Production

The album marked Anirudh's first collaboration with Haasan. It was intended to be his second film with the actor as Anirudh had previously signed to score for S. Shankar's Indian 2 and had composed all the tunes during December 2017 and 2018.^[7] The film's troubled production and the significant delays that it had caused, led Vikram to be the first film released from this collaboration. Lokesh Kanagaraj, insisted Anirudh's inclusion in the film, after previously working on Master.^[8]

Speaking to Ananda Vikatan, Lokesh had opined that Anirudh had "effortlessly created all the songs in the film, which he did never before for an action film".^[9] Anirudh worked on the background score from early-May 2022, and did final mixing on the score, three days before the film's release.^[10]

Release

The audio rights of the film were purchased by Sony Music.^[11] It was speculated that the makers planned to conduct the film's audio launch in United Arab Emirates.^[12][13] In May 2022, the producers officially announced that the film's audio launch event will be held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai on 15 May 2022.^[14][15]

The album was made available to be streamed exclusively through Spotify, Apple and Amazon Music on the same date of its launch.^[16] In June 2022, Lokesh Kanagaraj insisted fans that the film's original soundtrack will be released into a separate album.^[17][18] The following month, Anirudh tweeted the mastering of the film score is under works, and will be released in few days.^[19][20][21] The score was released by Sony Music South on 7 July 2022.^[22][23]

Production

The soundtrack was composed by Anirudh Ravichander, in his fourth collaboration with Vijay after Kaththi (2014), Master (2021) and Beast (2022); third with Lokesh after Master and Vikram (2022).^[25] The audio rights for the film were purchased by Sony Music India for ₹16 crore (US$2.0 million).^[26] Leo was intended to be a songless film, similar to Lokesh's Kaithi (2019) with Sam C. S. being in consideration to score the film which turned to be false.^[27] The Times of India reported that the soundtrack will have two songs.^[28] However, Lokesh, during an interview with Behindwoods in early October, stated that the film would have a total of six songs.^[29]

All the songs in the film were written by Vishnu Edavan, Lokesh's assistant director, who also previously contributed for Master and Vikram. The English tracks in the film are penned by Heisenberg. The songs were recorded during June–September, and the background score in mid-September, with the re-recording for the film completed within 10 days.^[30]

Release

The track integrated the metal clanging sound of "The Hot Biriyani" from Kaithi, "Vikram Title Track" and "Rolex Theme" from Vikram, along with "Badass" and "Ratata" from Leo.^[24] It was planned to be released on 30 September 2023 which would have been coincided with the audio launch event in Chennai, before its cancellation.^[31] The album was released on the same day as the film (19 October 2023) through Sony Music India label.^[32]

Credits

Credits adapted from Sony Music India.^[33][34]