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Everything Everywhere All at Once is a sci-fi comedy independent film that came out in the spring of 2022. It’s a huge hit that made over $100 million at the box office. It’s already been named the best movie of the year by several publications and awards organizations.

The movie stars the legendary actress Michelle Yeoh, and was directed by the Daniels, the directing duo of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. The score for the film is by the band Son Lux. In addition to the score, Son Lux also made the original song for the film’s end credits: “This is a Life,” featuring two prestigious guest vocalists: Mitski and David Byrne of the Talking Heads.

For this episode, I spoke to Ryan Lott from Son Lux, as well as the Daniels. Ryan tells the story of how the song was created, with his bandmates and Mitski and David Byrne and Daniels all adding to it and shaping it.

You can buy or stream “This is a Life” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes:
Listen to Mitski’s episode of Song Exploder here.
“My Heart Will Go On,” Celine Dion’s end credits song from Titanic

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Omah Lay is a Nigerian singer, songwriter, and producer. He’s one of the young stars of Afrobeats, the West African genre that’s become a global phenomenon. His new album Boy Alone features a collaboration with Justin Bieber. But for this episode, Omah talked to me about the song “Never Forget.”  Boy Alone was Omah’s late father’s nickname, and the song “Never Forget” was inspired by him.

You can buy or stream “Never Forget” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes:
Semzi – producer
EndSARS
Highlife

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In 2002, Sam Beam’s first album as Iron & Wine was released on Sub Pop Records. He’d given them a bunch of demos, and rather than have him re-record these songs, they released the demos themselves. Since then, he’s put out five more full-length albums and been nominated for multiple Grammys.

For this episode, Sam looked back at the making of his song “Flightless Bird, American Mouth,” from his 2007 album The Shepherd’s Dog. A year after that album came out, the song was used prominently in a scene in the movie Twilight, and it’s been one of the most popular Iron & Wine songs ever since. I talked to Sam at Blue Rock Artist Ranch and Studio in Wimberley, Texas, in front of a small audience. You’ll hear the original demo he recorded, and how that transformed into the final version of the song.

You can buy or stream “Flightless Bird, American Mouth” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes:
Brian Deck
Rob Burger
Sangre de Cristo Mountains
Allen Ginsberg
EBow
Sherman
Beat Poets
Kristen Stewart
Watch the scene from Twilight featuring “Flightless Bird, American Mouth,” here

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