How ‘White Lotus’ Composer Reimagined Themes for Second Season Through an Italian Lens
variety.comLily Moayeri A theme song sets the tone for a series. This is certainly the case for HBO’s awards favorite, “The White Lotus,” which won an Emmy for “Aloha” last year.
The jungle sounds, exotic tones, yodels and screams laid over percussive rhythms and high-pitched flutes became instantly identifiable and an echo of the contentious characters vacationing at the Hawaii-based titular resort.
Considering how iconic “Aloha” became, changing the theme for the Sicily-based second season was a bold choice. Chilean Canadian composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer drew his original musical ideas from the script and from conversations with series creator Mike White.
White “wanted the music to feel like it was boiling under these characters,” de Veer says from his studio in Montréal. “I felt like native sounds were the way to go — not to mimic how Hawaii sounds, but to reflect the way the guests treat nature and the locals,” de Veer says. “When you have lots of details on the page and depth from the characters, that can sometimes get lost.
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