Taylor Swift penned two songs for the soundtrack to the soon-to-be-blockbuster film ‘The Hunger Games,’ and the sweet blond starlet — who’s accustomed to writing from her own perspective — recently told Rolling Stone that it was nice to step out of her own mind for a change. ”It’s pretty intense writing about my own life, my own struggles,” she admitted. “It was almost like a vacation to get to write from someone else’s perspective.”

Speaking of the lead character from the post-apocalyptic novel and film, the 16-year-old protagonist Katniss Everdeen, Swift says, ”Slipping into her mind was such a wonderful break.” While the film won’t hit theaters until March 23, the star-laced soundtrack will be available beginning March 20. The soundtrack, which also features artists like Miranda Lambert, the Civil Wars, the Secret Sisters, Maroon5, Arcade Fire and more, was produced by multi-Grammy Award-winning producer T Bone Burnett.

Swift’s two songs on the soundtrack are the lead single ‘Safe & Sound,’ which she wrote with folksy Americana duo the Civil Wars, and ‘Eyes Open,’ which she penned on her own. Thinking back on the genesis of ‘Safe & Sound,’ Swift says the song was the product of a two-hour writing session at Burnett’s house.

“The Civil Wars had a show that night in L.A.,” Swift remembers. “So they raced right over to T Bone’s house. There’s so many things he could’ve done production-wise to make that song bigger sonically than it is, but I think that would have possibly been a mistake. For him to have left the song as a lullaby is brilliant.” We absolutely agree.

More From K99