Here's Why The White Lotus Changes Its Theme Song For Season 3

Perhaps the biggest shock of The White Lotus Season 3’s premiere happened before the show even began. As fans sat down to watch the new Thai iteration of HBO’s getaway drama on Feb. 16, they were hit with an unexpected change. The series’ theme song has become iconic after the first two seasons, but it was completely altered for Season 3. And composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer explained why.

While The White Lotus did change up its theme song going from Season 1 to Season 2, the iconic vocals always remained. In the first season, the yodeling “woo-woo” intonations were complemented by Hawaiian musical elements. The next season used the same melody, but added operatic flourishes and clubby beats to emulate Italian nightlife. Since the theme had become such a viral sensation, fans expected Season 3 to keep the now-iconic yodels but add a touch of Thai influence to the production. They were not ready to a complete overhaul of the the theme, but that’s what they got.

The Season 3 intro music leans into a darker more mysterious vibe, and notably does not connect to the previous two themes melodically. The shift wasn’t immediately embraced by series purists.

Tapia de Veer explained to Variety that he wanted to surprise audiences with a song that took inspiration from social media. “I hear interesting things in TikTok or YouTube sometimes,” the composer said. “I think that the best song I heard in the last few years that I can remember is people harmonizing to a cat on TikTok. There’s a cat, and somebody put some piano and then some girls started harmonizing, and then there’s all these versions harmonizing this cat, it’s super moving and so spontaneous and fresh that this is grabbing a lot more my attention than super-produced pop music.”

“I’m a fan of pop music, but it feels like it’s been a while that I feel like something has surprised me,” Tapia de Veer said. “So I’ve been looking a lot into these eight-second bits of music that people [are] putting together and harmonizing a cat or stupid, silliest things. To me, it’s like a gold mine, it’s just moving to me. It feels like you are actually in contact with a person.”

Of course, the new theme is also inspired by setting of the third season. “For Thailand, I want to bring in some Eastern philosophy, something a little bit spiritual,” he told Spotify back in 2023. “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.”