Earlier this week, the soundtrack for Ryan Coogler’s highly anticipated thriller Sinners was announced — with one gap in the tracklist that simply said, “coming soon.” Now, Billboard can exclusively announce that the slot will be filled with an original song titled “Dangerous” by star of the film Hailee Steinfeld, whose contribution to the album marks her first music release in two years.
Arriving April 18 along with the rest of the Sinners soundtrack — which drops the same day the movie premieres in theaters — “Dangerous” finds the Academy Award nominee singing over a tribal drum beat and eerie production that blends in with Ludwig Göransson’s genre-bending, Delta-blues-infusing score for the film. Of penning the tension-filled lyrics with the composer and cowriter Sarah Aarons, Steinfeld tells Billboard, “We were all so tuned into the vision, and because I was both inside the story as an actor, and helping shape it through music, it created this really fluid creative loop.”
“Blending music and acting like this feels like the fullest expression of who I am,” she continues. “It’s rare to have a project that lets you show up completely — and Sinners gave me that.”
Also starring Michael B. Jordan as twins Smoke and Stack who return to their hometown post-WWI to find that a great evil is waiting for them there, Sinners features the Edge of Seventeen actress as Mary, a married woman who has “unfinished business” with the latter brother. In addition to “Dangerous,” the film’s soundtrack features contributions from Rod Wave, James Blake, Don Toliver, Lars Ulrich, Brittany Howard and more stars.
“Lyrically, I wanted to tap into Mary’s deep desire to be with Stack and (maybe selfishly) not always acknowledging what a dangerous position that puts them in,” Steinfeld says of “Dangerous,” a snippet of which Billboard is premiering below. “That sort of unrequited love. There’s a vulnerability in these characters that I really connected with, and I wanted my voice to reflect that.”
Steinfeld last released music two years ago, dropping “SunKissing” and “Coast” featuring Anderson .Paak in April 2023. “Dangerous” also comes a full decade after the Pitch Perfect 2 star made her musical debut in 2015 with “Love Myself,” which reached No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100, after which she shared EP HAIZ later that year.
The singer-actress has also worked on the soundtracks for a number of her past screen projects, including “Afterlife” for Dickinson and “Back to Life” from Bumblebee.
“Two years might not seem long, but for me, it turned out to be the exact amount of time I needed — to grow, live a little, and step back to reconnect with why I make music in the first place,” says Steinfeld, who got engaged to Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen in November, of returning to music after her break. “I didn’t want to come back just to fill space. I wanted it to mean something.”
“There was something so raw and emotional about Sinners that pushed me creatively and personally,” she adds. “The music became an extension of that. It felt honest and it felt like me again. I wouldn’t call this a comeback — it’s about returning to the truth, and I’m so grateful to Ryan and Sinners for giving me the opportunity to do that.”
Sinners hits theaters April 18. Check out a snippet of Steinfeld’s “Dangerous” for the soundtrack below.
