The Greatest of All Time
Soundtrack album cover
Soundtrack album by Yuvan Shankar Raja
Released	3 September 2024
Recorded	2023–2024
Studio	U1 Records, Chennai AI Watan Studios, Dubai High Tide Studios, Germany Ilaiyaraaja Studios, Chennai Chennai Strings Orchestra, Chennai
Genre	Film soundtrack
Length	16:53
Language	Tamil
Label	T-Series
Producer	Yuvan Shankar Raja
Yuvan Shankar Raja chronology
Gangs of Godavari (2024) The Greatest of All Time (2024)
Singles from The Greatest of All Time
"Whistle Podu" Released: 14 April 2024 "Chinna Chinna Kangal" Released: 22 June 2024 "Spark" Released: 3 August 2024 "Matta" Released: 31 August 2024

The Greatest of All Time is the soundtrack album composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja for the 2024 Tamil-language film of the same name, which is directed by Venkat Prabhu and stars Vijay alongside Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Ajmal Ameer and Mohan.

The album featured four songs, with all of them being previously released as singles. It was planned to be released with the film's audio launch event, before its cancelation. The album was released via T-Series on 3 September 2024, two days before the film's release.^[1]

Yuvan shared a long-standing personal and working relationship with Prabhu; since the latter's directorial debut with Chennai 600028 (2007), he would score all of his films with the exception of Manmadha Leelai (2022) and the unreleased Party, composed by Prabhu's brother Premgi Amaren.^[2] Yuvan's only composition for a Vijay-starrer was Pudhiya Geethai (2003).^[3] In December 2021, he shared a picture with Vijay on his X (formerly Twitter) account indicating a possible reunion.^[4] On 21 May 2023, AGS Entertainment officially announced the film with Prabhu and Yuvan's involvement as the director and musician; This would be his second film with Vijay after two decades.^[5][6] The songs in the film were written by Prabhu's father Gangai Amaran, Madhan Karky, Kabilan Vairamuthu and Vivek.^[7] Initially, Arivu was signed to write on song, but was subsequently replaced with Vivek due to reasons unknown.^[8]

In September 2023, at the Panacea23 event at SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, Yuvan revealed about the first single which would be a dappankuthu number.^[9] The aforementioned song (later deciphered to be "Whistle Podu") was shot during the first schedule,^[10] and it was recorded during late-October 2023, commencing the music production, and vocals performed by Vijay himself.

The melody number "Chinna Chinna Kangal" was composed by Yuvan in January 2024 at Bangalore.^[11] At that time, he wanted the song to be sung by his sister Bhavatharini, but she died from cancer on 25 January 2024.^[12][13] Her vocals were generated via artificial intelligence by the music production company Pitch Innovations. The company's CEO, T. R. Krishna Chetan, who previously worked as a sound engineer at A. R. Rahman's Panchathan Record Inn Studios, recalled that the team assembled the singer's previous recordings at various pitches and styles, for the studio-quality AI model and a pilot version of the song being recorded with Priyanka NK's vocals which was then replaced with Bhavatharini's AI generated vocals.^[14][15] After listening a snippet of her vocals, Vijay felt emotional and impressed, and agreed to perform the vocals for the male counterpart.^[16]

Yuvan commenced recording the film's background score during late-July 2024.^[17] Yuvan collaborated with the Budapest Scoring Orchestra for re-recording, where some of the cues had resembled the theme from Mission: Impossible.^[18]

"Whistle Podu" was the first single from the film, released on the occasion of Tamil New Year (14 April 2024).^[19][20] Its title was perceived by some media as an allusion to the Chennai Super Kings' anthem.^[21] The song received a mixed response from fans, although some felt its reception would improve with time.^[22]

The second single "Chinna Chinna Kangal" was released on 22 June, coinciding with Vijay's 50th birthday.^[23] Prior to its release, the song was leaked to social media pages, which leaded to the makers filling copyright notice to the accounts who were spreading the leaked footage throughout the platforms and officially releasing it earlier on 5:30pm (IST) rather than the initially planned time, 6:00pm.^[24] Despite this, the song topped the most-viewed video globally on YouTube in the past 24 hours with 4.5 million views.^[25]

The third single, titled "Spark", was released on 3 August.^[26] The song received negative response from audiences, who criticised Yuvan's composition and Vijay's de-aged look.^[27]

The fourth single, titled "Matta" was released on 31 August, coinciding Yuvan's birthday.^[28]

In May 2024, it was reported that the film's audio launch would take place in Malaysia or Singapore.^[29] But an article from The Times of India, revealed that the event would be held in Chennai during mid-August; it further claimed that Vijay would skip the forthcoming event due to his political commitments.^[30]

After the trailer release, netizens found that the background score was similar to the song "Knock You Out" from the J-pop girl group Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku's studio album indigo hour.^[33] However, that particular cue was composed during October 2023 and was included in the film's promotional video for the pooja ceremony, while Indigo Hour released in February 2024.^[33] Following the release of "Whistle Podu", a social activist filed a police complaint at Mylapore Police Station in Chennai to DGP Office, stating that the lyrical video did not feature any disclaimer on drinking or smoking and promotes drug addiction and rowdyism to the youth, demanding an action towards Vijay and ban to the song.^[34]