‘White Lotus’ Composer Won’t Return for Season Four Due to Creative Disagreements

Cristóbal Tapia de Veer is checking out of The White Lotus. The Emmy-winning composer, who created the score and theme song for the first three seasons of the show, has confirmed he will not return for the fourth chapter.

Tapia de Veer told The New York Times that he has had creative disagreements with Mike White, the show’s creator and director, and the show’s producers since Season One. That includes the divisive credits theme from Season Three, which was supposed to be longer before it was cut by producer.

“It’s kind of weird right now because I announced to the team a few months ago that I was not coming back, that I was leaving,” Tapia de Veer told the Times. “I didn’t tell Mike for various reasons; I wanted to tell him just at the end for the shock and whatever. Except I told the whole editorial team and music editor and producer and all that, but I didn’t think that they were going to tell him. At some point he heard about that.”

In the interview, the composer described not being sure if he was the first fit for the series from the start. “When I got the script, I wasn’t sure that it was something for me, because it was very well written, but there’s a reality TV kind of vibe going on, and comedic,” Tapia de Veer said. “My stuff in general is the opposite of this, it’s super dark and edgy. But when we had the talk with Mike, I just told him in a joke that I thought we could do some kind of ‘Hawaiian Hitchcock,’ and he really grabbed on that and he started laughing.”

Originally, the show’s theme music was “a song that is more like something you would listen to in Ibiza, in some clubby place with a chill, sexy vibe.” Tapia de Veer described it as “nice background music.”

“I just stuck to what I was doing,” he explained. “And when I was giving versions, it was still the same thing: There were still crazy people and screaming and stuff like that. From there, it became this weird relationship of, ‘How do I pass all this weird music into the show?'”
Editor’s picks

The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time

The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far

The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time

Tapia de Veer also addressed the rampant criticism of the Season Three theme, which sounds somewhat different than those in the prior two.

“When that came out, I had TMZ calling me, even people from England and from France, because they wanted some kind of statement about the theme,” the composer recalled. “People are furious about the change of the theme, and I thought that was interesting. I texted the producer and I told him that it would be great to, at some point, give them the longer version with the ‘ooh-loo-loo-loos,’ because people will explode if they realize that it was going there anyway. He thought it was a good idea. But then Mike cut that — he wasn’t happy about that.”

He added, “I mean, at that point, we already had our last fight forever, I think. So he was just saying no to anything.” Tapia de Veer later uploaded his full version of the theme to YouTube.

The composer concluded the interview by saying he was proud of his work and for being honored by the Emmys. “People don’t remember, but at first some people were complaining about the music: ‘I can’t concentrate on the characters, and it’s too much and I’m so stressed out,'” he said. “But I’m really happy to take those kinds of risks. That is the main thing that I’m most happy about — 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.”

Earlier this year, The White Lotus‘ music supervisor Gabe Hilfer, who joined for Season Two, told Rolling Stone that the uproar over the theme song meant people care about the show.
Trending Stories
Kurt Russell Remembers Val Kilmer's Unshakeable Humor and Their Final Farewell
Trump Launches Trade War With Penguins, Not Putin
How 'Groceries' Explains Trump's Detachment From Working Americans
Val Kilmer Gave Us the Best Gunfight of the Modern Western Era

“The song changes every season, and it reflects the tone, mood, and the themes of the season,” he said. “The theme songs for the first two seasons were a little bit more related creatively, but they’re totally different songs. Season Three is about spirituality, and it’s meant to be reflective of that. I think that people are just noticing it more because it’s considerably different than last season.”

He added, “Mike gives Cristo a lot of creative freedom, especially with the themes…. Reinvention and creating the overarching new themes every season are important, and I think the music certainly reflects that. And there will be a new theme next season, too.”