The Top 10 TV Show Soundtracks of 2023
A year full of fantastic TV shows has been backed up by the incredible composers and musicians soundtracking these stellar series.
What a year for TV. So many modern classics hit our screens in 2023 from the tragic thrills of The Last of Us to the dramatic tension of Succession.
Behind them all is a fantastic set of music emphasising the most powerful moments and pulling us along through the good times. We’ve compiled the best ones of the year. Note that we’re talking about original scores here, not the songs used in a show.
Check out our list of the Top 10 Film Soundtracks of 2023.
The Last of Us
After the mediocre disappointments of recent video game adaptations like Halo and The Witcher (yeah yeah, we know they’re books but what format made the series so popular huh?), The Last of Us dropped to save us all. Not only was it a faithful adaptation of the video game, it was a great piece of entertainment in its own right. One of the show’s most powerful highlights was an entire off-the-game-script episode!
This soundtrack could make the list for Gustavo Santaolalla’s main theme alone. Taken from the video game, the beautiful classical guitar piece is instantly recognisable from the first listen. The rest of the soundtrack is much tenser though it is punctuated by wistful remembrances of the main theme’s motif. All in all, it was the perfect backdrop to the heart-wrenching story of Joel, Ellie, and the companions they met along the way.
The Curse
One of the most unexpected series’ to come out this year was Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie’s The Curse. Completely unlike anything that either of them have worked on before, the series is quite unlike anything else beyond as well regardless. The slow-moving, pseudo-character study series starring Emma Stone follows a fairly plain story of a couple making a TV series about their eco-housing developments. Through voyeuristic camera angles, intense shots, and its alien-like soundtrack the effect is one of constant unease that defies its narrative, transcending the emotion displayed to something far more sinister.
The soundtrack devised by John Medeski is something of a supernatural wonder. Gliding between carefree synth arpeggios of light-hearted curiosity to deep, viscerally unsettling scratches and warbles. The score digs under the surface to have you always questioning what lies beneath the veneer the characters present to you in The Curse.
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off
The latest adaptation of the raucously creative graphic novels stands upon the edge of punk rock wildness and the bright colours of bubblegum pop. In its melding of these two they create an aesthetic that is something much funner and cooler than simple pop punk. Of course, it’s necessary for such a musically based story to provide good tunes to work.
Thankfully, the Netflix series didn’t disappoint. The bands within the series play some satisfyingly infectious short blasts of rock. The music played in the show is all backed up by a magical score by Anamanaguchi and Joseph Trapanese. The journey these songs go on is like a story in its own aural world, let alone as the backing to this thrilling animated show.
Beef
Another A24 production (they’re killing it) after The Curse, Beef was the phenomenal straight to Netflix series that got everyone talking in the first half of 2023. Part-thriller, part-comedy, part-existential think piece, Beef was captivating in all of the harshest ways.
The gorgeous soundtrack by Bobby Krlic stands alone as great music. In fact, take these instrumentals and let Thom Yorke vocalise on top of them and you’d have an album of the year contender. At times mysterious and nearly always groovy, Beef’s soundtrack is cool but with a deft touch of bizarrity keeping you on edge.
The maestro, Bobby Krlic features in our Top 10 Film Soundtracks of 2023 as well for his work on Ari Aster’s Beau Is Afraid – another A24 production… genius is well connected.
Planet Earth III
The third and final instalment in David Attenborough’s epic series was as impressive as ever, with astonishing footage of the natural world and a powerful message of existential urgency. Attenborough’s plea for action is at its most heartfelt in this equally beautiful and harrowing examination of nature and our impact upon it.
Who scores the incredible footage of beasts and plant life? None other than legendary composer Hans Zimmer. The music here is majestic, thought-provoking, and heart-breaking. All the responses that make the series itself so indelibly important and impactful.
Lupin: Part 3
This year the engrossing French series following an anti-hero detective on his quest for revenge and justice returned. Our hero – “the gentleman thief” – travels Paris uncovering insidious plots and narrowly escaping gruesome ends, Taking inspiration from France’s equivalent of a hybrid between Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, and a distinguished thief ‘Arsène Lupin’.
Mathieu Lamboley creates a score with the action driving beats of James Bond tempered by the evocative sadness of the tragedy that is always lying in wait just around the corner of Lupin’s most exciting and satisfying moments.
Ahsoka
The music of Star Wars is so iconic that with Disney’s mass influx of new content, it’s been hard to imagine original scores living up to the legacy lain before them. However, Ludwig Göransson managed to blow us all away with his incredible theme for The Mandalorian. For Ahsoka, long-standing Star Wars soundtracker Kevin Kiner steps up to the plate.
What Kiner creates is something unmistakeably Star Wars but simultaneously unique enough to stamp Ahsoka in its own realm. Powerful brass sections take us back to the films of old, whilst the hypnotic brashness of a piece like Igyah Kah set the soundscape apart from anything else in the universe. And of course, who could forget the magnificent outro theme.
Succession: Season 4
One of the finest dramas of recent years saw its conclusion this year with its fourth running. The climax of the entire series is nigh and the tension is neck-swellingly palpable. Who will be the one to inherit the family business? Perhaps none of them.
Needless to say, such a peaking crescendo called for an enormous audio backing. Nicholas Britell’s fantastic main theme is an unforgettable piece that hasn’t tired four seasons in. His compositions throughout this final season are mesmerisingly tense, forever building us towards the end – whatever that may be.
Twisted Metal
The PlayStation 1 game was in itself a mad concept. A demolition derby of sadistic violence with a cast of mad characters. There was a twisted humour to the whole thing, bending the lines of comedy and creepy – much like a clown. The new TV series faithfully brings those chaotic feelings to the big screen.
Flitting between rockabilly, djent, reflective western, and thriller soundtrack, the Twisted Metal score had a bit of everything. If you didn’t get on with the show – which had a mixed response – you can at least headbang along to this explosive score.
The Power
What would happen if suddenly, everybody in the world had the power to electrocute others at will? Interesting idea. Okay, but what if only teenagers developed those powers; A group defined by uncertainty, self-consciousness, and confusion coming to terms with a world familiar yet somehow alien to them? Now that’s a story! But wait… what if it were only teenage girls; A subsection of that already conflicted demographic that faces an even more unique confrontation of sexualisation, power dynamics, and body image issues?
The concept is intriguing, the delivery is… somewhat underwhelming, sadly. However, the soundtrack backs it up confidently. Classically trained Morgan Kibby pieces together arrangements with ethereal vocals, manipulated to something a little too questioning to be purely angelic. Along with inquisitive electronic elements and graceful strings this is a powerful selection of music.
Check out our list of the 10 Top Film Soundtracks of 2023 below: