#Music Supervisor Maggie Phillips

[spenglernot]

THEY EDIT FINE THINGS WELL: OFMD KISS AND KNIVES SCENES (S1 E9 & S2 E3) COMPARISON

Marveling at the OFMD editors who did so much more than just reuse Schumann’s Kinderszenen, Op. 15: VII. And Erik Satie’s Gnossiennes No. 5 from the season 1, episode 9 kiss scene in the season 2, episode 3 knife pulling scene.

Unedited audio from both episodes plays simultaneously in this comparison video. Take a look and a listen at what happens, with Gnossiennes No. 5 from 0:15 to 0:52. The music is playing twice, but you only hear it once because it matches perfectly. The way the verbalizations and dialogue work together are the kill-me-now gut punch taste-of-orange frosting on the best cake ever.

It's beautiful.

[queeraspirates]

new interview with Our Flag Means Death music supervisor Maggie Phillips, heads up that she reveals another season two song in the interview!

[i-think-im-so-so-but-cosplay]

They choose the perfect song always, every time.

Thank you, Maggie Phillips and crew!

Anyone else just keep singing “Baby, baby, baby!” in a mock version of Prince’s voice sporadically all day? Surely not just me.

[merchymynydd]

Is Maggie Phillips still music supervisor for OFMD? Because she's still killin' it.

Heard two chords and don't do me like this Maggie I cannot with the Kate Bush right now

[thecelestialtoymaker]

I don't think I'll ever get over end of episode three of season two. This woman's work by Kate Bush invokes an emotion in me that I can't describe and as for Run From Me in episode two, just fuck off at that point. That scene is perfection. As much as Maggie Phillips Slayed this season. David and Taika, are directly responsible for my therapy bills.

[londonspirit]

It's hard to wrap our heads around the fact that Max's Our Flag Means Death has already reached its Season 2 finale — serving as proof that life for pirates can be just as tumultuous and unpredictable on land as it is on the open sea. Although Stede (Rhys Darby) and Ed (Taika Waititi) saw themselves reuniting in epically romantic fashion on a beach (before having to jump in and help Zheng [Ruibo Qian] swordfight a bunch of foes, that is), their plan to reassemble the crew of the Revenge and take back control of the Republic of Pirates didn't come without some losses. Namely, Ed's first mate and loyal right-hand man — and newly-dubbed unicorn of the crew, Izzy Hands (Con O'Neill) — fell to a gunshot wound, but didn't slip away without some important parting words that Ed himself needed to hear.

Now, the future of the crew is looking divided once more — but on a somewhat happier note this time around, as Stede and Ed are settling down in that innkeeper life while watching the Revenge sail off into the sunset under the command of Frenchie (Joel Fry), and all set to the tune of Nina Simone's swelling and ultimately hopeful cover of "The Times They Are a-Changin'." It's unclear where the show will go next, but ahead of the finale, Collider had the chance to sit down with Our Flag Means Death music supervisor Maggie Phillips to break down some of the best needle drops, from O'Neill's cover of "La vie en rose" to making Kate Bush the unexpected artist of Season 2 to collaborating with show creator David Jenkins and so much more.

COLLIDER: Before getting into some specific episode moments, I wanted to ask you about the teaser trailer for Season 2. Something that a lot of people were talking about was that Prince song that gets used ["The Beautiful Ones"]. Did you all get to decide what song that was in the trailer?

MAGGIE PHILLIPS: We did. That was a song that David [Jenkins] asked me about. I don't know if he asked me about Prince or that song in particular, but that's the first song that David and I were like, “This is the song for the show,” before trailers were even thought about. We tried to get it into Season 1, and there just wasn't a spot for it. I'm a huge Prince fan and have been since high school. For Halloween, when I was 17, I dressed up as a B-side Prince song. It was a song called “Scarlet Pussy.” It was a red cat. [Laughs]

Prince has been kind of off-limits for my whole career. Prior to his death, he was very picky and very expensive, and it was just something I was never really able to place. Then, when David brought it up, it was like two-and-a-half years ago, his estate was still being settled in court, and I was like, “I don't know if we can use it,” and then we were trying to use it, and it didn't work out. Long story short, we tried again to place it in Season 2, and there just wasn't a spot for it. So then, when we were doing the trailers, I don't normally get consulted for those, but David asked me to watch it and asked my opinion. Since then, Prince's estate had been settled, and I had heard that, actually, his estate wanted to place his music. It was perfect, and I'm glad that the first time I placed a Prince song was for Our Flag Means Death. That was a song we're very happy about.

Have there been any big instances where a song doesn't fit somewhere in the season, you can't find a place for it, or where you've tried to get your first choice for this show specifically, and it hasn't been able to happen for whatever reason?

PHILLIPS: No, none that come to mind. I don't think we've had any denials. The big moments in Season 1 we cleared before they even started shooting. Cat Stevens and the Fleetwood Mac were costly, and that meant cutting corners elsewhere, but we got everything we wanted. We weren't shooting for the stars that much. At this point, in Season 2, it's been easier to get yeses, I will say that. Kate Bush in Episode 3, her manager was very specific. Kate wanted to be a part of it, and she was very excited about the use and stuff. The show is so popular, with enough of an audience that people want to be a part of it, which is very exciting.

When I talked to David before the season, he said that he always picks a song and that's the song that's all-encompassing of the whole season. For this season, he said Kate Bush, "This Woman's Work." Obviously, we get it in a very pivotal moment in Episode 3. I wanted to ask you about the conversations around that song and when it was going to be used.

PHILLIPS: It recontextualizes the song and the lyrics to make it work with that scene. That song was written for a movie, She's Having a Baby, with a totally different subject and lyrical subject in mind. The funny story about that song is I advised against it when he told me he wanted to use it. There were two reasons: the more egotistical reason was I had placed it in The Handmaid’s Tale previously, and I hadn't actually pitched that song. I had pitched “Running Up That Hill” for that episode, but the showrunner decided to use “This Woman's Work,” and I was like, “That's a bold choice. Some people are going to love it, some people are going to hate it.”

More importantly, it was right after the Stranger Things Kate Bush phenomenon, and I was like, “Dude, we are going to look like we are copycats, that we didn't have an original idea, and I'm worried about the backlash there.” David knows what he wants, and he was like, “This is our show. It's an original, and this is the right song for this moment.” Taika wanted to use the song and was very attached to the song, too. So it was a Taika/David collaboration, that song.

I remember talking to my team and saying that this could be potentially embarrassing, this song in this spot, but then, I watched it. I read the script. I'm not privy to the conversations about how they're gonna shoot it and what part of the song they're gonna use, but they had obviously figured that all out — because I watched it and really was emotionally charged. I remember getting chills, and I emailed David right away, and I was like, “You were so right. That song is gorgeous there.” I feel like it changes the song. It becomes a new creative moment. That's what's so cool about this job. It's rare, but sometimes you'll put a song to picture, and the song will change, and the picture will change, and it's sort of that movie magic, and I feel like they did it there. So I just was along for the ride and got to eat my words

Speaking of a music moment that gave me chills, Episode 2, that Timber Timbre song, “Run for Me,” bookends the episode and is used in very different contexts with very different parts of the song. At the beginning, it's Blackbeard wallowing and depressed, and at the end, it's this very sinister, dark place. What was the process behind choosing that song and also choosing to use it in two very different places?

PHILLIPS: That was all David. I wish I could claim that that was me. I read it in the script. I'm a fan of Timber Timbre; I put them in stuff years ago. I’ve followed their career since they started, so I knew the song immediately and read the script with that song in mind. No, [that was] just the genius of David Jenkins.

How often are you getting scripts from [David] where the song choice is already in there?

PHILLIPS: It's rare, because typically he asks me before he writes a script. Typically, he’ll email me while he's in the writers’ room. In fact, I'm sure he did about this one because it was so intricately woven into the script, and he's not going to write it without knowing that we can clear it and can afford it. Since I know Timber Timbre, I've used their stuff before, I was like, “Go for it. It'll be affordable and easy to clear.” In that regard, he might have asked me for some [other] stuff, and I'm like, “Stay clear.” Those might be the only denials we've gotten, from me, but there aren't many these days. There used to be a lot more that were hands-off. These days, people want to be seen.

I also love the use of “Strawberry Letter 23” during the raid on the wedding in the first episode. It's juxtaposed against the violence and the terror of the moment.

PHILLIPS: It's such a sweet love song. The lyrics are so innocent and sweet, but it's like the way that Shuggie Otis — it's swagger and cocky and just whimsical and has that strong melody and the instrumentation. That was on one of my playlists for Season 1, and then [David] wrote it in. All the big moments in Season 1 and Season 2 that are on cameras like that, those don't come in post. Those are when he's writing the scripts, so there was never any other song that was attempted for that spot; that was always going to be that song.

With that in mind, what's the song at the end of that episode, where Ed and Stede are both looking at the same moon and having their respective conversations?

PHILLIPS: It’s "Pygmy Love Song" by Francis Bebey. It’s supposed to capture the pain but inherent beauty of true love. It’s romantic but tragic at the same time, like Stede and Ed’s love story —at this point in the story.

I also wanted to about Con [O’Neill] singing “La Vie en rose” in Episode 6. I feel like that's a moment that fans are going to be really excited about. I personally did not know he could sing!

PHILLIPS: I don't know if he knew he could sing either. That was a very involved clearance. It took a long time to clear. Anything that's international, and this was through the French office, takes a long time. Americans are very quick, for better or for worse, and the French office is not. We started clearing that, and it took us months. We were getting to the point where we were like, “Are we gonna be able to use this?”

Then Con was anxious about singing in the first place because it's not something he does normally, and then was anxious about singing in French. So we had to change the clearance because originally scripted, we wanted it to be in French, and going back to English, that actually was a whole other boring clearance story. To get it approved in English was harder, but we got it. Then, while we were waiting for approval, the actor had taught himself phonetically how to do the French version, and we recorded both options, and the French was so effective that that's what we stuck with for most of it.

I love that moment. [Con]'s such a good actor. Oh my god. That episode is just really powerful, and that song works really well Sometimes when you're not a trained singer, but you're an actor, you're acting the singing as opposed to singing it for the aural experience, so it becomes more emotional in a way. You're not worried too much about pitch and getting it right, and so it's more about the character who's singing it. Especially when you're singing it not for a soundtrack but in a scene. They're not singing it for the performance, they're singing it for the cathartic release, and it is going to be more emotional. That's why I think it's so powerful, the way he does it. Yeah, I love that scene.

Do you have a personal favorite song choice from Season 1?

PHILLIPS: My favorite, because I love the way it works, and it's also just for me a personal triumph, [was] to get Moondog in at the end of the pilot. It was such an odd choice. I always like it when I get in stuff that people don't know. I love the Beach Boys — it's a song that many people don't know, “Our Prayer,” in Season 1, Episode 4, where they meet. I love the “Seabird” song by the Alessi Brothers, I think it's the end of Episode 5 in Season 1.

Kate Bush has become one of my favorite moments [in Season 2], as a moment singular to just the show and the story themselves. It was also the visual of Stede coming down as a mermaid. It's just so absurd, yet it’s so beautiful and so powerful at the same time. I don't know how they do it, but they do it. I could watch that Fleetwood Mac scene over and over and over again in the end, the shot pulling back of them laying on the ground, and Stede goes, “You've come back,” and Ed is like, “I never left,” and then the wink. I love that moment so much. This show is just hands down one of my all-time favorite shows I've ever gotten to work on.

Everyone I've talked to about working on this show is having an absolute blast.

PHILLIPS: I also think — I'm always talking highly of David, but he deserves it — it comes from the top down. That dude is super creative and very collaborative and also just kind, and that's rare when you're a showrunner/creator. He makes it such a pleasurable, fun experience with a lot of hard work, which is hard to do — to make people work really hard and challenge themselves, but then they want to do it because it's fun and rewarding, not because someone's cracking the whip.

[biggayenergypod]

Out tomorrow! Make sure to follow and subscribe so you don't miss our conversations with the amazing music supervisors of Red, White, and Royal Blue, Maggie Phillips and Kristen Higuera 💜

[ulkaralakbarova]

The story of Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York heiress, who dreamed of becoming an opera singer, despite having a terrible singing voice. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Florence Foster Jenkins: Meryl Streep St. Clair Bayfield: Hugh Grant Cosmé McMoon: Simon Helberg Kathleen Weatherley: Rebecca Ferguson Agnes Stark: Nina Arianda Phineas Stark: Stanley Townsend John Totten: Allan Corduner Earl Wilson: Christian McKay Carlo Edwards: David Haig Dr. Hermann: John Sessions Kitty: Brid Brennan Arturo Toscanini: John Kavanagh Mrs Vanderbilt: Pat Starr Mrs. James O’Flaherty: Maggie Steed Mrs Oscar Garmunder: Thelma Barlow Mrs EE Patterson: Liza Ross Baroness Le Feyre: Paola Dionisotti Mrs Patsy Snow: Rhoda Lewis Lily Pons: Aida Garifullina Augustus Corbin: David Mills Carlton Smith: David Menkin Cpl. Jones: Sid Phoenix Pvt. Smith: Tunji Kasim Orlando Adams: Carl Davis Microphone Engineer: Lloyd Hutchinson Elevator Operator: Richard Kilgour Ernest Ziegler: Jonathan Plowright Donaghy: Josh O’Connor Tallulah Bankhead: Nat Luurtsema Colonel: Ewan Stewart Gino: Cameron Cuffe News Vendor: John Guerrasio Edgar Booth Cunningham Jr: Elliot Levey Clifford B. Thornton III: Danny Mahoney Cole Porter: Mark Arnold Film Crew: Writer: Stephen Frears Director of Photography: Danny Cohen Screenplay: Nicholas Martin Producer: Michael Kuhn Producer: Tracey Seaward Editor: Valerio Bonelli Casting: Kathleen Chopin Casting: Leo Davis Casting: Lissy Holm Art Direction: Gareth Cousins Art Direction: Christopher Wyatt Production Design: Alan MacDonald Costume Design: Consolata Boyle Supervising Art Director: Patrick Rolfe Script Supervisor: Sue Hills Music Director: Terry Davies Music Editor: Stuart Morton Music Supervisor: Karen Elliott Assistant Costume Designer: Rosie Grant Costume Supervisor: Marion Weise Camera Operator: Iain Mackay Gaffer: Paul McGeachan Camera Operator: Lucy Bristow First Assistant Camera: Andrew Banwell First Assistant Camera: Iain Struthers Additional Camera: Jason Ewart Special Effects Supervisor: Manex Efrem Visual Effects Coordinator: Jenny King Visual Effects Producer: Noga Alon Stein Visual Effects Supervisor: Adam Gascoyne Visual Effects Editor: Edd Gamlin Sound Effects Editor: Phil Lee Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Dafydd Archard Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Mike Dowson Supervising Sound Editor: Becki Ponting Supervising Sound Editor: Ian Wilson Makeup Artist: J. Roy Helland Hairstylist: Anita Burger Hairstylist: Andrea Cracknell Hairstylist: Beverley Binda Makeup Designer: Daniel Phillips Makeup Artist: Karen Cohen Makeup Artist: Tahira Herold Wigmaker: Ray Marston Digital Intermediate: Rob Farris Digital Intermediate: Patrick Malone Digital Intermediate: Gemma McKeon First Assistant Editor: Karenjit Sahota Stunt Coordinator: Eunice Huthart Stunt Coordinator: Jo McLaren Assistant Art Director: Aoife Warren Original Music Composer: Alexandre Desplat Foley Artist: Andrea King Conceptual Design: Elo Soode Carpenter: Josh Wood Movie Reviews: Reno: **Nothing is greater than to have a supportive life partner by side.** I follow closely what films are announced and what are getting released. Sometimes its common that some films comes out without my knowledge, particularly non-Hollywood English language films. This British film was about a wealthy couple from the New York, especially the husband who tries his best to fulfill his seriously ill wife’s dream to be an opera singer. The problem is she’s not any good. Not just him, but everybody who is close to them and once laughed at her, try to understand them and give their support. But not all the occasion seems to remain the same. So on one such a big event, the disaster strikes and how it affects the couple is the rest of the tale to disclose. A very surprising film. I thought it was just a comedy like it brings small smiles on our face, but I laughed out loud on many occasions. This is definitely a right time, because I felt like it was a music and cinematic version of the American presidential candidate Don Trump. Yep, there not much difference, but still this ...

[boxoftheskyking]

Re: ofmd season 2

Music supervisor Maggie Phillips is fuckin Killing It

[the-myrda-weapon]

My fatal flaw hubris because I create an OFMD playlist and instantly I believe myself to be Maggie Phillips, music supervisor extraordinaire. Ah yes every single song on there will feature in Season 2 mark my words. The world will kneel before my genius and how well I understand Gentlebeard’s dynamics

[spenglernot]

THEY EDIT FINE THINGS WELL: OFMD MOONLIGHT SCENES (S1 E5 & S2 E5) COMPARISON

Both scenes, with audio, play simultaneously. There is interplay with the timing of dialog and music symmetry (Gnossienne No. 5), until about 0:26, where the music falls out of synch for a few seconds (but still sounds lovely). The S1 E5 scene ends with Stede and Ed walking away from each other while S2 E5 scene ends with Ed and Stede together. Love that.

[gideongriddle]

E V I L A G A I N • spotify playlist

for when you have to be blackbeard after all

Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding, Elton John / Everything about this house was born to grow and die

Piece of My Heart, Janis Joplin / Never, never, never, never, never, never hear me when I cry, babe, and I cry all the time

Train in Vain (Stand By Me), The Clash / You must explain why this must be. Did you lie when you spoke to me?

I'll Cry Instead, The Beatles / Yes, I'm gonna break them in two and show you what your lovin' man can do

Rich Girl, Daryl Hall & John Oates / And don't you know that a love can't grow 'cause there's too much to give, 'cause you'd rather live for the thrill of it all

It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference, Todd Rundgren / 'Cause it wouldn't have made any difference if you loved me. How could you love me?

Love in Vain, The Rolling Stones / Yeah, when the train left the station, it had two lights on behind. Whoa, the blue light was my baby and the red light was my mind

Gold Dust Woman, Fleetwood Mac / Well, did she make you cry, make you break down, shatter your illusions of love? And is it over now?

It Makes No Difference, The Band / Without your love, I am nothing at all. Like an empty hall, it's a lonely fall

It's All Over Now, Baby Blue, Them / Your lover, who has just walked through the door, has taken all his blankets from the floor

Run For Your Life, The Beatles / Baby, I'm determined and I'd rather see you dead

Stage Fright, The Band / And the doctor warned me I might catch a death, said, "You can make it in your disguise, just never show the fear that's in your eyes"

Madman Across The Water, Elton John / Is the nightmare really black or are the windows painted?

Storms, Fleetwood Mac / I'd like to leave you with something warm, but never have I been a blue calm sea. I have always been a storm

[biceratops7]

THAT’S WHY IT DOESN’T FEATURE IN THIS SCENE

https://youtu.be/lfs1S9daKXA

The POV character of Gnossiene no.5 is Ed, and this is Stede’s moment. Ed isn’t here, instead we get a direct glimpse into Stede’s thoughts as he understands for the first time that it’s ok to be in love with him. So something new plays, something different. Both songs are beautiful but sound nothing alike because the things they love about each other and the methods by which they show that love are so different.

Ed’s song plays more often and even became our main context clue because Ed’s heart is usually on its sleeve whether he likes it or not, and his love language is touch, something bold and direct. Stede’s song only plays once at the very end, because before this he was conditioned to think of love as something he couldn’t do correctly, and nothing more.

thinking about erik satie's gnossienne no.5 representing ed falling more and more in love throughout the show

[snake-snack-stede]

You know what I'm very upset to have not seen anyone talking about is that Maggie Phillips posted "Songbird" by Fleetwood Mac in her instagram stories the same day that we got Ed in pearls. It's also off Rumors, and kind of screams Ed and Stede('s first time ballad).

OH FUCK. for those who don't know, she's the music supervisor. anon you're going to kill me. I love you.

[londonspirit]

Our Flag Means Death is special. From creating a surrealist version of the Golden Age of Piracy, to centering a later-in-life coming-out story, to including people or many races, gender identities, abilities, and cool freaking hairstyles, to moving production for season two from LA to New Zealand in order to highlight the beauty of the land, Lord of the Rings-Style, and build a majority Kiwi crew. It’s makes our pop cultural heart swell to see a production being so intentional with its decisions.

But nowhere is that intentionality more apparent than in OFMD’s music. More than just fun, jokey needledrops, each song in Season One acts as a counterpoint to the action, adding emotion and depth to what becomes a surprising queer love story. A lot of the credit for the show’s unique tone can go to Music Supervisor Maggie Phillips and her team. Leah Schnelbach recently got to speak with Maggie about baroque pop, “The Beautiful Ones”, making “the non-obvious choice”, and—the long-awaited SEASON TWO.

Season two debuts on Max in the U.S. on October 5, and Neon on October 6 and is coming soon to Sky Open in New Zealand.

(This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.)

How do you start? Do you get the script and let you mind wander, or do you pick a period and do a deep dive on songs from a period?

Maggie Phillips: It depends on the project. For [OFMD] I got the scripts—at least the first four or five—so I had enough to have a sense of the love story, and the themes. I made thematic playlists. Sometimes I do character driven playlists. But across the board it starts with scripts and playlists. Then I send the playlist to the director or showrunner and we start a back and forth. And this one, same, except that I’d worked with David Jenkins before on People of Earth, so I knew his taste already, and it’s very similar to mine, which is very melodic, we both like baroque pop, we both like a lot of classical elements in our music and in our pop.

And he’s very encouraging of me to—I realized when we worked on People of Earth—he pushed me to go weird. Some people have me rein it back, but he pushed me to go even further. So, I just start a general playlist, thematically driven, mostly romantic. We wanted to play up the romance in the first season, so a lot of romantic music and songs, pop songs about unrequited love, pining, heartbreak, heart-loss, it’s been a long time since I started these – longing, leaving behind a part of your life and moving on to another part, transition…and then another part was just like, ocean life! And the sea! I made a lot of playlists and sent them over to David, and what actually happens—sometimes we’ll pull from the general playlist. I work closely with the editors on specific scenes and send over specific playlists for each scene that we were listening for. I’d make playlists of 500 songs, and then listen to that for each moment—mostly end credits in Season One—and then send playlists over for spots. But that’s how it starts, and that’s the fun part.

That’s about twenty-five percent of my job. The rest is clearing songs and tracking rights and dealing with budgets, and blah blah blah. (laughs)

One of my favorites is Moondog. How did Moondog… happen?

MP: That’s a song that I’ve had, I love that song. His music is very avant garde, there’s only a handful of his songs that I thought could be synch-able. Even that one, I had saved on a playlist years ago, and hadn’t pitched it to anyone. It hadn’t worked in any moment, this I did not put on the general playlist, i tried specifically for the end of the pilot, and I almost didn’t send it because I thought, there’s no way they’ll go for this. And luckily the editor, the editor is sometimes the middleman, they’ll try out the stuff and show it to David. They’re in the rooms with David more than I am. So like sometimes I’ll send my stuff out to editors and not know which one they’re going to show. I’ll send them 15-20 songs, and they’ll show the director or showrunner three to five choices. But Hilda [Rasula], the editor of the pilot was very collaborative and communicative, and she responded and said which ones she liked and would try, and I knew this was one of them, so I was excited. There was a handful of songs that I loved for that pilot, but this one was one of my top favorites, and she said she was going to show it, but I still didn’t think this was going to be the one they’d pick.

Sometimes I’ll get an email saying we’re putting on [one of the choices], but I didn’t get it for this one, so I got to watch the pilot like an audience member not knowing which song they selected—I immediately knew it from the first note, and was like, “Oh they went with Moondog!” And then I got to watch and see how it works.

It worked beautifully.

MP: That was a really hard spot to nail, and that song is perfect because it’s melancholy and wistful, but there’s also hope. It hits both notes, and he just left his—you have to gloss over that so you can still love Stede, but he left his fuckin’ family. He’s having this intense mid-life crisis and he does what some people dream of, which is starting over, but most people don’t do, you know? I think we hit both notes with that song. And we wanted to hit the humanity on all those characters, we see Jim, we see a few characters in that montage. And the humanity of all of them being in the boat at sea all alone…

Heading out!

MP: Yeah! For the adventure of their lifetimes! (laughs)

It was perfect, I thought. I know from other interviews with you that you had a 300-song playlist for season one, were you able to use any for this season?

MP: For season two? Yes. I definitely we still… we still haven’t scratched the tip of the iceberg like there’s so many songs I have for this show… and there’s only so many songs in the show. There are fifteen in season one and even fewer in season two, and we only have eight episodes to work with. We use one in Episode 1: “Strawberry Letter 23”, the Shuggie Otis. We used one in the trailer, “The Beautiful Ones” by Prince…

That was uhhh pretty great!

MP: That was one of the first songs—I think the first song that David and I spoke about for the show?

Oh! Like, before season one started?

MP: Yeah, even before we spoke about “The Chain”—I can’t remember if “Beautiful Ones” came from David or me? But we talked about Prince and we both bonded on the fact that we loved that song specifically. That literally was the first song I had in my head for the whole show. I think in season one the estate was off-limits because it was soon after his passing, but then by season two his music was licensable again. I’ve been doing this for almost 18 years, and it’s the first time [I’ve licensed his music]. And he’s one of my top ten artists of all time.

When we posted the trailer, I’m pretty sure the tweet I wrote was just screaming about “Beautiful Ones”, I was so excited.

MP: My Instagram post I did like a purple heart, I made my own Prince purple heart background, and put the trailer on top of a ton of purple hearts, and I put a crown on top of one of them. Just the teenage glee of ohmygod, we got a Prince song!

Were there any songs that were absolute no, whether because they were overused, or they just didn’t fit?

MP: There’s one from season one and one from season two, and the one from season one is “Perfect Day”, for the reason you just said. I think it’s been overused, that was one I didn’t pitch, but I kept trying to beat it—it’s an amazing song. There’s a reason it’s been used a bazillion times, cause it’s a perfect song, right? I tried so hard to beat it, and I think I did, to be honest, but there’s an inherent familiarity and comfort when you hear a song you know, and I think that helps that scene. And David was just in love with it, and I understand why, and I’m sure it was very satisfying for the audience.

The one from season two—it’s a Kate Bush. I had advised against it, but, this one I don’t think we could beat it. I had used it myself, “This Woman’s Work”, in Handmaid’s Tale. It wasn’t a song I pitched. I pitched “Running Up that Hill”—which then was in Stranger Things—I pitched that for an end of an episode in Handmaid’s Tale, and the showrunner didn’t want to use that one, but it made him remember “This Woman’s Work”, and he put it into a very controversial scene, for fans of The Handmaid’s Tale—some people hate it, and some people loved it. So, I of course read all the backlash online about using song, and people have strong opinions about it. [OFMD] was right after the Stranger Things TikTok phenomenon, and I thought “We’re gonna look like we’re copycats”, but David was like… “I don’t care.” (laughs) he said, “People have a short attention span when it comes to music and TV”, and he’s right. And it was a Taika [Waititi, OFMD’s Blackbeard/executive producer/sometimes director) song, Taika really wanted that song, he’d wanted to use that song for many years. Then I saw it cut into the episode, and I think they transformed the song. They re-contextualized it and made it their own, even so the lyrics have different meaning than I’ve ever heard listening to it previously. They clearly had a vision, and it gave me chills to watch it.

I’m excited to see how it’s used in this context.

MP: And that’s what I love about my job, you put song and image together and they both change, and in this instance it was really powerful. But I mean, I always, unless it’s a show that doesn’t care about overusing, I always tell David if I have a reaction or an opinion, and one of the things I’ll react to is if a song’s been overused, or feels uninspired—but this one felt inspired once it was cut in.

I feel like this show is so off-kilter, and it’s always surprising. So the other one that I absolutely love was the use of the Beach Boys for the Blackbeard reveal. How did you jump to that? To me that’s their meet-cute, but it’s not actually cute.

MP: No, it’s demonic/angelic, weird vocals…I had tried to use that song in a different tv show, and we got denied actually, because it was a violent scene, so I had that song on a bunch of playlists. I love that song. I think that was one that was on my general playlist. And when I’m trying out music what I do for these scenes is I’ll do a brainstorm playlist where I’ll throw on a whole bunch of songs without knowing what’s going to work and without thinking about it, just like “That’s worth trying, that’s worth trying”—I call it my kitchen sink approach—I try not to overthink what I throw onto that playlist and then I just play those songs against picture, because you never know what’s gonna click, and that’s where you get the non-obvious choices, or like, the counterpoint choices, because you don’t know until you put them together how they’re going to play off each other. And so that was one that when I tested I was like, “Oh fuck, this is beautiful.” Then I sent it to the editor, and fingers crossed that they’ll have the same reaction. I try not to color…like I don’t say in my emails which ones are my favorite, because I want them to have an unbiased reaction. But that one worked, and everyone fell in love with it.

That one, well, they’re all my favorite, but that one might be my favorite favorite. It’s such a good contrast! Stede’s almost dead, Blackbeard’s covered in gore, and then there’s these angelic voices.

MP: Right? They’re saving each other. The relationship is that they’re each others’ saviors, right? I feel like that moment, that song sort of captures that.

But without being too sappy, it’s not a song I ever hear anywhere, so it’s startling. Bigger question: I know for The Dropout you did mid-‘00s indie, because it’s a period piece, horrifyingly, that’s becoming a period piece.

MP: I know right? That made me feel old, those were songs that felt like just the other day?

Yeah (laughter) but for this, obviously it’s the Golden Age of Piracy, but it’s also kind of a surrealist fantasy did you have in mind an era, like “Oh I’m going to use a lot of ‘60s pop to create a thematic contrast”? Or more hodge-podge?

MP: It was more hodgepodge-y, and then David and I both like baroque pop, we both love a harpsichord, and that style’s heyday was ‘60s and ‘70s, and that’s where my sensibility—I love music from that time period. There’s psychedelic rock, and there’s just so much cool stuff that happened back then. It has a timeless classic feel, and then there’s yacht rock happening.

I’m a sucker for yacht rock.

MP: I am too! And it fits the whole fantastical/dude/extreme-mid-life crisis. I hate to call it Dad Music, but there’s an element of that. And not that I think this is a male-driven show, but there is a lot of male energy, and it’s these two dudes’ love story, mostly. But the whole fantasy of escaping your normal existence and going off to live as a pirate has that whole dude-dad-driven energy. So that music works. But I think it if I look at my playlist, it was maybe half ‘60s-‘70s, and half more modern stuff, and that’s just the stuff that was working. For me, the way I listen for music is very emotional and gutteral it’s not as much thinking and making it logical and setting rules, it’s more just what feels right, and the we just kind of ran with it. With The Dropout we wanted a hard timestamp. I was given rules from the outset, and with Dropout, I loved working on it, but it was one of the easier shows I’ve worked on because we had those clear delineations. This song needs to be from these couple years, and it needs to have been a radio hit, there’s only so many songs you can choose from, but when you’re doing a show like Our Flag and there’s no rules at all…

Did you set any boundaries for yourself?

MP: The only boundaries I set was… stuff I hadn’t heard before. I wanted to honor the off-beat weird tone. This is something I’ve never seen before. There’s almost no comparable show. I wanted to honor that with music that was new and different.

The only show that feels similar to me is People of Earth.

MP: I loved that show so much. Not enough people watched that show.

It was so clearly ahead of its time.

MP: There’s been enough TV shows that are weird, people have… it lives in some sort of niche. But when People of Earth came out there hadn’t been enough of those kinds of shows.

Did you come into season two with a different approach at all, or was it more of a flow from Season One?

MP: The only thing that was different is that we get to dive into more of the characters, and we wanted to flesh them out a little bit. We picked a lane that was successful, and we want to stay in it. There’s so much I haven’t done yet [from the first playlist] I hope we get a third season.

Do you have a moment from a movie or TV show that is the perfect music cue for you?

MP: I like really understated music supervisions, like Succession or Roma—it’s such a beautiful movie, very understated, and there’s no score actually. The sound design is so beautiful. You don’t need music, they played up all the soundscape to score it. And there are songs, but they’re very diegetic, just like, on the radio, very elegant and quiet. I like a reserved, economical hand. Or if they make me laugh with their musical choices, like a bold unexpected choice that makes me giggle.