Star Wars' Female Composers: May The 4th Be With Them

Plus: Leitmotifs for Princess Leia, Padmé, Rey, and more!

Star Wars: A New Hope (episode IV) released in 1977 with theme songs that helped the larger-than-life franchise redefine science fiction cinema. On this Star Wars Day, May 4th, I found myself sitting in the Atlanta airport pondering the role women have played in the music associated with all the Star Wars media: film, television, video games, albums, web series, etc.

Below are some fun facts and videos I found that reveal more about women’s musical contributions to my favorite franchise… As hard as I tried to pump this out on Star Wars Day, this article published on May 5th in the wee hours of the morning — unless you are on the West Coast or Hawaii. May 4th will circle back around again and again. And we nerds celebrate Star Wars every day :)

Side Note: “May The Fourth Be With You” is the universal greeting for all sci-fi geeks today. Oddly enough, Wikipedia states the phrase was first used by the UK’s Conservative party in a May 3, 1979 newspaper ad wishing Margaret Thatcher an election win.

No Bras In Space

Let’s start off with Carrie Fisher’s roast of George Lucas, which includes the true story of how Lucas convinced the 16 year-old not to wear a bra with her famous white Alderaanian princess dress.

Wasn’t that hilarious? OMG, Fisher was such a funny woman. Her standup comedy was gold, and we miss her terribly. It’s doubtful that her co-stars Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford were directed on their undergarments. Can you imagine telling Harrison Ford he couldn’t wear underwear in space?

But I digress…

Leading Lady Leitmotifs

The team created some of the most recognizable leitmotifs in film history. A leitmotif is a “is a short, recurring musical phrase associated with a particular person, place, or idea.” As of 2018, there were 55 leitmotifs in the Star Wars catalog (The New Yorker). When we hear “The Emperial March” we know Darth Vader is going to use the dark side of The Force to f* someone up. That’s a leitmotif.

Lucas and composer John Williams saw fit to record “Princess Leia’s Theme” for Fisher’s character. Here is Robert Rowat’s fascinating analysis of the song’s composition that reflects Leia’s personality: tough-talking and passionate fighter who is also the main love interest in the story.

Here are leitmotifs written for the more recognized leading ladies of Star Wars.

“Padmé’s Ruminations” (John Williams)

“Ahsoka’s Triumphant Theme” (Kevin Kiner)

“Rey’s Theme” (John Williams)

“Jyn Erso & Hope Suite” (Michael Giacchino)

Asajj Ventress “Ventress the Nightsister” (Kevin Kiner)

“Gaya” (Judith Hill) Gaya is a character who sang on the Starcruiser Halcyon (the Disney Star Wars Hotel that folded in 2023). Gaya wouldn’t be considered a leading lady in Star Wars worlds, but I’m including the leitmotif because it was composed by a woman and is one of the few Star Wars tracks that features lyrics.

It would be fantastic to see more women writing leitmotifs for female characters, wouldn’t it?

Star Wars’ Female Composers

Perhaps women can’t wear bras in space because the target market is too small for a retailer to ship them. Hill is one of only seven female composers I found out of 94 composers. (Sources: Music of Star Wars and Star Wars: The Complete Soundtrack Collection.) The Soundtrack collection playlist contains over 49 hours of music featuring ~900 tracks on this Spotify list. Williams composed most of the music that we all recognize from the feature films.

There are surely Star Wars experts who may read this and have more accurate or updated numbers and names. Sadly, song credits aren’t always complete; and there just wasn’t enough time to check all 900 tracks, so most of my info comes from the Music of Star Wars listing. I welcome additions in the comments. Let’s take a look at the trailblazers I did find.

Michiru Ōshima composed the Star Wars: Visions (The Elder) soundtrack, featuring 12 compositions.

Nobuko Toda collaborated with Kazuma Jinnouchi on Star Wars: Visions (The Ninth Jedi)

Sneha Khanwalkar composed four tracks for Star Wars: Visions Vol. 2 - The Bandits of Golan

Natalie Holt composed 23 tracks on Obi-Wan Kenobi

Madison Denbrock collaborated with Jesse Harlin and Mark Griskey on “Unyielding Grudges” from the video game Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Judith Hill wrote and sang the character Gaya’s songs (with lyrics!) for Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser. It’s a miracle I figured this out because “Gaya” is credited as the singer in a variety of places…

Noémie Legrand composed “Nesh Godo” from the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser soundtrack.

And that wraps up our warp speed look at women in Star Wars music. May The Force be with you every day!

Thea 🎶