HBO
The theme tune to HBO's The White Lotus has been an unlikely flashpoint for the buzzy series since it began in 2021. People loved the yodeling music used in the show's debut season while the more upbeat season 2 theme even made its way into DJ sets and raves around the world. The music for the third season, which currently airing, however, proved more divisive with many viewers complaining that (like the show) it might not be as good as previous years. The man behind both pieces of music was Cristóbal Tapia de Veer, who won multiple Emmys for his work. However, it seems all was not well behind the scenes with the composer revealing that he will no longer work on the show due to a breakdown in relations with the shows writer and director, Mike White.
Tapia de Veer outlined his creative differences in a new interview with The New York Times. He described the feedback he would receive as "hysterical" and claimed he was being asked to make more traditional, less experimental music for the show.
According to Tapia de Veer, White said his theme for season one was almost rejected in favor of an alternative White had in mind. "He had a temp score, a song that is more like something you would listen to in Ibiza, in some clubby place with a chill, sexy vibe," the composer said. "And there’s literally no edge to it. It’s a good song; it’s nice music. There’s just absolutely no — whatever you find in the White Lotus music, the relationships with the characters — there’s none of that. It’s just nice background music."
Speaking about his time working on the show, Tapia de Veer said that there were "crazy people and screaming and stuff like that." This led him to make his job a "weird relationship of, How do I pass all this weird music into the show?"
Ultimately, though, Tapia de Veer says he’s happy about the “struggle,” he endured working on the show: “it was worth all the tension and almost forcing the music into the show, in a way, because I didn’t have that many allies in there.”
The third season of The White Lotus is due to conclude on HBO this Sunday (April 6). Check out Tapia de Veer's theme for the show below.
