Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have bagged another shiny orb for the shelf. The pair won Best Original Score at the 2025 Golden Globes.
The Nine Inch Nails duo scored Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers, which was probably one of the sauciest pieces of cinema committed to film in 2024. The duo blended French electro with hard techno to craft a soundtrack so slick it would probably have worn leather to an awards ceremony.
This is their third Golden Globe win, following The Social Network in 2010 and Soul in 2020. By now, they’re basically the Daniel Day-Lewis of soundtracks – they show up, crush it, and leave the rest of the competition crying into their sheet music.
Accepting the award, Ross gave a speech that hit the sweet spot between humble and badass. “The music that revealed itself as the voice of Challengers never felt safe, but it always felt right,” he said. He also managed to thank Luca Guadagnino, Zendaya, and his best mate Trent Reznor, keeping it short and sharp – no rambling laundry lists here.
The Globes might just be the warm-up for Reznor and Ross, though. Both their score and ‘Compress / Repress’ (nominated for Best Original Song) have made the Oscars shortlist. If they manage to nab a statue there, they’ll have to start building a second trophy cabinet.
And let’s not forget: the pair are also scoring Disney’s upcoming Tron: Ares. Because apparently, Trent and Atticus don’t believe in sleep or taking it easy.
The duo’s ability to flip between industrial bangers and cinematic masterpieces remains unmatched. They’ve gone from screaming about nihilism in The Downward Spiral to making films about corporate drama (The Social Network), animated jazz (Soul), and now tennis-fueled love triangles (Challengers).
This latest win just reinforces what we already knew: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are the coolest band geeks in the room. If they keep this up, we might have to start calling them the John Williams of the post-punk generation. With Oscars season around the corner, the question isn’t if they’ll win again. It’s how many more awards their shelves can hold.
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