When you hear this,
you know exactly what song it is.
And when you hear this,
the feeling is the same.
The theme song to HBO's "Succession"
has become wildly popular, even to people
who don't watch the show.
Teens on TikTok have made it into a meme.
Pusha T hopped on a remix.
♪Family, fortune, envy, jealousy, ♪
♪ Privilege, passed on, legacy ♪
And this guy's hilarious cover has also made waves.
It's rare for a TV theme
to have the staying power of a major pop song.
But "Succession's" title song
practically dares you to skip it.
So, what makes it so good?
And why is a TV show theme song getting stuck in our heads?
To answer that question, we have to understand
the mind of the song's composer, Nicholas Britell.
Britell has a background in hip-hop.
Growing up he studied the genre closely
and even played in a hip-hop band in college.
In an interview with Polygon, Britell said
he believes hip-hop is the most important form
of modern music. And he's not wrong.
In 2018, Nielsen reported that for the first
time hip-hop has surpassed rock music in popularity.
So, it makes sense that hip-hop is
the foundation of "Succession's" theme song.
Britell scored films like "Moonlight,"
and was even nominated for an Oscar
for scoring "If Beale Street Could Talk."
Illustrating his mastery of orchestral music.
It's the combination of his film scoring experience,
mixed with his background in hip-hop
that explains why the "Succession" theme song works.
It's hard to hear through TV speakers
but if you listen closely you might notice
that the song has some hip-hop elements
that support the orchestral melody.
By singling out the lower frequencies of the song
you can hear this...
an 808 bass drum. It drives the song
giving it rhythm that you might not have known was there.
To understand the impact an 808 can have
lets consult none other than Beyoncé.
At the top of her 2006 hit "Deja Vu"
She calls for the 808 drum to come in
and you can immediately hear the difference.
The song starts to boom and you're more inclined to dance.
In the "Succession" theme song the 808 baseline
plays over the duration of the song
leaving you in a surreal situation
where you're bobbing your head
to orchestra strings and cellos.
By focusing on the higher frequencies of the song
you can get a sense of what it would
sound like without the bass.
Still good but the rhythm just isn't there
and you lose that dark, menacing quality.
The 808 drum provides not just the rhythm
but also some melody.
Let's single the drum out.
You can hear that the drum has notes
that correspond to the melody of the strings and piano.
By adding the 808 drum, Britell transforms
the orchestral song into something that's more
danceable, more modern, and apparently more memeable.
But there's more to its brilliance.
Britell manages to distill "Succession's"
key themes into its title song.
There's an unsettling atmosphere to it,
an unease lurking beneath its polished veneer.
This makes it hard to pinpoint exactly
what the tone of the song is, but that's the point.
Even fans of "Succession" argue whether
the show is a dark comedy or a drama.
The theme song matches those conflicting tones.
Former TV and film composer, Drew Silverstein,
described the distorted strings in the theme as gritty.
There is a low ostinato pattern,
an ostinato is a repeated musical phrase or rhythm.
In this case, it's the four repeating notes
played by these low strings.
Contrasted with these increasingly high pitched strings.
That lend the song a sense of frenzied momentum.
This is important because of the sense
of urgency in the show.
A lot of time can pass between episodes
but within each individual episode
we're often following the characters
over the course of just a few hours.
The ostinato pattern reflects that.
Then we have the higher strings,
they echo the uncertainty of the piano,
which is out of tune.
Here's what these notes sound like on a tuned piano.
On the outside looking in, the Roy family
is elegant, confident, and daunting.
The out of tune piano represents
the deep anxiety, dissonance,
and abuse lying under the surface.
Nothing embodies the family's tension
more than the shows protagonist, Kendall Roy.
On the outside he's the determined,
polished, likely successor to
his father's giant media company.
But underneath, he's addicted to drugs
and struggles with relationships.
Until he is involved in an accident
and is at least partially responsible for someone's death.
In the immediate aftermath you can hear
a version of the show's theme song playing.
The accident forces him to lean on
his father, Logan, for help and he
becomes completely subservient to him.
In season two we see exactly how
tragically humiliating this subservience can be.
And are treated to other versions of the theme song.
The theme song succeeds in exposing
what the Roy family is at their core.
Powerful to outsiders, but crumbling underneath.