Soundtrack

The people behind the TV show playlists

When California-based HBO drama Big Little Lies hit screens earlier this year, it wasn’t the A-list cast or the aspirational architecture that got people talking.

The standout star of the series was its soundtrack, developed by director Jean-Marc Vallée and music supervisor Sue Jacobs.

The soul-inflected soundtrack is central to the series. It begins with Michael Kiwanuka’s Cold Little Heart playing over views of the Pacific Coast Highway and climaxes in the series finale, where Elvis’s back catalogue is weaponised in the power struggle between parents.