It wouldn't be a Rhythm Game if the music was lame. Featuring original compositions and guest appearances from bands like Nine Inch Nails, it all combines to make you enjoy the groove of smashing robots with every beat.
Also, The "Streamer Mode" original tunes, which are made as "copyright-safe" versions of the licensed ones, are worth a listen, even if you're not doing a livestream.
- "The Rush", the game's main menu theme, also plays during the first part of Track 1. With a cool rock tune playing throughout, it gives player the feeling that they stepped into a concert, saying "Oh yeah. Welcome to the party, now get ready to rock out!"
- The song that plays during the intro, "The Beacon" by The Glass Pyramids, is an excellent sampler for the rest of the game's soundtrack. High-energy, powerful vocals, and some spectacular guitar riffs.
- For the battle with QA-1MIL, "1,000,000
" by Nine Inch Nails plays, with the steady yet intense tune perfectly setting the tone for an intense battle against a giant killer robot. For the Streamer Mode version, "Too Big to Fail" plays, with the lyrics representing QA-1MIL's role in taking down defects, and making it very clear that this foe is not going to let Chai go so easily, as well as the giant killer robot's confidence of victory for Chai to take on. - In Track 4, as Chai makes his escape to lead Vandelay's forces away from the other resistance members, "Inazawa Chainsaw" by Number Girl plays, an extremely fast-paced and exciting track that fits the hyper-frantic escape through ziplines and enemy forces as well as fleeing from deadly laser walls.
- "Negotiation", Korsica's boss theme in Track 7, is an amazing track despite being the only boss theme without lyrics. It weaves instruments in and out during the tense attempts to stop her, slowly becomes uplifting as Chai appears to get through to her (including clapping when she momentarily stops to think it over), only to drop all pretense and become extremely intense when he messes it up and Korsica recovers all her health for the continuous parry duel attacks. Without a word, it captures the fact that the team legitimately wants to change her mind despite their position, and how conflicted she is throughout. And the best part is that it seems to represent most of the music through guitar and drums, which matches with the pair's weapons (Chai's club always looking like a guitar and Korsica's stun batons resembling drumsticks) for extra points.
- The cutscene tracks "ESCAPE PLAN!!" and "Chasedown" continue with the theming, first following up with a driving but mostly humorous theme as Chai escapes, only for the next one to suddenly change the leitmotif to Vandelay Theme with the same intensity, reflecting that Chai had to put everything at risk to prevent Korsica's death. As the cutscene ends, the song ends similar to the Game Over riff, establishing the seriousness of the situation.
- Mimosa's boss theme is a cover of "Fast As You Can" by Fiona Apple, and it's wonderfully jazzy tune the entire way through, with a bridge in the middle for the Space Channel 5 rhythm game segment. The lyrics for the Streamer Mode version, "My Heart Feels No Pain", are like a duet between Chai and Mimosa, with Chai trying to expose Mimosa's lies and Mimosa being unapologetic about her actions. The two triplets leading up to the single slash that finishes Mimosa off are fantastic.
- The song that plays in the first half of Track 10 as Chai is smashing his way through the Vandelay building is "Invaders Must Die" by The Prodigy, a fitting track as Roquefort and Kale are throwing everything they've got at you. There's even a cutscene of all of Chai's teammates working together to get Chai through a swarm of robots.
- Roquefort's boss theme is "Wolfgang's 5th Symphony" by Wolfgang Gartner or "The Fizzith" if you're playing on Streamer Mode. Never has fighting to Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 sounded so badass.
- "Reflection" plays during Track 11 as Chai is synchronizing with the harmonic force field to break it open, calling back to his relations with his newfound friends up to this point. With a more gentle yet uplifting guitar tone, the song gives one a feeling of truly discovering one's true self, a feeling of an inner victory being just within one's grasp.
- The penultimate level in Track 11 is set to "Whirring" by The Joy Formidable, and is easily one of the most uplifting and cathartic moments in the game because of it, showing just how far the cast has come along in their journey and casting doubt on the Big Bad's chances for victory.
- The final battle against Kale is backed by the song "The Perfect Drug" by Nine Inch Nails (taken from the soundtrack for David Lynch's Lost Highway), steadily increasing in intensity to make for the perfect song to fit such a climax, with certain parts being synced in to play at certain phases of the fight.
- "Honestly" by Zwan (a supergroup/side project for Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin of The Smashing Pumpkins and Paz Lenchantin of A Perfect Circle), which plays during the end credits, gives the audience a feeling of triumph and sense that it was all worth it in the end.
- The final song of the game's OST is a chill song simply called, "Secret Song (Making Things Is Hard)". It's a short but sweet song about how the developers of Hi-Fi RUSH put a lot of hard work into the game and are proud of the end result. That said, just like the rest of the game, it also has some really funny parts, like mentioning the thousands and thousands of hours that they all spent building, arguing about, and polishing it. So, y'know. No sweat.
