Ellie is a troubled character from her experiences of loss, but throughout The Last of Us Part 2, we found out how important music is to her through Joel. Let’s dive into what music she would enjoy listening to while growing up in Jackson.
SPOILERS FOR THE LAST OF US PART 2. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
She loves to play these songs
We know of at least three songs that definitely stand out to her as she learned how to play them on the guitar. In a Downtown Seattle record store, Ellie (Ashley Johnson) gave a stirring performance of “Take On Me” by a-ha. The acoustic cover in the Spotify playlist is very similar to the slower tempo that Ellie sings in the game, and it feels like an incredibly emotional version of a typical party song. Ellie was probably inspired by this alternate take and would put it on her playlist.
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Next, is likely the most striking song for Ellie, “Future Days” by Pearl Jam. Both Joel and Ellie felt the same way, in which the two couldn’t exist without the other. Joel is the rock in Ellie’s life, and when losing him, this song becomes incredibly emotional for her. The secret that Joel kept from Ellie also makes this piece even more crushing for The Last of Us Part 2’s players. When listening to this song on her playlist, she’d instantly remember the good memories she had with her father figure.
“Through The Valley” by Shawn James is the last one we definitely know she would put in her playlist because she can play it, and play it very well. She would really relate to this song, as she’s killed many in her wake and knows she’s not in the right. She has laid destruction behind her and struggles with the morality of her actions. While this song sounds relatively recent, it actually came out a year before Outbreak Day, so it would be available to her.
90s Rock
With Joel opening up Ellie’s world to rock from Pearl Jam, she’d definitely be into the attitude-era music of the 90s. We could see her headbanging to “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana or vibing with “Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden. She feels like an outcast to many, so perhaps she’d relate to “Creep” by Radiohead too. If you read the journals, she seems very unsure of herself and wants to be with the girls she likes, so “Creep” would likely be on her playlist. She also may feel like she shouldn’t belong in the world because Joel spared her from a higher purpose.
Country songs
If you look in Joel’s house, he has a display of country records on the wall, and that may have rubbed off on Ellie as well. Country songs are very reliant on the guitar after all, y’all. We think she’d love “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton because of its strong individualistic feminist themes, and “Hurt” by Johnny Cash resembles the struggle that Ellie goes through in a world that strips you often of friendships and relationships. Also, like “Creep,” she is looking at her own mortality, due to Joel’s actions. We included “Give It All We Got Tonight” by George Strait because unlike her hard exterior, she seems to be a big romantic as she writes in her journal.
Jurassic Park
To finish off the playlist, the “Theme from Jurassic Park” by John Williams would give Ellie a nostalgic reminder of her time watching the movie with Joel. During the scenes, in which Ellie and Joel explore a museum, Joel references the film and says that they’re going to watch it when they get home. Ellie, while exploring the museum was wowed by the dinosaur exhibits, and Joel really got into naming each one for her. It was a cute moment Ellie will likely want to remember with this song.
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