‘The White Lotus’ just debuted its new theme song and fans would like a word
The opening credits of the new season of “The White Lotus” left some fans aghast during the Feb. 16 premiere.
The third season of the hit HBO show has a new song, “Enlightenment,” to accompany the opening credits, a strong shakeup from the beloved track “Renaissance” from Season 2.
Though every theme song for “The White Lotus” — including Season 1’s “Aloha!” — have been composed by the same person, Cristobal Tapia de Veer, fans are now divided on the song for Season 3, with many not loving the new track.
The song is a departure from the first two seasons, mostly due to the fact that there are no vocals (though the accordion is also making waves).
The echoing, haunting and sometimes outright confusing vocal intonations that have been a featured part of the songs for the first two seasons became part of the weekly viewing ritual.
Though it’s been days since the premiere of Season 3, watchers are still posting about the track on social media, sending some fans into a frenzy as they tried to work out how to dance — and not sing — to the song.
“Jail for whoever made the decision to change ‘White Lotus’ theme song,” one person wrote on TikTok as the opening credits played on a TV. “LOCK ‘EM UP.”
An X user wrote, “New White Lotus theme song doesn’t hit the same should’ve never changed it to begin with sorry to say.”
“My disappointment when I didn’t hear this theme song,” one TikToker said. “Okay I was ready to dance… I don’t like this new theme song.”
“Trying to figure out how to dance to the new white lotus theme song,” another TikToker wrote.
HBO Max replied in the comments: “You’ll get it soon enough.”
The comments on an Instagram post from the account for “The White Lotus” featuring the show’s opening credits were not much better.
“Respectfully, bring back the theme song wtf is this?” one Instagrammer wrote.
“First, Tanya. Now, this. Good Lord,” another user wrote.
“Doodududoo wasn’t just a melody. Doodududoo was THE character,” another person wrote. “Justice for Doodududoo!”
However, not all of the comments on the streamer’s TikTok post of the opening credits were negative.
“this is honestly pretty dope,” one person wrote. “Love the new artwork too.”
“I love this theme song though,” one TikToker wrote.
“New theme is spellbinding!” another wrote. “Love something new!”
“Tbh I love it the more I hear it,” another commenter said, adding the heart-eyed emoji.
“This theme fits the show much better,” someone else said. “The first two were too upbeat, this one feels sinister toward the end, ominous too. So good.”
And at least one TikToker made their own video in defense of the new song.
“Unpopular belief but I personally love the new intro song for ‘The White Lotus,'” the TikToker said. “For some reason this new intro song, and just the overall intro, is so mind blowing.”
Will more fans come around to the new track? Only time will tell, but composer Tapia de Veer was ready for a change. He said in a 2023 interview with Variety he initially thought his song for Season 2 was “terrible.”
“I took a little time to make an intro that would have those elements with things like a little harp, and some opera singing and some orchestral beats … and once I had that intro I started figuring out how to bring back the elements that are recognizable from the first season, which are the voices,” he said.
Tapia de Veer shared that for his first demo of the track, the original singer wasn’t on the song. But he eventually added the distinctive yodeling in, along with more EDM beats, compared to the song for the first season.
“All the elements start slowly changing into an electronic thing. I was just tripping, really, when I started making that beat. It really felt like being in a club and just celebrating with tons of people,” he said.
Tapia de Veer explained that he amped up the song’s hype by increasing the energy every four beats.
“When the kick comes in and all of a sudden we’re in a club, it just felt natural that these voices are so powerful, that every bar felt like I could go up one step and then another step,” he said. “The next step it felt like we reached some kind of peak of energy and then you realize the next bar, you could still reach another one and then another one, so it keeps going.”
In an interview with Spotify in 2023, he shared a few details about his composing process for Season 3, which is set in Thailand.
“For Thailand, I want to bring in some Eastern philosophy, something a little bit spiritual,” he said. “I love the Buddhist temples there, and funnily enough I have a collection of Thai gongs. I have 36 Thai gongs to make melodies with, so you can expect to hear some of those. I’d really like to go deep with it, make it take a journey.”
