park Min-ju is also memorable, including the a cappella Pink Soldiers, the quirky Needles and Dalgona and the computer game inspired The Fat and the Rats.

It seems the faceless game makers think classical music is a nice way to calm the nerves of their dwindling, bloodied contestants, as it's piped into the various rooms. Each morning they are awoken (if they’ve slept at all) by the third movement of Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto.

The details of each new game is revealed with the strains of Johann Strauss II’s The Blue Danube, which also can be heard in the VIP lounge and around the now famous topsy-turvy staircases after the games finish. The work is also used more extensively on the soundtrack for a dining scene in the penultimate episode...

Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is also heard in the glitzy lounge, where masked billionaires bet on the lives of those at play.

Can you buy and stream the Squid Game soundtrack?

Yes, Squid Game's original soundtrack has been released to accompany the series. It features all the original tracks by Jung Jae-il and those by ‘23’ and Park Min-ju. It is available to stream and download from all the usual best music streaming platforms. It is not currently available on CD or vinyl.

• Stream on Amazon

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