The newest “Hunger Games” movie, “The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes”, features an original song by our favorite pop-rock princess, Olivia Rodrigo. The song, “Can’t Catch Me Now”, is not only heaven to the ears musically, as Rodrigo’s pen was on fire when she wrote the lyrics. Every word relates to the Hunger Games universe in a multitude of ways and suits the current installment perfectly. As a Rodrigo stan and “Hunger Games” fanatic, here’s some of my favorite lyrics from Can’t Catch Me Now and the ways they relate to the franchise.
“There’s snow falling over the city / You thought that it would wash away / The bitter taste of my fury / And all of the messes you made”
First and foremost, I need to point out the significance of “snow falling”. In “The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes”, the Snow family motto is “Snow always lands on top.” Later in the story, a character says to Coriolanus Snow, “That’s the sound of Snow falling.” Rodrigo uses this metaphor for the Snow family’s demise brilliantly in her song lyrics.
The rest of this set of lyrics makes me think of the Games as a whole. They were implemented by the Capitol to punish the districts and suppress any further thoughts of rebellion, or “wash away the bitter taste” of their anger.
“But I’m in the trees / I’m in the breeze”
The chorus of the song encapsulates the whole atmosphere of the franchise in a few simple phrases. “I’m in the trees” brings images of Rue and Katniss Everdeen climbing trees during their games, Lucy Gray Baird disappearing into the forest at the end of Ballad, Katniss and Gale Hawthorne deliberating running away into the woods outside of District 12, and the rumors of District 13 surviving deep in the forest.
The second half, “I’m in the breeze,” calls to mind Lucy Gray’s songs, the mockingbird calls, Rue’s whistles, Katniss’s arrows—all carried on the breeze. There’s also a scene in “Mockingjay Part 1” where Katniss sings “The Hanging Tree”, and just as she starts to do so, the breeze picks up and gently tosses her hair. While this was likely a complete coincidence, it’s still a lovely little detail.
“You’ll see my face in every place / But you can’t catch me now”
The most obvious meaning of these lyrics stem from the parallels between Lucy Gray and Katniss. Not only do they physically resemble each other, but their rebellious and angry spirits mirror each other clearly. Both underestimated girls from District 12 with a connection to the mockingjay symbol, it would be impossible for Snow to see Katniss and not think of Lucy Gray, like her ghost come back to haunt him. And Snow certainty never caught Lucy Gray nor Katniss.
I also like to relate this lyric to Katniss’s relationships with her sister, Primrose Everdeen, and Rue. Katniss mentions that part of the reason she tried to take care of Rue in the Games and why her death was so devastating was because Rue reminded her of Prim. She saw the same youthful and kind soul in both of them. But in the end, she can’t “catch” either, as they both fall victim to the Games and the war.
These lyrics also remind me of how Capitol children started wearing their hair in Katniss’s signature side braid after she won the Games and gained popularity and howSnow notices his granddaughter’s hair styled to look like Katniss’s.
“Bet you thought I’d never do it / Thought it’d go over my head”
These two lines apply to Lucy Gray and Katniss in a multitude of ways. Snow thought Lucy Gray wouldn’t win her Games, she wouldn’t defy the capitol, she wouldn’t leave. Snow thought Katniss wouldn’t win her Games, wouldn’t become the face of the rebellion, wouldn’t break out of the cycle. Both of these young women realized much more about what was going on around them than Snow anticipated.
“I’m comin’ like a storm into your town”
This line is a metaphor for Lucy Gray arriving in the Capitol and becoming an unpredictable player in their Games, and later Katniss doing the same thing. Both girls took the Capitol by storm (however unwillingly in the beginning). Later, Katniss and the revolution also physically take over the Capitol.
“I’m higher than the hopes that you brought down”
“Hope” is a fairly common word, but the use of it in this lyric immediately made me think of “The Hanging Tree” when Plutarch changes the lyric from “wear a necklace of rope side by side with me” to “necklace of hope.”
The lyric as a whole represents Lucy Gray’s strength and rebellious spirit living on despite everything she had been through and her disappearance in the end. More generally, it also applies to the Districts’ hope being strong enough to rebel against the Capitol, even after 75 years of Hunger Games.
“Sometimes the fire you founded / Don’t burn the way you’d expect”
This lyric and the meaning behind it is my favorite from the entire song. The first time I heard it my jaw dropped, immediately thinking of Katniss Everdeen,“The Girl on Fire.” She certainly did not burn the way that Snow expected her to, using the flames to burn down the Capitol instead of incinerating herself. It also reminds me of Katniss’s words, “If we burn, you burn with us” during one of her Mockingjay videos. Lucy Gray had a similar fire that burned unexpectedly, making this lyric perfect for “The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes”.
Rodrigo’s “Can’t Catch Me Now”is the perfect example of what can happen when a brilliant songwriter is a fan of the material that they are creating for. The song is a wonderful addition to “The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes”, which is out in theaters now.