Nine Inch Nails’ ‘Tron: Ares’ Soundtrack Sets Release Date
The soundtrack’s first single, ‘As Alive As You Need Me To Be,’ is out now.
The soundtrack to TRON: Ares, composed entirely of original music by Nine Inch Nails, will be released on September 19th via Interscope Records. Though bandmates Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have composed 20 film scores as a duo under their own names, Tron: Ares marks the first soundtrack released with Nine Inch Nails’ name. The Disney film releases in U.S. theaters on October 10th, 2025.
The Tron: Ares soundtrack will feature 24 songs, including the single “As Alive As You Need Me To Be,” released for streaming alongside the album announcement. The original 1982 Tron film was scored by synth pioneer Wendy Carlos and writer/director Steven Lisberger, while the score for its 2010 sequel Tron: Legacy was composed by now-retired electronic icons Daft Punk. Now, Nine Inch Nails are up for the task. “It’s different [from the previous Tron scores]”, Ross shared with Empire, “and in places, perhaps takes a bigger swing for what music can do in cinema… You know, if you’re going to do it, then you may as well take a big swing.”
When Disney asked the duo to score Ares, they were surprised by the request to compose under the Nine Inch Nails name. With that vision, the group channeled the band’s energy into the soundtrack. Reznor teased the result: “I’ll give a few spoilers: there’s not one second of orchestra in our score. It sounds precise and unpleasant at times. It’s not an atonal, punishing score, but we spent a lot of time thinking about the undertones of what’s happening in the story. The concept of artificial life infused with feelings and a sense of questioning their purpose and their replaceability… We kind of riffed on that.”
In 2008, Reznor and Ross launched a prolific career in composing music for film. Their first project, David Fincher’s The Social Network, earned the pair an Oscar and a Golden Globe. They’ve gone on to compose music for a diverse array of film and television projects, including the Watchmen series for HBO, which earned the duo an Emmy for Outstanding Music Composition for a series. Their score for the 2020 animated Pixar film Soul won numerous awards, including an Oscar, GRAMMY, Golden Globe and British Academy Film Award.
Nine Inch Nails will kick off the North American leg of their acclaimed “Peel It Back” world tour on August 6th in Oakland, CA. Due to fan demand, a number of limited view seats are being released for the 26-date, sold-out run. Ticket information can be found on the band’s website.
