On YouTube, the Emmy-nominated song from HBO’s “Euphoria” by the show’s star and producer Zendaya and composer Labrinth “I’m Tired”More than 17 million views have been recorded. Spotify’s streaming count is 81,000,000, and TikTok has scores of covers that are live on the platform. It’s a testament to the impact of the show’s music, and when it came time to score and soundtrack its second season, Labrinth looked to the fans and asked what they wanted to hear. Adam Leber (Emmy-nominated music supervisor) was interviewed by Labrinth. Variety about the show’s musical journey.
What was your take on the themes and success of the music in season one?
Labrinth:Let’s just say, “Don’t fuck it up, you’re on a good run.” Creator Sam Levinson and I spoke about this being the next stage for Zendaya’s character, Rue, and that she was going to find redemption. We would be leading up to this moment where she realizes how much of what she’s doing is destroying everything and everyone around her. The music was meant to help her realize that. … As we went into season two, it felt like every episode had its own sonic style. We wanted to incorporate gospel or cathedral music. We’ll get to episode 4 and she will tell you. “What have I become?”
Adam, what did you do?
Adam Leber:One thing we learned from season 1 is that the music was on “Euphoria,”Particularly, the original music and even the score has had such an impact on youth culture. Kids have fallen in love with it and they have created millions of videos on TikTok and other platforms and that’s a huge indication of the show and its impact on culture. The show has created new hits across culture and that is the most important thing. Songs like “I’m Tired”Or “Elliot’s Song,”These were huge hits, with incredible content creation and hundreds of thousands of streams.
Did that have an impact on your approach to music?
Labrinth:It was fun because of the fandom. It felt like we were creating the music with the fans. I was vocal and asked everyone what they wanted to hear. It’s not my score, it became theirs. That’s what music is for. To translate it on a scale of this magnitude, as well as on all these social networking platforms. This was unheard-of, at a time and in an era. We’re in this era where music is governed by social media.
Leber:Music is the soundtrack of your life. You can see that these children are creating content based upon the score of the show.
Labrinth:Classic films were my first love growing up. I grew up when TikTok wasn’t around, but the internet was. For me, I relate sonically to a lot of the people that fell in love with the music because they’re kind of pretty much like me.
Leber: It’s funny. Lab and I joke all the time that he’s one of the biggest artists on TikTok and he doesn’t use it. The songs, the music that has come from this show, it’s a force there. It’s wild to see the number of videos that get made. It’s quite staggering.
We mentioned “I’m Tired,”How did you approach that?
Labrinth:We knew that certain songs were needed. Zendaya came to me and halfway through filming, she came to me — because I was on set, and she said, “OK, we’ve got this performance coming up and this is what we’re trying to say in this moment.”That was the basis for my songwriting. It was the exact same song. “Elliot’s Song.”
Apart from the many sounds of the cathedral organ that we hear all season, were there any other sounds or instruments you used in the score.
Labrinth: I’m such a fan of technology. Right now, I’m in a hotel and I’ll record the sound of me tapping a light bulb with my finger and turn that into a whole keyboard sound. Most of the sounds were made by my kids. I recorded their voices and turned them into something with pianos. A lot of the sounds were homemade and that’s probably why they sound wonky.
Do you have a favorite musical moment?
Labrinth: I wasn’t going to sing on the show, but Sam pushed me into doing it. My voice was an instrument that helped the show’s energy.
Adam, what about you?
Leber:The way “All For Us” was threaded throughout the series, I think it is brilliant and haunting in terms of Rue’s sobriety, and how it moves back and forth.
Labrinth:This was my favorite piece of music. It’s more like an English sound. I’m inspired by ‘90s acid stuff, and I wanted to do that with this hip-hop vibe which wasn’Although it wasn’t huge in America, it was a lot of fun.