When season 1 of Hulu’s “Paradise” ended, showrunner Dan Fogelman alerted co-musical directors Tom Wolfe and Manish Raval that Graceland would appear in the new season.
The second season of this dystopian show begins in Memphis, Tennessee, long before the extinction-level event that ultimately flattens the Earth. Viewers get a glimpse into the life of Annie Clay (an exceptional Shailene Woodley). Annie, who spent her childhood as a caregiver for her mentally ill mother, persevered through her third year of medical school until a mental breakdown forced her to drop out. Lost and distraught, she takes a job giving tours at Graceland (yes, Elvis Presley’s vast mansion) and befriends Gail (Angel Raketa Moore), one of the grounds’ security guards. Annie and Gail were together at Graceland on the day a black cloud covered the world.
Armed with that knowledge, Wolf created a collection of Elvis covers rather than using actual Elvis songs. In an interview with Variety, he explained, “It’s consistent with the tone of the show. We’re seeing a world that seems familiar but isn’t.”
Although there was no shortage of Elvis covers, he says, “We divided them into two camps: one was a reimagining, which was a cover but sounded completely different than the original version, and the other was something that was true to the original version and was recognizable.” Because Elvis didn’t write his own songs, licensing the use of his music proved easy. Beyond Elvis, Wolf also goes into the stories behind finding covers of songs by Phil Collins and the Counting Crows.
Unchained Melody – She & Him featuring The Chapin Sisters
Zooey Deschanel recorded this version with her band. Wolf explains, “I have a long history with Zooey because I did “New Girl.” We love this song, it was on one of those playlists, and our editor adapted it for this scene. ” In the case of “Unchained Melody,” a song that has been covered many times, Wolfe says, “We choose something that we feel responds to or resonates with or has a dramatic color to it. We choose something that we think will work well in the show. This was simply a version that we really liked.”
“Another Day in Paradise” – Soundwall
In the Phil Collins classic, Wolfe used a different version of Joyner in season one, which he says was “less dramatic.” This was a needle drop that Fogelman alerted Wolf to early on. “We reached out to anyone who might be willing to join us to create an ultra-dark version of the song. Soundwall was one of the people we approached. I didn’t know much about John Coggins, but he has a studio in Thousand Oaks. A friend introduced him to me and he sent me this version. It was so dramatic that I thought it might be canceled for that reason, but Dan Fogelman loved it and it was perfect for the picture.”
“You can’t help but fall in love” – Ingrid Michaelson
In episode 4, Wolfe used Ingrid Michaelson’s cover of a classic Elvis song. After the episode ended, he said, “I got a nice note from her. She had forgotten that she had recorded this song, but this song reminded her. She was very happy with the use of it, but then she found out that it was misused again.” Wolf added that while the cover was over 10 years old, when he envisioned the song, he realized he had a “guardian.”
“Mr. Jones” – Freedom Fly
“This was another situation where we wanted to reprise the song ‘Counting Crow’ from the beginning of the episode. We reached out to friends and people we work with or people we know. Freedom Fly is a husband-and-wife music team based here in Los Angeles,” Wolf says. And they’re always into doing things, so they submitted this version and everyone loved it as soon as they heard it. Editor Dan Fogelman and the other producers loved it so much that they kept it going until the end of episode five. He added, “It’s the complete opposite of the super-dramatic covers we’ve been talking about. It’s small, intimate, acoustic, just voice and guitar.”
“The Final Countdown” – Soundwall with Amelia MacLean vocals
“Joey Tempest, the author of the song, approved the publication, but only if he approved the version we used. We submitted another version of the song, but he rejected it because he wasn’t happy with the vocal performance. They went back and then submitted it to Joey again, and he approved it. He only had one note, and it was a word in one of the lyrics. So he had to switch it up.”
