Sinners: A Celebration of Black Music as a Spiritual Inheritance

Sinners: A Celebration of Black Music as a Spiritual Inheritance
Article by Malik Perkins
May 26th, 2025

Ryan Coogler’s Sinners is a cultural and musical tour de force, set against the backdrop of 1932 Mississippi. The film intricately weaves the tale of twin brothers, Smoke and Stack Moore, whose dream of opening a juke joint in the Jim Crow south sets the stage for a supernatural showdown with Irish vampire Remmick.

At the heart of Sinners is a compelling soundtrack; a vibrant tapestry of blues, gospel, jazz, folk, and contemporary influences. Produced by Ludwig Göransson and Serena Göransson, the symphony functions not just as background score, but as an emotional and narrative force.

Each track aligns with a pivotal character or moment in the film, adding layers of depth to the storytelling. Artists like Brittany Howard, Rod Wave, Hailee Steinfeld, and Miles Caton deliver performances that are as integral to the story as the script itself.

The film’s deep engagement with Black music is where its soul truly resides. Sinners treats music not only as entertainment, but as a living archive of Black history and spirituality. Throughout American history, Black music has been policed, feared, and sanctified—seen alternately as sacred expression and profane rebellion. The film echoes the historical debates between blues and gospel communities, where blues was sometimes referred to as “the devil’s music” because of its secular themes and sensual rhythms. This tension is dramatized in the father's warnings to Sammie, echoing real-life spiritual concerns from the Black church about musicians “selling their soul” for fame.

Sammie Moore, portrayed with a subtle and soulful intensity by Miles Caton, is loosely based on the legendary Delta blues musician Robert Johnson, whose mythic tale of selling his soul at the crossroads becomes a thematic undercurrent throughout the film. Like Johnson, Sammie is a prodigious guitarist and singer whose gift seems otherworldly, and whose mentor—an older bluesman, modeled after Son House—warns him of the price of ambition. This link to real blues mythology lends the film a deeper resonance, grounding its supernatural elements in cultural memory.

The pivotal juke joint scene is a transcendent showcase of musical history. Sammie’s performance of "I Lied to You" becomes a supernatural conduit where music from different eras and cultures converges:
African drummers, gospel choirs, field hollerers, delta bluesmen, jazz orchestras, soul singers, hip-hop MCs, and EDM producers all appear in temporal flashes. The scene illustrates the lineage of Black sound
as it evolved in response to slavery, segregation, joy, faith, and protest. The juke joint becomes a sacred space—a sonic altar where past and future commune through Sammie’s playing.

This musical convergence also brings danger. It attracts the attention of Remmick, the Irish vampire, whose hunger is drawn not just to blood, but to the spiritual intensity of Sammie’s music. The film positions music as both sanctuary and summons, a power that can resurrect ancestors or invite devils. In this way, Sinners reflects how Black music has remained a battleground for spiritual and social meaning.

In the film’s final moments, after his performance, Smoke asks Sammie if he still has that "real" in him. Sammie, staring into the horizon, says it was the best day of his life—**until the sun went down.**

That line, delivered with aching honesty, captures the duality of Sammie’s experience. He achieved artistic transcendence, yet feels haunted by the cost. He still bears the weight of disobeying his father,  even if his path led to glory. In doing so, the film complicates the notion of success, suggesting that the pursuit of one's calling—especially in the face of generational trauma and spiritual fear—always carries a price.

In essence, Sinners is a celebration of cultural resilience and the transformative power of music. It is both a historical homage and a supernatural fable, reminding us that Black music is not only a form of expression, but a spiritual inheritance—one forged through pain, joy, and resistance, connecting the living, the dead, and the yet to come.