Nobody Wants This returns to the screen on Thursday on Netflix as one of the most anticipated shows of the year, and now it’s got an original soundtrack that matches those ambitions.
A cross-genre mishmash that includes pop from the likes of Selena Gomez and Role Model, country icons like Chris Stapleton and Kacey Musgraves, soul singers like Teddy Swims and rock with Portugal. The Man, there’s a little something for everyone, says Simon Tikhman, who helped assemble the star-studded roster.
“It helps when we’re knocking on the door with a certified global hit show,” Tikhman quips. As co-founder and CEO of music company The Core Entertainment, which manages the likes of Bailey Zimmerman and Nickelback, Tikhman’s used to a project like this, but the soundtrack is particularly personal given that he’s also married to show-runner Erin Foster, and the show is loosely based around their life.
“It’s a sigh of relief to have this all ready,” Tikhman says. “All I wanted to do is not mess up. It’s like someone’s pitching a no-hitter; you don’t make eye contact with the pitcher. Erin’s doing so well, the show is fantastic. I just want to make sure that we came in on the music side, and that The Core, the Interscope team, the hundred people in the mix and that we added something. I think that’s ultimately what happened.”
Ahead of the official soundtrack release, Tikhman spoke with THR about working with his wife on the show’s music, Gomez’s, and the personal video message Foster sent to Stapleton to convince him to get his song over the finish line.
So tell me about how this came together.
The conversation had started between Erin and the music supervisors, Manish and Jonathan. Then Erin randomly came to me and asked what I thought about a soundtrack for season two. Of course, I thought it’d be cool. People really loved the music in season one; it was almost its own character in the show. So having an actual soundtrack was a great idea. Once she brought it to me, I kind of ran with it.
It was a hard project to get done because there were so many different parties involved. Obviously, it’s on Netflix, but it’s also 20th. 20th usually has a deal where if you do a soundtrack, it goes to Disney Records. I had a champion in the building, Jeremy Summers, the head of music at 20th, and he saw my vision. My first thought was to call John Janick and Steve Burman at Interscope; they’ve got Gracie (Abrams) and Olivia (Rodrigo), who had songs in the first season. They have Selena, and it felt like the right fit. They said yes pretty quickly. 20th was down, the supervisors were down, the producers loved it, so we started putting our heads down to figure out our dream scenario.
Did you have a vibe you were going for? An internal compass of what you thought would work sonically?
In a process like this, you have a plan, and then the plan changes every single day. I knew that this show is a zeitgeist-y pop culture-relevant show. The music needs to be just that, and I thought it’d be cool to have all sorts of different genres, not just pop on the nose. I love the idea of the hottest singer in R&B with Giveon, and then Chris Stapleton, Selena, Finneas and Teddy Swims. And I wanted up-and-comers too. Towa Bird, Baylee Lynn and Cassandra Coleman, who was in the trailer, the producers didn’t know who she was, but the song was so good that it was undeniable.
Who was the first ask? You brought up tapping Interscope because of artists like Selena Gomez.
Some of the people I went to first aren’t the ones on the soundtrack. The Selena piece didn’t really happen till towards the end. I wasn’t sure because this song that’s coming out is a really important song to Selena. She and her management told me that. She was planning on releasing this song on her birthday this summer, but she believed in the project enough and the scene that she’s in that she held off on releasing it to let it go to the show.
The one that I’m really proud of the most is Chris Stapleton. Anyone I talked to before I got to Chris’s team was like “No, Chris wouldn’t do this.” My first phone call was to Mike Harris at Universal Nashville, Chris’s label. He then introduced me to Chris’s producer, I had an hour long talk with him. Chris’s wife, Morgane, is a fan of the show. I went to his manager, Coran Capshaw. It was never a no, always a maybe.
I talked to my wife, and I was like “Er, let’s have you send a personalized video to show Morgane and Chris how much it’d mean to you.” For Erin, Chris Stapleton is like the North Star, one of her favorite artists if not her favorite. She sent the video, Coran sent it to Morgane and Chris. Everything changed. It was immediate: “They’re in.” They sent two demos, the one that we used, “Heart Letting Go,” was so good, it brought tears to our eyes when we listened to it.
Chris isn’t the only country act here. There’s Kacey Musgraves and Ella Langley. It’s funny because I don’t know if I’d call country the music most strongly associated with Jewish culture.
Obviously, this is more country than it was last year. I was careful, Erin and the producers were careful. They didn’t want to go too country. Obviously, I’m deeply in the country world. I was toeing that line where I didn’t want to be too biased. I want to do what’s best for the show. That’s why I think it’s so interesting that you have this genre-bending soundtrack that’s like all genres. And Kacey isn’t just country, she’s pop too. Chris is everything, he’s country, he’s rock.
What’s your favorite song on the soundtrack?
It’s like picking a favorite child. I equate the songs with the scene that they’re in. There’s “That’s What I’ll Be” from Bailey Lynn, who, in transparency, we manage and she’s on our label. She’s so talented, Erin would constantly hear me play her demos. There was one demo, and she and my niece were always asking me to replay it. They fell in love with the song and they put it in such a beautiful scene in the show. And then obviously, in the Teddy Swims, it’s why we use it in the track list reveal. It’s so soulful. It’s deep.
Is this the closest you’ve worked with Erin on a creative endeavor?
Yes, definitely the closest.
You’re a more private person. You had reservations about the show even being made. Was working the music an easier draw for you, or did it come with hesitation, too?
When Erin first told me about the show, this was years ago. I don’t even think we were married yet. I don’t remember the timeline, but I was like, “You’re not doing a show about our life.” But the show is so loosely based. Like, that’s not my brother, that’s not my family. There’s influence, but it’s so far removed. The Joie de vive of that relationship is very similar. But doing the soundtrack just felt organic. It just felt like an easy thing. It’s what I do for a living. We love to support each other, it felt like an obvious fit.
Does getting involved like this get you more used to all these eyes consuming even a loose version of your relationship? Does it make any difference at all?
No, I think I had to make peace with it before, because at the end of the day, the people who are in our lives know what’s real and what’s not real. This show is so important to her and it resonated with so many people. I’m just a proud husband.
