Labrinth is sorely missed in ‘Euphoria’ season 3
Hans Zimmer’s score, like the rest of the show, feels empty, referential and at times gratuitous.
Photograph by Patrick Wymore/HBO
Much is different in Euphoria season 3. As we’ve learned from the first episode of season 3, which premiered on April 12 (and at Coachella, of course), its characters are no longer students and the stylized high school soap has turned into, well, a collage of basically every genre: drug-smuggling Western, crime caper, suburban-drama nightmare, and Hollywood satire. It’s also become nightmarishly awful, torturous to both its characters and its viewers who are subjected to long runs of stilted dialogue and wildly unnecessary acts of sexual violence. (See the existing critiques on Levinson’s disturbing depictions of female sexuality.) But a primary point of dissatisfaction for me is the music: This season, Labrinth is gone and replaced by Hans Zimmer.
Labrinth, the composer and artist who scored the show’s first two seasons, infused it with a poppy, moody, deeply and evocative music sensibility. Like the rest of the show — its plot, its gel-lit cinematography, its performances — Labrinth’s soundtrack was a lot but his undeniable craft and emotional effectiveness helped give grounding to a show that desperately needed it.
Now, turmoil behind the scenes has caused Labrinth to leave. He wrote on Instagram, “I’m done with this industry. Fuck Columbia. Double fuck Euphoria. I’m out,” later clarifying that he made the decision “to remove whatever music I had in” Euphoria season 3. “I left because, last truth, when I work for someone, their vision is paramount to me. But I don’t let people treat me like shit.”
Levinson, never one for the low-key collab, was initially set to have the new season composed by both Labrinth and legendary film composer Hans Zimmer. Now with Labrinth out of the picture, Zimmer is taking the task alone, and Levinson is speaking enthusiastically to press about his collaboration with the
Per Levinson’s intention, Zimmer’s music in the first episode of season 3, is in the vein of classic, symphonic scores for Westerns. Like Tarantino, Levinson is deploying genre tropes at every turn, ostensibly trying to forge new meaning out of well trodden terrain. But Levinson is no Tarantino, and his nod to Spaghetti Western’s here has the depth of a Pinterest moodboard. Zimmer’s music here, while powerful, sounds referential and hollow.
Euphoria’s first two seasons was very of its time, airing in 2019 and 2022 respectively. Its visual look — who photographer Petra Collins claims was stolen from her — was reminiscent of a cultural moment that existed in the wake of Tumblr’s cinematic, emo-edit aesthetic. Thematically, it also highlighted the late 2010’s cultural focus on mental illness and trauma. Per the era, Labrinth’s music deployed elements of electronic music, hip hop, and pop music to create a sonic world that felt apt for a show geared to a generation raised on eclectic Spotify Discover Weekly playlists.
The show no longer appears to be a generational attempt to unpack how love and friendship survives through the pain of mental illness and addiction, but rather a series of bewildering and shocking plot turns. The look of the show too appears to be a mish mash of genre tropes. And now, with Zimmer’s Americana pastiche and Labrinth’s absence, we’re left with little that feels musically fresh, or current.
Thankfully, Labrinth hasn’t taken this lying down. On Euphoria’s season 3 premiere night (the night after he performed at Coachella), Labrinth dropped a new song, “SHUT YOUR DAMN 95.7892.” With its electronic pulse and distorted vocals bathed in effects, it sounds very Euphoria. “Talk shit, gain clout, I don't know what that's about / Busy tryna kill my shit while ignorin' your own house,” he raps. Like his work on the show, it’s over the top, but it feels true to the spirit of the original show.
Now, the show itself doesn’t even feel like Euphoria, just a referential, disturbing hodge podge-style spectacle.
