The White Lotus composer shares original season three theme tune as he quits show

Cristóbal Tapia de Veer, the music composer on HBO’s hit black comedy show The White Lotus, has quit the show due to reported creative differences with creator Mike White.

Tapia de Veer joined the show as the music composer for season one back in 2021, and returned to create the much-memed theme songs for seasons two and three. His work on the show has led to three Emmy Awards.

However, the composer has now revealed that he won’t be back for The White Lotus season four due to “tension” between him and showrunner White. 

One of Tapia de Veer’s bones of contention surrounded the adapted theme song for season three, “Enlightenment”, which the show’s fans favoured far less than the season two track, “Renaissance”.

The composer has now revealed that the ooh-loo-loo-loos that made up the season two theme were originally incorporated into the full-length season three song, but White “wasn’t happy” with the extended version.

Tapia de Veer has now uploaded the extended version of the season three song, complete with the season two interpolation.

Speaking to The New York Times, he said that people were “furious” about the season three theme, and so he contacted a producer on the show suggesting that they share the extended song.

“He thought it was a good idea. But then Mike cut that – he wasn’t happy about that,” Tapia de Veer shared.

“I mean, at that point, we already had our last fight forever, I think. So he was just saying no to anything. So I just uploaded that to my YouTube.”

According to the score composer, Mike White wasn’t even a fan of the season one theme “Aloha!” and it was a “struggle” to get it agreed.

He said White originally wanted “a chill, sexy vibe” but Tapia de Veer stuck to his guns.

“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?”

Speaking of his decision to step back from the show, Tapia de Veer said that he told other team members before he told White, but the news got back to the showrunner.

In terms of how White responded, Tapia de Veer coyly said: “He says a lot of things, but I can’t really talk about that.”

Despite the “tension” between him and White, the composer is “proud” of his time working on the show.

“I mean, it is what it is,” he said. “There’s one thing I’m pretty proud of and that is I feel like I never gave up. Maybe I was being unprofessional, and for sure Mike feels that I was always unprofessional to him because I didn’t give him what he wanted. But what I gave him did this, you know – did those Emmys, people going crazy.”

He said he was happy to have “taken risks” with the show’s music.

“That is the main thing that I’m most happy about – it was worth all the tension and almost forcing the music into the show, in a way, because I didn’t have that many allies in there.

“I treasure that more than something else I did that was just a success, and it works and that’s that, with less struggle. This was a good struggle.”

The White Lotus season three finale airs on Sunday 6 April on HBO in the US and Monday 7 April on Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK.

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