Jordan Peele discusses the key role music plays in his new horror film “Us” — as well as the use of music in movie at large — in the first movie-sponsored takeover on Spotify.
Beginning Monday, March 18, the Oscar-winning director-producer-writer will take over Spotify’s TV & Movies hub in a playlist that runs one hour and 50 minutes. In the series, he talks about how he used music for “Us,” along with other surprising uses of music in film. The “Us” soundtrack includes Luniz’s “I Got 5 on It,” Janelle Monáe’s “I Like That,” Koffee’s “Toast,” Minnie Riperton’s “Les Fleur,” and the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations,” in addition to the score by Michael Abels (who also scored Peele’s “Get Out”).
Peele’s Spotify takeover is sponsored by “Us” distributor Universal Pictures. The deal marks the first time a single film is taking over one of Spotify’s hubs.
In addition, under the pact “Us” star Winston Duke has curated Spotify fan-favorite playlist Black Boy Joy, with tracks including “Tribe” by Bas featuring J. Cole and Chief Obi’s “Carry Go” featuring Olimade.
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The playlists are available to both Spotify Premium and free users. Peele’s takeover on the music-streaming service will continue through the theatrical release of “Us,” hitting theaters on Friday, March 22.
In the Spotify sessions, Peele will cover not only the “Us” soundtrack but the use of music in other films, like Harry Belafonte’s “Banana Boat Song (Day-O)” in Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice” or Q Lazzarus’ “Goodbye Horses,” which eerily introduced Buffalo Bill in “Silence of the Lambs.” The audio content with Peele and Duke was produced in-house by Spotify’s Creative Solutions team in collaboration with its Shows and Editorial team.
“Jordan has such a visionary approach to the interplay between music and film,” said Universal EVP of digital marketing Doug Neil. “Celebrating his voice and vision on Spotify, which reflects culture through every stream, made perfect sense as we looked to build excitement around the release of this incredible film.”
Spotify is hoping to capture more revenue from such deals selling its real estate — the Film & TV Favorites playlist featured on the TV & Movies hub has just over 1 million followers. In addition to that, it’s looking to boost time spent on the platform. “We hope Jordan’s and Winston’s curations lead our listener base to not only discover new favorite songs and artists, but also engage with ‘Us’ on a deeper level,” commented Andi Frieder, Spotify’s head of entertainment industry sales.
“Us” premiered at South by Southwest on March 8 — leaving the audience shrieking in terror — and Peele also held three other screenings for mostly black audiences, using the hashtag #UsFirst.
