DESPICABLE ME 4 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

LOS ANGELES, CA – June 28th 2024 – Back Lot Music announces the release of Illumination's DESPICABLE ME 4  Original Motion Picture Soundtrack with music by GRAMMY^®Award-winning composer Heitor Pereira. In the first Despicable Me movie in seven years, Gru, the world’s favorite supervillain-turned-Anti-Villain League-agent, returns for an exciting, bold new era of Minions mischief. The film hits theaters nationwide on Wednesday, July 3rd, and the album is available today everywhere digital music is sold and streamed. In the world of Despicable Me, the music plays a vital role in interweaving the narrative with equal parts mischief and heart. Amidst the record-breaking success of the franchise, composer Heitor Pereira has been the creative force behind the films’ iconic musical scores, including the latest installment, Despicable Me 4. With a remarkable 14-year tenure composing for the Despicable Me universe, Pereira adopts a character-centric approach to his compositions. “Believe it or not, I wait until every new character sings their melodies to me,” Pereira says. “I hear their music through the tones of their voices, the rhythm of their dialogue, their extreme personalities and how they interact with all the other characters in the story. When you write for one character, you have to think about all the others—it is how this melody can coexist and interact with the melodies of everybody else. Animation can be very intricate. My job is still to make it sound like the music was born along with it!”  In Despicable Me 4, Pereira explores diverse musical themes to capture the essence of the story and characters. “Illumination movies are very international and are for all ages, which then allows music to be multicultural and otherworldly,” Pereira says. “I gave Maxime’s theme a little French twist. I have a new theme for the town of Mayflower, which I made into a retro Brazilian bossa nova. Something I really enjoyed writing and giving to the orchestra is Poppy’s theme. And of course, I’ve weaved Gru and the Minions’ themes throughout, so there is a sense of familiarity to where all of this comes from.”   

ABOUT HEITOR PEREIRA 
Heitor Pereira is a Brazilian composer who comes from a family of Brazilian musicians. He began his career as a guitarist, working with some of the greatest names in Brazilian music, including Milton Nascimento, Ivan Lins, and Caetano Veloso, among many others. In the early ‘90s, Pereira joined the English soul band Simply Red, with whom he made numerous records, touring with them for ten years. Upon moving to Los Angeles, Pereira entered the world of film music. Beginning as a session musician, he played on some of Hollywood’s biggest franchises of the 2000s, including The Dark Knight, Pirates of the Caribbean, Mission Impossible: II, The Simpsons Movie, and Madagascar.  
 
His first composition for film was HBO’s Real Women Have Curves. Soon after, he discovered his love of animated films, writing the score for Curious George and collaborating with Jack Johnson, tailoring his songs to the film. Since then, he has written many scores for blockbuster family hits including the Despicable Me, Smurfs, and Angry Birds franchises; acclaimed dramas such as If I Stay, A Little Bit of Heaven, and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights; and romantic comedies including It’s Complicated and The Valet. Pereira’s most recent work includes the box office smashes Minions and Minions: The Rise of Gru; Paw Patrol: The Movie; My Little Pony: A New Generation; and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. 
 
Pereira’s film scores have garnered critical acclaim and accolades, including Annie Award nominations (Despicable Me, Despicable Me 2, Smallfoot), Hollywood Music in Media Award nominations (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish), as well as ASCAP Film & TV music awards. In 2017, Pereira won the Emmy for Outstanding Music and Sound for his work on Sonic Sea, the NRDC-sponsored documentary about the impact of man-made sound on ocean life. 
 
ABOUT DESPICABLE ME 4 
In the first Despicable Me movie in seven years, Gru, the world’s favorite supervillain-turned-Anti-Villain League-agent, returns for an exciting, bold new era of Minions mayhem in Illumination’s Despicable Me 4. 
  
Following the 2022 summer blockbuster phenomenon of Illumination’s Minions: The Rise of Gru, which earned almost $1 billion worldwide, the biggest global animated franchise in history now begins a new chapter as Gru (Oscar^® nominee Steve Carrell) and Lucy (Oscar^® nominee Kristen Wiig) and their girls —Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Madison Polan)—welcome a new member to the Gru family, Gru Jr., who is intent on tormenting his dad. 
  
Gru faces a new nemesis in Maxime Le Mal (Emmy winner Will Ferrell) and his femme fatale girlfriend Valentina (Emmy nominee Sofia Vergara), and the family is forced to go on the run.  
  
The film features fresh new characters voiced by Joey King (Bullet Train), Emmy winner Stephen Colbert (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert) and Chloe Fineman (Saturday Night Live). Pierre Coffin returns as the iconic voice of the Minions and Oscar^® nominee Steve Coogan returns as Silas Ramsbottom. 
  
Packed with non-stop action and filled with Illumination’s signature subversive humor, Despicable Me 4 is directed by a co-creator of the Minions, Oscar^® nominee Chris Renaud (Despicable Me, The Secret Life of Pets), and is produced by Illumination’s visionary founder and CEO Chris Meledandri and by Brett Hoffman (executive producer, The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Minions: The Rise of Gru). The film is co-directed by Patrick Delage (animation director Sing 2 and The Secret Life of Pets 2), and the screenplay is by the Emmy winning creator of White Lotus, Mike White, and the veteran writer of every Despicable Me film, Ken Daurio. 

Get the Soundtrack Here: https://backlotmusic.ffm.to/despicableme4

Tracklisting: 
1. Nighttime Arrival 
2. A Reunion of Rivals 
3. The Gru House 
4. A Message from Maxime 
5. Time to Leave 
6. Debrief 
7. Karl's Bus 
8. Arrival in Mayflower 
9. New Identities 
10. Maxime's Roach Army 
11. High-Stakes Pretending 
12. Meeting the Neighbors 
13. AVL's Newest Recruits 
14. We Need Volunteers 
15. The Megaminions 
16. Karate Class 
17. Secret Technique 
18. Little Cucarachas 
19. Balloons 
20. Blackmail 
21. Break Room 
22. Tennis Guy 
23. I Won't Let Gru Win 
24. Gas Station 
25. The Supermarket 
26. Trampoline 
27. Poppy's Plan 
28. The Megaminions Try Good Deeds 
29. Arrival at Lycée Pas Bon 
30. Honey Badger Heist 
31. Up to No Good 
32. We Got Him 
33. Parents' Playdate 
34. A Couple of Pros 
35. Ubelschlect at the Door 
36. Our Cover is Blown 
37. Call the AVL 
38. Megaminions Assemble 
39. The Battle of the Gru House 
40. The Battle for Baby Gru 
41. Megaminions Save the Day 
42. A Good Dad 
43. Gru's Apology 
44. Everybody Wants to Rule the World