Every sitcom needs a good theme song.
[WARNING:Contains mild spoilers for the third episode ofWandaVision.]
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did you both become involved with this?
Credit: Marvel Studios
It was director Matt Shakman who first reached out to you, right?
ROBERT LOPEZ:Yeah, Matt was a friend of mine from college and we kept up after school.
KRISTEN ANDERSON-LOPEZ:He’s like, “From college.”
They went to Yale together!
[Laughs] Matt directed a version ofThe Tempest,for which he asked Bobby to write songs.
Bobby’s still upset about it, apparently.
LOPEZ:It was a disaster, but we had a lot of fun.
We couldn’t believe our luck.
We were just like, yes, yes, and yes.
9 a.m. wasI Love Lucy,and thenMy Three SonsandFlipperandThe Mary Tyler Moore Show.
Like, “Okay, this is the job I’ve been preparing for my whole life.”
Get out and play!
Go for a run!"
Well, guess what!
[We needed] stylistic unity and having one tune that you associate with the show.
We decided that there would be one piece of musical continuity that would be in every song.
So we wrote theWandaVisionmotif, which goes, [sings four notes] “WandaVision!”
It’s in every song, and it’s in a different place and hidden in different ways.
It became a kind of game and a way to organize the writing.
ANDERSON-LOPEZ:It’s a musicalWhere’s Waldofor musical people.
They can be like, “Oh, it’s in the arrangement here!
Oh, the background singers are singing it here!”
That was a challenge too, but also a fun one.
For us, it’s really important that it feels like it came from us and is something new.
That’s where story came in a lot and also just academic curiosity.
At Williams College, I took a class called, “The History of Jazz.”
We followed why jazz and American song changed decade to decade.
Then technology comes in, and you’ve got electric guitars and synths.
All of that hopefully made each one unique and different.
Are there any specific details or lyrics that you’re particularly proud of?
LOPEZ:There was one lyric [in the third episode].
The first time the song ends, it goes, “One plus one is more than two.”
The second time it ends, it goes, “One plus one is family.”
They were afraid that was possibly a spoiler.
ANDERSON-LOPEZ:Which is like the most ’70s thing.
LOPEZ:It’s the most idiotic lyric I’ve ever heard.
[Laughs]
For you, what is that makes a perfect TV theme song?
ANDERSON-LOPEZ:They need to be catchy.
They need to have a strong melody.
LOPEZ:They need to have a real shape.
They have to be a real song, even though they’re short.
ANDERSON-LOPEZ:And they have to evoke a decade.
With the language, too.
[Singspart of the first episode’s theme]“She’s a magical gal in a small-town locale!
“We’re using “gal” and the duh-duh-duh.
That’s part of it.
But ultimately, our job is basically to do the job of [a title card].
What we’re doing with these theme songs is setting tone and place and time.
We’ve seen the first few episodes, which are rooted in the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s.
It was their heyday.
It was the brilliant starburst before the death of the sun.
They’re touchy-feely ballads.
And it was fun to really put some emotion into the one we did.
ANDERSON-LOPEZ:The fun thing is that our voices are on a lot of it.
Because of the pandemic, we couldn’t do a lot of recording live.
And again, you might play the game of: Where is that motif, that tri-tone?
Something’s a little creepy.
People have been trying to figure out, why do these songs sound creepy?
And I think it is because of that.
