‘Beef’ composer Bobby Krlic explains blending his score with the show’s standout needle drops [Exclusive Video Interview]
In addition to being a thoughtful series about misplaced rage, mental health, and the “myth of the model minority,” the Netflix show “Beef” is also one of the year’s best party playlists. Created by Lee Sung Jin, the show has been praised for its soundtrack of late ‘90s and early ‘00s pop classics from bands like Incubus, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Bush. “I had a lot of the songs in the outline stage. When you do that as a writer, you assume you’re never going to get those songs. But thanks to A24, Netflix and our music supervisor, Tiffany Anders, we got every single song I wanted,” Lee said in an earlier interview with the Los Angeles Times. “It took some personal letters to some frontman bands, but it all worked out.”
But the songs are just one part of the “Beef” musical sound. Threaded between the needle drops is an evocative score from composer Bobby Krlic, who tells Gold Derby in an exclusive video interview that some of his earliest conversations with Lee focused on their shared tastes.
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“We discovered that all the music that we listened to in our formative teenage years was pretty much the same. And a lot of that stuff would be kind of synced throughout the show and finish in a really unique way,” Krlic says. “So we were trying to find something that felt current with the score, but also something that could feel like maybe somebody’s gonna Shazam the score thinking it’s a needle drop. So having something that feels very now, and also kind of fits seamlessly with other musical things going on in the show as well.”
SEE‘Beef’ wins over critics and viewers on the way to Emmys
“Beef” focuses on Danny (Steven Yeun) and Amy (Ali Wong), two damaged people in different economic situations who nearly literally collide during a road rage incident and spiral out of control from there. The score enhances their fraught relationship, building tension and dread.
“We really wanted to find something that just kind of didn’t say too much,” Krlic says about his score, which often sounds like a ticking clock. “Everybody inside is just so wound up and so tense, finding something kind of small, and almost irritating [was the goal]. We almost wanted to irritate the audience and be like, ‘Why does this thing just keep going?’”
Krlic – who is also known by his stage name The Haxan Cloak – has become a go-to composer in recent years, writing acclaimed scores for shows like “The Alienist” and “Snowpiercer” as well as features like Ari Aster’s “Midsommer” and Aster’s current release, “Beau Is Afraid.” Those Aster films, like “Beef,” are produced by A24, the acclaimed indie studio that just won Best Picture at this year’s Oscars with “Everything Everywhere All At Once.”
“They’re just supporting great artists being themselves,” Krlic says of the studio. “‘Beef’ is so singular. It’s a big beating heart and it’s not afraid to express itself. I think other people, had they gotten involved, may have wanted to quell that in some way. I think A24 just trusted in the vision…. I think they just see great thinkers and great creators and they just let them be that.”
All episodes of “Beef” are streaming now on Netflix. Krlic’s score is available to stream via Spotify and other music platforms.
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