"The Hanging Tree" is a haunting dirge of a song – and she was anxious singing it, too

Is there anything Jennifer Lawrence can’t do?

The actress, who at 24 already has an Oscar under her belt, is moving more toward Grammy territory with her latest achievement: The song she sang for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 has reached the Top 40 chart in the U.K.

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“The Hanging Tree,” a haunting tune featuring Lawrence’s vocals, popped up on the chart at No. 29, the BBC reports.

Not that it was easy for her. The film’s director, Francis Lawrence, recently told Vulture that the actress was extremely anxious about singing the song on set for a pivotal scene in the movie.

“I knew she didn’t love the idea of singing, but I didn’t realize how nervous she was until when we started the first take, and she was in tears. Not totally broken down, but she was unhappy,” he says. “She would have much rather we used somebody else’s voice. I think she said she wanted Lorde [who sings the movie’s theme song] to do it!”

Lawrence’s singing voice sounds quite a bit like her speaking voice. And while it might not be a soaring vocal performance, that’s kind of the point.

“It shouldn’t sound like a professional,” the director says. “It should sound like a real girl singing. So she did it. She did it all day. And she has a really cool sound to her voice. There’s kind of a raspy texture to it. So it was not terrible in the slightest.”

Listen to the song below.

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