The composer of The White Lotus’ three iconic theme songs, Cristóbal Tapia de Veer, has quit the show ahead of season four, citing creative differences between producers and show runner Mike White behind his departure.
“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,” De Veer said to The New York Times.
“I didn’t tell Mike for various reasons. I wanted to tell him just at the end for the shock and whatever.” (A very White Lotus move, TBH.)
Season four will go on without de Veer. (Source: Getty Images)
De Veer claims that White “wasn’t happy” with his original compositions for the show, and that it was a “struggle” to get White to give his “weird” sound a chance.
“You see it afterward, and it’s a success, but to get there is quite the struggle,” De Veer said about the show’s now-iconic theme song.
“I was on the phone [with a producer] all the time, and she was trying to convince Mike about this theme, because he didn’t want the theme.”
The news also follows the tea revealed by Jason Isaacs, who plays the barely-hanging-on Timothy Ratliff in season three, who stated that “friendships were made and lost” during filming.
““Some people got very close, there were friendships that were made and friendships that were lost,” Isaacs said to Vulture.
It’s hard to believe that The White Lotus almost didn’t have the banger of a theme song that it’s known for today! De Veer also won three (well-deserved) Emmy Awards for his work on the show.
De Veer won three Emmys for his work on ‘The White Lotus’. (Source: Getty)
White, according to de Veer, wanted the theme song to have a “temp score” (a temporary soundtrack made from existing music) and embody more of a “chill, sexy vibe” compared to de Veer’s more experimental tracks, leading to fights between him and production staff.
“There’s literally no edge to it. It’s a good song; it’s nice music. It’s just nice background music.
“I just stuck to what I was doing. 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?’”
When asked about season three’s song – which controversially omitted the amazing ‘ooh-loo-loo-loo’ vocalisations present in the previous seasons’ themes – de Veer stated that he had created “over 20 versions” of the Thai-inspired tune.
“The [ooh-loo-loo-loo melody] is special,” de Veer said.
“It has a mystery in it that is kind of magic to me. It’s like there’s some witchery going on. I don’t think everybody was really aware of how attached people were to the ooh-loo-loo-loos.”
White allegedly wanted the show’s theme to be more chilled out. (Source: Getty Images)
The third season’s theme notably did not include the ‘ooh-loo-loo-loo’ melody. When de Veer was made aware of fans’ disappointment, he texted a producer saying that they should release the full-cut of the song featuring the beloved sound but White, allegedly, “shut it down”.
“I mean, at that point, we already had our last fight forever, I think. So he was just saying no to anything.”
Luckily, de Veer posted the full song over on YouTube, and it’s so bloody good.
One commenter succinctly said it all: “Wow, so you gave us exactly what we wanted, they just didn’t use it.”
While we still have to wait until next Monday to see who finally kicks the bucket, at least now we know for sure the one person who won’t be returning to The White Lotus next season.
