Music supervisor is a job that is part professional music nerd, part aural detective and part crate-digging business affairs exec. 5 Songs is a Deadline series that highlights the work of these below the line workers through songs and stories.
Too Much – the new Netflix comedy from Girls’ Lena Dunham has a lot of music in it and for good reason.
Dunham’s husband and co-creator Luis Felber is a musician, who performs under the moniker Attawalpa. But he has a long association to London’s scene as a member of Young Turks, which started as a club night and turned into the XL Recordings-backed indie label behind The xx, and was a member of hardcore party band Turbogeist, which was led by Mick Jagger’s son James, and worked on music with his Rolling Stones dad for HBO’s Vinyl.
The show, which is set in London, stars Hacks’ Megan Stalter as Jessica, a New York workaholic in her mid-thirties, reeling from a broken relationship that she thought would last forever and slowly isolating everyone she knows. Moving to London, she meets Felix, played by The White Lotus’ Will Sharpe, a man with some red flags, and find that their connection is impossible to ignore.
Produced by Universal International Studios’ Working Title Television and Dunham’s Good Thing Going, the series also features a lot of recurring stars including Michael Zegen, Prasanna Puwanarajah, Rita Wilson, Rhea Perlman, Emily Ratajkowski, Richard E. Grant, Janicza Bravo, Andrew Rannells and Naomi Watts as well as cameos from Jessica Alba, Jennifer Saunders, Stephen Fry, Andrew Scott, Kit Harrington, Rita Ora and Alix Earle.
Music supervisors Iain Cooke and Amy Lee, who have previously worked on series such as Amazon’s The English and Netflix’s The Gentlemen, were tasked with compiling an eclectic mix of songs.
There are songs from A-list stars including Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Fergie, Nicki Minaj, Kasey Musgraves, Kendrick Lamar, Nina Simone and Bob Dylan. There’s songs from rising stars such as Fred Again, Saweetie and The Dare. There’s also some unexpected tracks such as Viagra Boys’ cover of John Prine’s “In Spite Of Ourselves” with Amyl and the Sniffers’ Amy Taylor, “The Burned Down Dairy Queen” from Wednesday’s Twin Plagues record, a cover of The Fray’s “You Found Me” by Waxahatchee and her other half, former Woods member Kevin Morby, “Farewell Transmission” by Jason Molina’s early band Songs: Ohia and a number of tracks by London’s “post pub kebab shop glam rock” band Sleaze.
WHAT WAS THE FIRST SONG YOU LICENSED FOR ‘TOO MUCH’?
Amy Lee: “London Bridge” by Fergie, of course. First song we hear in the series and the first song we locked in. It was never going to be anything else.
THE MOST UNEXPECTED CUE IN ‘TOO MUCH’?
Iain Cooke: I think some of my favorite unexpected uses come from the very special artists that we were able to collaborate with, who are really part of Lena’s sphere and testament to her pulling power. We were able to get an exclusive piano version of “Massachusetts” from Jensen McRae, we had Suki Waterhouse’s “Dream Woman” – inspired by the series, Kevin Morby and Waxahatchee recording a version of The Frays’ “You Found Me” – these all play over integral scenes and punctuate key moments in the series, and I’m sure will be thoroughly enjoyed by the viewers.
Lee: I also couldn’t have called Lena requesting a Kevin Morby and Waxahatchee cover of The Fray, them saying yes and it working so well. Waxahatchee’s voice is perfect for that song. Aside from that, for saying this is a big Netflix series with a mega-star-studded cast, there are some pretty obscure artists featured on the soundtrack. “See You Later” by U.N.O.P.C at the end of Ep 8 is maybe quite unexpected? But also, Lena is the coolest, so you can literally suggest to her closing an episode with a song made on a 4-track cassette recorder by a Scottish guy, little known outside of Sweden, for some reason, and if she likes it, she will say yes.
THE MOST SIGNIFICANT SONG IN ‘TOO MUCH’?
Lee: For me, the Miley Cyrus moment in episode two when Jess sings “Angels Like You” to Zev was a catalyst for many of the ideas I brought to Lena and Luis, especially around Jess’ scenes. Zev is an amalgamation of every terrible boyfriend you’ve ever had — the final boss of bad exes — and one of his earliest offenses is dismissing Jess’ taste in music, saying it isn’t ‘real music’. Unfortunately for Jess, Zev’s offenses get a lot worse than insulting Miley Cyrus, but in terms of thinking about what music to present in the early stages, that moment felt quite important. Zev expressed a broader cultural attitude where pop music, and pop culture in general, particularly when it resonates primarily with women, is often labelled as shallow or unsophisticated. So, in response to that scene, I was pretty intent on keeping in as much smart, powerful, interesting pop as possible within the budget we had. Artists like Kesha, Nicki Minaj, Miley, Fergie, Jade, Kacey Musgraves, Lil’ Kim, Rachel Chinouriri, Taylor Swift, Sugababes — all brought something that felt representative of pop at its highest quality, and the music enjoyed by girls like Jess, of the most discerning taste.
THE HARDEST SONG TO LICENSE FOR ‘TOO MUCH’?
Lee: I wouldn’t say any particular cues spring to mind, there’s always a fair amount of hunting down songwriters and convincing to do in any project, but that’s all part of the fun. The most difficult part in terms of licensing was just the sheer volume of music in the show. It was a big job. I’m very tired now.
Cooke: We were very lucky in general. I think because of Lena’s reputation for curating soundtracks, such as with Girls, we had very little resistance overall when it came to artists giving us permission to use their music within this series. There are some massive artists who feature on the soundtrack and that’s testament to Lena’s reputation as a music fan, and her using music in a very unique, bold and respectful way.
FAVOURITE SONG ON ‘TOO MUCH’?
Cooke: I think my favorite song across the series is probably Saweetie’s “Tap In” in episode four mainly because it appears in such an insane scene. We’d read the script, so knew it was going to be fun. But I remember the first time we saw that scene being completely enraptured – watching Jessica’s advertising boss (played by Richard E Grant) and his wife (played by Naomi Watts) having a grown-up dinner party with their friends and colleagues and the socially awkward dynamics playing out, and then everyone moving upstairs into their party attic, walking around with trays laden with drugs and seeing these brilliant characters dance and grind up against each other while everyone gets higher and a higher. Saweetie’s “Tap In” elevated an already utterly iconic scene.
Lee: There’re so many. The reprise of “London Bridge” at the end of episode one makes me laugh so much. The high school mean girls walk into the restaurant to Lil Kim in episode two, the Cate Le Bon mixtape moment in episode two that plays out for long enough to take you from ‘this is weird and awkward’ to ‘this is the tenderest, loveliest thing I’ve ever seen.’ Misty Miller and Luis’ cover of “Praying” by Kesha at the end of episode six gets me every time, it’s so gorgeous.
TOO MUCH TRACK LISTING
Episode 1:
London Bridge by Fergi
No Bad Energy by Miraa May
Dead or Alive by Cam’Ron
Daffodils by Sleaze
Dynamite by Ese and the Vooduu People
Always The Girls by Attawalpa
Slow Like Honey by Fiona Apple
Episode 2:
Pressure to Party by Julia Jacklin
Itty Bitty Piggy by Nicki Minaj
In Spite Of Ourselves by Viagra Boys with Amy Taylor
Ashita Atari wa Kitto Haru by Happy End
Farewell Transmission by Songs: Ohia
Angels Like You by Miley Cyrus
The Burned Down Dairy Queen by Wednesday
The Jump Off by Lil Kim
4th of July by Hand Habits
You Know More Than I Know by John Cale
Are You With Me Now by Cate Le Bon
Episode 3:
Touch Tank by Quinnie
Adore U by Fred Again
Maggot Brain by Funkadelic
Falling Apart by Slow Pulp
Episode 4:
No Limitations by Attawalpa
Anything by Adrianne Lenker
Tap In by Saweetie
Get Stupid by Joshwa
Butterflies by Kasey Musgraves
Episode 5:
Angel Of My Dreams by Jade
Green Girl by Misty Miller
Push Tuck by Sleaze
Greek Tragedy by The Wombats
Eyesore by Women
Massachusetts (Stripped back version) by Jensen McRae
Too Late by Carole King
Pocket by Rachel Chinouriri
Dream Woman by Suki Waterhouse
Episode 6:
When The Ship Comes In by Bob Dylan
Sister You Said by Sarah Meth
Praying (Kesha cover) by Misty Miller
Episode 7:
Human by Molly Sarlé
You Found Me (The Fray cover) by Kevin Morby and Waxahatchee
Episode 8:
Big Energy by Latto
Get Busy by Sean Paul
Swimming Pools by Kendrick Lamar
See You Later by U.N.P.O.C
Episode 9:
Girls by The Dare
Don’t Smoke in Bed by Nina Simone
Farewell Transmission by Songs: Ohia
Free by NRVS
Episode 10:
Old Recliners by Role Model
Bigger Than The Whole Sky by Taylor Swift
Run for Cover by Sugababes
I Want to See The Bright Lights Tonight by Richard and Linda Thompson
True Love Trajectory by Attawalpa
