Credit: Amazon Fire TV Video Still
When episode three of Euphoria‘s third season aired last month, many fans took to social media to decry Hans Zimmer’s score, comparing it to a ringtone, elevator music, or the kind of soundtrack you’d expect in a jungle scene.
Of course, Euphoria isn’t set in a jungle, and neither was that Zimmer’s intention for the distinctive soundtrack that plays over Cassie and Nate’s wedding, which clearly riffs on his classic 1993 soundtrack for True Romance, something that anyone familiar with the widely popular film should recognise. It’s one of Zimmer’s most iconic creations, evoking a playfulness, even a slight childlike quality, which perfectly fits the vibe of Alabama and Clarence’s relationship.
But why has Zimmer essentially just reused elements of one of his already-beloved scores, while the rest of the soundtrack sounds like some Ennio Morricone impression? It marks a swift change from the previous two seasons’ score, which was made by British artist Labrinth. He was initially meant to collaborate with Zimmer on season three, but he dramatically revealed his exit from the show on Instagram, writing “double fuck Euphoria”.
So, Zimmer has taken the reins, which might seem like a huge thing for Euphoria, for he is, arguably, the biggest composer in Hollywood, but he’s done quite enough, and we don’t really need more of him in our lives. Labrinth’s soundtrack for Euphoria was unmistakable, forming a vital part of the show’s world-building, but while Zimmer has a recognisable style, it’s one that has already been bashed into the ground; it’s getting tiring.
Don’t get me wrong, Zimmer has created some magnificent musical moments over the years, continuously delivering scores for blockbusters ranging from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and Dune to a large number of Christopher Nolan films and even Kung Fu Panda. Some are much more impressive than others, while certain ones, well, have been turned into meme fodder. Just look at the Inception horn noise, which has come to inform countless movie trailers.
Really, it’s indicative of the industry’s love for taking something that works and overusing it to the point of nothingness, where it doesn’t elicit true emotion anymore, because it’s manipulative. It would be unfair to call Zimmer’s scores bad, but he has undeniably defined the modern blockbuster soundtrack with epic swells, intense strings, and repetitive movements, and it’s all getting a bit tiresome, so when he does do something a bit different, as demonstrated by the Euphoria soundtrack, it’s hardly all that original.
Zimmer, being one of the only modern composers to be known by casual movie-goers, is reflective of the homogenous and rather lacking landscape of Hollywood movie soundtracks, and it is only when you look further afield that you find more interesting creations. The fact that Yorgos Lanthimos has started to collaborate with British experimental artist Jerskin Fendrix, who was once just part of the Windmill scene and name-dropped in an old Black Country New Road song, is really quite big, and these are the kinds of collaborations we need in order to make soundtracks more unique, more idiosyncratic, more emotive, more original.
And what about when bands used to be employed to make soundtracks? Air was the perfect accompaniment for Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides, while she has also roped in Kevin Shields from My Bloody Valentine throughout her career. Then there’s Mark Mothersbaugh from DEVO, who has scored everything from Wes Anderson’s Rushmore to A Minecraft Movie, Sonic Youth contributed to Olivier Assayas’ Demonlover, while Broadcast lent themselves to Berberian Sound Studio, and these unconventional scores are so much more interesting than Zimmer’s increasingly trite, epic approach.
Hollywood, more than ever, needs to hire some innovative new composers and put their faith in unconventional scoring, despite someone as reliable as Zimmer always working. Just think of Bernard Herrmann’s Psycho or Taxi Driver scores, or Herbie Hancock doing Blow-Up, John Barry’s Beat Girl or, of course, his James Bond theme, which he arranged courtesy of Monty Norman’s composition; they’re so stirring, captivating, individual, and suited to their respective films. Everything currently feels so flaccid, so lacking in true passion, and if that’s not an indicator of Hollywood’s dire, unoriginal landscape, then I don’t know what is.
