We rarely write about video games at The Hasel Magazine, but we couldn’t let Grand Theft Auto VI pass us by. It feels like a once-in-a-generation release: a fictional city built at the scale of a world, with a story intimate enough to hinge on two people, and music that deserves a listen of its own. We came to Leonida curious about how Rockstar would make a place this big feel lived in. We stayed for the question of what it would sound like.
Vice City has the kind of skyline you could sell on a postcard. In the footage Rockstar has released for Grand Theft Auto VI, it also has rooms where people wait, work and run out of options. The contrast gives the game’s scale something to do. You can look out over a wide stretch of Leonida and still want to know what happens when Lucia Caminos and Jason Duval close the door behind them.
How to make a big world feel specific
The Extended Look gives Rockstar time for a different kind of editing than a short trailer. Captured in-game on PlayStation 5, it lets the eye move from a whole neighbourhood to the signs, storefronts and people that distinguish one street from the next. The question the footage raises is how those details will hold up when a player stops following the route the edit has laid out. A city starts to feel large when two places close together give you different reasons to stay.
Rockstar’s premise is narrow enough to keep the surroundings from taking over. After a job goes wrong, Lucia and Jason have to rely on each other as the consequences spread through Leonida. The trailer can cut from a citywide spectacle to two people looking at one another and still feel like it is telling the same story. The reach of the world matters because the relationship has to survive it.
What Justice bring to Leonida
Rockstar commissioned the French electronic duo Justice to compose the original score. For Flower in a Hurricane, the single that debuts in the launch trailer, Justice are joined by Tame Impala, SZA and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. That track is an early reason to listen closely to Grand Theft Auto VI: The Album. Bringing those artists together gives the campaign a track with several musical personalities in the same space. Its pulse pulls the cuts forward, while the voices let the trailer change mood without losing that momentum.
The single is part of Grand Theft Auto VI: The Album, the official soundtrack release. The dynamic score and in-game radio are separate parts of the game’s musical design. That distinction matters. A trailer song can be cut to a fixed sequence. A game cue needs to leave space for a player who takes the long way, misses a turn or stops to see what’s around the corner. Radio has a different job again. A station can give a district, a car or a time of night a character before the story has said anything about it.
The launch trailer
The launch trailer shows one way Justice can give a tightly edited sequence momentum. In the game, their score will have to respond to a different rhythm: the time a player spends looking around, the pause before a decision, and the sudden shift when a plan falls apart.
Grand Theft Auto VI: The Album on Spotify
Rockstar has announced GTA VI for November 19, 2026, on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. The official GTA VI soundtrack page has pre-save and release information. Rockstar has said details on the separate original-score album are forthcoming.
Sources and media credits
Written by The Hasel Magazine. Background reading: Katy Cowan for Creative Boom, August 27, 2026. Images and videos: Rockstar Games. Each image caption links to the published asset. Game information: official Grand Theft Auto VI site. Music and release information: Rockstar Newswire. Soundtrack album: Spotify.