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