Much of Blanchard's score is not concerned with advancing any structural element of his writing, whole sections of slower movement, such as cues from "To the Vector" to "Oyo Battle," accomplishing little narratively. When fully expressing his themes, the score often succeeds best, with several cues of remarkable power and even joy resulting from these performances. Still, Blanchard shows some limitation in his ability to manipulate his themes for different emotional situations, his main theme of the film needing transitioned from major to minor key at times, especially for the horror of "Nawi and Izogie (Part 2)," but the composer unable to make that shift. (In that particular case, the cue offers some marginal sadness but not any sense of dread or significant loss.) Also of interest is Blanchard's scope of the music, which is immensely broad but not necessarily deep. Don't expect all but a few moments in the work to achieve resounding resonance in the soundscape due to lack of counterpoint or a spread of instruments within the full range of the ensembles, especially the middle. Many of the work's short cues accomplish little more than ambient tonalities or percussive rhythms, few of which leave a lasting impact. While the recording for The Woman King may sound somewhat sparsely rendered in parts, it does strive to compensate with its compelling performance stylings and the themes it does employ. Blanchard's melodies in the score are highly inconsistent in how they are applied, some of them clear winners while others struggling to enunciate themselves in ways that really define particular concepts or characters. The composer, for instance, tends to apply fragments or only underlying chords to secondary ideas without providing enough reminders of the full melody to make such deconstruction potent. This challenge applies to Blanchard's four most prominent secondary ideas, as well as a slew of "one-off" melodies that he explores for singular scenes but never returns to. The main theme is less hindered by these difficulties, however, because it receives truly outstanding renditions in several cues and thus retains its powerful impact throughout. This primary idea consists of rising, three-note phrases over shifting chords, switching to descending equivalents for its interlude sequence. It opens "Agojie Return" in noble and optimistic form for full ensemble and accents and becomes playfully light on choir, percussion, and electric bass in "Agojie Training Montage."

The main theme of The Woman King turns soft in the choral opening to "Nawi Trains Alone," switching to more uncertain harmonies at 0:14 into "Choosing Agojie for the Oyo;" In this harrowing cue, humming joined by improvised voice accents is joined by rare woodwinds that peek through in the middle. The main theme opens "Palm Oil" with optimistic jubilation on female voices, shifting nicely to cello. (This cue's tone amplifies the reasons for some of the controversy in the film's handling of the slave trade versus the kingdom's palm oil aspirations.) The theme eventually prevails over striking percussion action rhythms in "Final Test," gains leverage throughout "Oyo Battle" before finally prevailing, and explicitly returns in "Coronation." As the clear highlight for the orchestra, percussion, and vocals together in The Woman King, the main theme opens and dominates "The Woman King," a magnificent presentation that finally achieves true comfort in supplying each of its parts in satisfying sonic depth. The layering of "The Woman King" helps it reside among the best single moments of Blanchard's career, and it's the kind of finale cue that will appropriately attract significant mainstream attention, much like the closing of Ludwig Göransson's Black Panther. Even so, this arrangement does not address the secondary ideas of the work, which represents a missed opportunity to wrap up the score's loose ends. Blanchard's secondary themes in The Woman King are only present to the extent that they are basically necessary. The most significant of these ideas is also the work's most frustratingly unfocused, seemingly representing the Dahomey cultural identity. It is more lyrically dynamic than the main theme but starts with the same ascending phrase, most clearly developed through all of "Road to Abomey" in humming, Blanchard adding the orchestra nicely at the end. The underlying chords inform the quiet, regal tone of "Entering Palace" and occupy "The Kings Entrance." The theme does subtle battle with the Oyo theme in "Sometimes a Mouse Can Take Down an Elephant," tangentially informs "To the Vector," and opens "The Blade of Freedom" and "Oyo Battle" in subdued fragments. The performance in "The Blade of Freedom" and the middle of "There Will Be No Prisoners" does betray some influence from John Williams' Amistad. The chords alone return in the latter half of "The Final Battle" while the melody is tentatively stated throughout "Nawi and Malik" on choir and figures softly in the middle of "Coronation," the idea slight in the affable "Mother Will You Dance."

The aforementioned Oyo theme for the neighboring villains is a somewhat meandering melody on menacing brass layers and low strings; many listeners will simply associate Blanchard's array of aggressively banging and clicking percussion with the Oyo. This material opens "Oyo Warriors to the Village" and stews in its melodic line later in the cue. It's developed further throughout "The Oyo Arrive" and fights against the heroic themes in "Sometimes a Mouse Can Take Down an Elephant." Bass strings carry the theme in "We Bring Tribute" under imposing percussion, and the idea eventually diminishes in "The Final Battle." Two even less cohesive themes are tougher to nail down. What sounds like a destiny theme is heard throughout all of "To Be Great You Must Focus," reprised in "I Have to Try to Save Her" on woodwinds and opening "The Final Battle" valiantly. A theme possibly for the Malik character isn't entirely clear in purpose, opening "Malik Arrives" with uncertainty and nervous percussive clicking, and variations are explored in "With One Purpose" and "Through the Jungle." Other singular ideas that Blanchard explores but never maximizes include one that opens "Nawi and Izogie (Part 1)," others heard late in "We Bring Tribute" and the latter half of "You Fought Well," and a particular solitary highlight for excellent improvisational vocals throughout "Whiskey for Izogie." The absence of larger purpose or clear organization to all of these wayward melodies causes some consternation for listeners not enamored solely by the scope of performance sounds in The Woman King. Those stylings are fantastic, and those who don't particularly care about melodic details will find the score to be a magnificent treat of performances spanning Western orchestral conventions and West African history. The recording's presentation is dry and does at times lack depth of layers, the absence of counterpoint lines a particular detraction. On its album, the 74 minutes of score spread over 38 cues isn't arranged for an optimal listening experience, those contents requiring rearrangement and combination for a half hour of very engaging highlights. For those who appreciate Blanchard's combination of Western and African styles in The Woman King, especially in the vocal lines, it's difficult not to compare this work to the obscure but fantastic and dynamic Elephant documentary score from Ramin Djawadi in 2020. While both scores offer the same general foundations, Elephant remains superior by a clear measure due to its better melodic development and remarkable depth of mix. That said, The Woman King is an admirable career achievement for Blanchard and provides its topic with appropriately intelligent dignity and scope.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download