The Mitchells vs. the Machines (soundtrack)

Following the release of the film's first trailer in March 2020, one of the film's producers Phil Lord confirmed on Twitter, that his and Christopher Miller's regular collaborator Mark Mothersbaugh would score music for the film, also making it his sixth collaboration with Sony Pictures Animation, after the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs films and the first three Hotel Transylvania films.[4] According to Variety, Mothersbaugh stated that each family member had their score in the beginning. For Rick Mitchell's character, he created the score cue by blending ukulele, guitar, banjo and harmonica and for Katie's character, he produced the score from woodwinds, while the kids had a "younger sound with electronica (modern instrumentation)" and synth sounds were created for the dysfunctional robots, to make sure that the listeners think about music in different ways.[5] Mothersbaugh stated that "It's like you have 100 people sitting in a room and they’re waiting for the countdown to start playing. There’s people breathing, their hearts are beating and blood’s pumping through them. That’s part of the music."[6]

Kier Lehman was the music supervisor, who had incorporated specific songs from the film, which Mike Rianda had stated "if basically, the movie felt like someone’s personal playlist, it would feel like gratifying. Just like when I watch a Wes Anderson movie or Quentin Tarantino movie, it’s like, I might not know about the songs, but I’m like, 'This person loves these songs.' Like you could feel it. They're these deep cuts on the album, and they're not these like obvious songs. And so, we basically wanted to try to do that with the movie. And it was tough. I mean, because sometimes the song you want isn't easy to get. The artist doesn't want to release it, or it just doesn't work in the moment or something." So he worked with Lehman for the supervision, whom regularly worked in Lord and Miller's films. Rianda stated that "He’s so cool, and he could get us all the songs that we wanted and sort of figure out how to make it all work."[7]

An original song, "On My Way" performed by Alex Lahey was included in the film, and was released separately, as a lyrical music video on May 6, 2021.[8] Lahey had stated the track as "a song about new beginnings. I really wanted to capture Katie’s sense of urgency to grow up and expand her horizons while being grateful of where she has come from and the people that have gotten her where she is. It’s that push and pull of being on a path towards something new and exciting while remembering and celebrating what you’re leaving behind – I think that’s something we can all relate to."[8] Additionally, the trailer featured the song Mic Drop by BTS, specifically the Steve Aoki remix.

Songs that are featured in the film, but not included in the soundtrack:[9][10]

Film Music Central wrote a review, saying: "Mothersbaugh has created a delightful blend of several musical genres that make for a great experience. The music for The Mitchells vs The Machines is a blend of action music, sci-fi music, and family music. It’s really mind-blowing when the music switches over from the quiet-ish family music opening to the sci-fi music that enters when the robot apocalypse begins. That’s not the easiest transition to make given the wide disparity between those two styles, but Mothersbaugh makes it feel easy and the music pulls you along for the ride without hardly missing a beat."[11] Jonathan Broxton, wrote "Anyone familiar with Mothersbaugh’s music for animated films can guess what they’re going to find with this score. The film and score are an odd but charming mix of styles that change on a dime, occasionally punctuated by surprisingly emotional moments. Those who don’t care for short tracks and frequent tonal shifts may be put off by much of the score, and the thematic ideas here are short enough that they may be hard to pick out on a first or second listen, but the music serves the film very well, and has several highlights that are definitely worth a listen."[12]