The album featured 22 songs, which are popular 1960s singles from artists including Sam Cooke, Ray Charlies, Jackie Wilson and several others, and performed some by the film's cast.
It also features an original song "Speak Now" by Leslie Odom Jr. and Sam Ashworth, and few cues from the score composed by Terence Blanchard.
He initially intended an orchestral music with a large ensemble, but King wanted to use a piano-based score, as it "creates a historical narration for the film".
"[4] Since the musical style is a jazz-based, he roped in popular jazz pianist Benny Green to "improvise and manipulate the melodic content for that theme".
[5] He thought of using the solo piano for the transitions, and had downloaded several samples and played with jazz, blues and gospel, assigning different styles to the four Black icons to capture their personalities.
[6] Sam Cooke's songs — “You Send Me,” “Chain Gang,” “Good Times”, “A Change Is Gonna Come” and "Put Me Down Easy" (Hampton House version) — were performed by Leslie Odom Jr., who portrayed Cooke, and Jay Livingston and Ray Evans' song "Tammy".
[2] The One Night in Miami band also performed two of the tracks, which included Ray Charles' single "I Believe to My Soul".
[8][9] The album was officially released on December 25, 2020 in digital formats, in CD on January 15 and in vinyl on March 5.
[16] Richard Roeper of Chicago Sun-Times felt that the score "beautifully augments the history-in-the-making gathering of these four icons at a pivotal moment in their lives".
[17] Michael Philips of Chicago Tribune wrote "Terence Blanchard's score goes for solo jazz piano lines, nimble and expressive.