Jordan Peele’s new horror film, Us, debuted to an impressive $70 million at the US box office this weekend, making it the most successful launch ever for an original horror film. The film’s creepy remix of “I Got 5 On It” by California rap duo Luniz has earned the most attention so far, but the film also features several other prominent tracks. As Us‘ credits roll, viewers are greeted with a surprisingly upbeat song: “Les Fleurs” by soul singer-songwriter Minnie Riperton.
Although (SPOILER ALERT) Us ends with the grim discovery that Lupita Nyong'o’s character Adelaide was actually the tethered version of herself the whole time, Riperton’s “Les Fleurs” sounds a surprisingly triumphant note. In an interview with Variety, President of Film Music for Universal Pictures Mike Knobloch explained the decision to include “Les Fleurs” in the film’s closing moments.
“It’s almost a palate cleanser,” he said. "It is clearly not an obvious choice, if you’re going down the playlist of songs that you would think would have a significant role in this movie. But even though it’s not exactly a happy ending, it is a wink and it lets you off the hook and it allows you to exhale, even if, played against the visual, you’re not quite all the way out of the woods. So it really checks a lot of boxes in a very satisfying way.”
According to Knobloch, the juxtaposition between the film’s ending and the sound of “Les Fleurs” struck the perfect tone.
“That’s one where it’s less about the lyric or anything on the nose like that and just a vibe and an attitude that is a little ambiguous but just really works nicely in that spot at the end of the film,” he said. “Jordan found that and put it in early on, and although we definitely kicked the tires of that idea and made sure we weren’t leaving anything on the table, anything else that we talked about or tried did not hold a candle to how well Minnie Riperton worked, in putting a really pretty song against a not totally neat and tidy ending.”
“Les Fleurs” is a cut off Riperton’s 1971 solo debut album, Come to My Garden, which she released after several years as the lead singer of the band Rotary Connection. The project wasn’t commercially successful upon release, but appreciation grew after Riperton scored a breakout hit in 1974 with “Lovin' You.” Outside of that Gold-certified hit, “Les Fleurs” remains one of the best-known songs by Riperton, who passed away from cancer in 1979.
“Les Fleurs” is written by Charles Stepney and Richard Rudolph. Pianist Ramsey Lewis also assisted on the composition, and released a different version of the song three years earlier on his album, Maiden Voyage. Rap group Jurassic 5 sampled Riperton’s version for “Thin Line” with Nelly Furtado in 2002.
Listen to the song above and read all the lyrics to Minnie Riperton’s “Les Fleurs” on Genius now.
