How 'White Lotus' Reinvented the Theme Song for Season 2 | Artisans - video Dailymotion

Variety

The White Lotus composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer breaks down how he came back to the series to reinvent the season 2 theme song.

Transcript

00:00 [Ticking]

00:01 The first season has this very aggressive tribal feel

00:05 of being in the jungle and being attacked

00:08 by monkeys or something.

00:12 And in the second season, the operatic voice and the harp,

00:16 it feels like we're more into some ancient ruins in Italy

00:20 or maybe just the beauty of Italy.

00:23 [Upbeat music]

00:26 [Upbeat music]

00:28 [Operatic music]

00:38 I'm Cristo.

00:44 I am the composer for "The White Lotus."

00:47 The first season was supposed to be a mini series.

00:50 They added a second season because of the success.

00:54 I wasn't sure I was going to be able to work

00:56 on the second season because I didn't plan

00:59 for a second season, but they asked me to at least

01:02 do a theme that would match the second season.

01:06 And I had a talk with Mike White and he asked me

01:09 for certain Renaissance elements, Italian opera

01:12 and things like that.

01:13 At some point, I took a little time to make an intro

01:17 that would have those elements with things

01:19 like a little harp and some opera singing

01:22 and some orchestral beats.

01:24 And once I had that intro, I started figuring out

01:28 how to bring back the elements that are recognizable

01:31 from the first season, which are the voices.

01:34 [Operatic music]

01:37 So that's the actual singer.

01:42 When you watch it live, you recognize her sound,

01:44 but she wasn't there when I made the demo,

01:47 but I did take her voice.

01:49 It was still her voice that I played on the keyboard.

01:52 [Operatic music]

01:55 After the voices, it just felt like it could become bigger.

02:03 I'm a big fan of the way Sorrentino uses dance music

02:07 and then switches to some really beautiful classical music.

02:12 All the elements start slowly changing

02:14 into an electronic thing.

02:16 I was just tripping, really.

02:18 When I started making that beat, it really felt like

02:21 when I be in a club and just celebrating

02:24 with tons of people.

02:25 [Operatic music]

02:28 When the kick comes in and then we're,

02:33 all of a sudden we're in a club,

02:34 it just felt natural that these voices are so powerful

02:38 that every bar felt like I could go up one step

02:41 and then another step.

02:42 The next step, it felt like we reached some kind of peak

02:46 of energy, and then you realize the next bar,

02:49 you could still reach another one and then another one.

02:51 So it keeps going.

02:53 That was the main idea, I suppose,

02:55 that was driving me for that section.

02:59 To make every four beats, it becomes bigger and bigger.

03:02 [Operatic music]

03:05 The main idea for me was to try to make a remix

03:12 of the first season.

03:13 So I was trying to go for something that felt more like,

03:19 not necessarily a song,

03:20 but something that Daft Punk would have made

03:22 or just a club remix.

03:24 It's not supposed to be a new song.

03:26 In the end, it did become a new song,

03:28 but the first idea was more of a,

03:31 that of a remix.

03:34 In the second season of "The White Lotus,"

03:36 I had a co-composer, Kim Neuendorf.

03:39 Not like helping out with some beats and stuff,

03:42 but she actually composed her own tracks,

03:45 inspired by Italy and trying to blend in

03:48 the vibe of "The White Lotus."

03:50 And she brought lots of the acoustic instruments,

03:54 like the violins, some acoustic guitars, things like that,

03:58 some piano songs, some very dramatic moments,

04:01 which I really appreciated.

04:03 I thought she brought lots of interesting vibes

04:08 to this Italy scenery.

04:11 [Operatic music]

04:16 When I was making it and I was into this club thing

04:20 and I was tripping, I was really into it.

04:22 When it's done, I thought it was terrible,

04:24 so I didn't send it.

04:25 And then like a month later, I thought,

04:27 "Well, whatever, I just send it and see what happens.

04:31 "I'm not gonna hate it anyways.

04:32 "Maybe I don't have the time to do this and whatever."

04:35 And they were like, "Yeah, amazing!"

04:37 What often happens is that we start perfecting things

04:40 in the studio.

04:41 Like you have a rough mix

04:42 and then you start betterizing things.

04:45 And generally speaking, things become complicated

04:49 and too brainy and whatnot.

04:52 And somehow you start strangling the life out of that

04:56 instead of just letting it go.

04:58 And it is whatever it is and just let it breathe.

05:01 There were some sounds I thought,

05:02 "I'm gonna change that.

05:03 "I'm gonna put a better sound

05:05 "or a more original thing there."

05:07 But in the end, it doesn't make a difference.

05:09 Somehow I think there's an energy,

05:11 something that people cut into,

05:15 and it has nothing to do with whatever perfection

05:17 or skills you have in the studio or anything like that.

05:20 It's just a very spontaneous thing

05:24 that you grab in a moment.

05:26 And once it's there, it's like, "Don't touch it.

05:29 "Just let it breathe."

05:32 [upbeat music]

05:35 ♪ ♪

05:42 ♪ ♪

05:47 ♪ ♪

05:52 ♪ ♪

How 'White Lotus' Reinvented the Theme Song for Season 2 | Artisans

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