"The White Lotus" Theme Song Composer Details Drama With Creator Mike White, Says He Quit The Show

Composer Crist�bal Tapia de Veer, the man behind the theme song for the first
three seasons of �The White Lotus,� says he quit ahead of season four amid
drama with the show�s creator and director, Mike White.

The 51-year-old composer did a tell-all interview with The New York Times
ahead of the season three�s highly anticipated finale, which airs on Sunday.
It was just announced that the popular HBO comedy-drama has been renewed for
another season.

Tapia de Veer told the outlet that he had �hysterical� discussions with
producers about the theme music, which changes for each season to match the
new location. The composer compared the drama to �a rock �n� roll band story�
where �the guitar player doesn�t understand the singer at all.�

He said that he �announced to the team a few months ago� that he was �not
coming back,� and that he purposely �didn�t tell Mike for various reasons�
and �wanted to tell him just at the end for the shock.�

Tapia de Veer also described some disputes over the music he�s been having
with White over the years.

�I thought we could do some kind of �Hawaiian Hitchcock,� and [White] really
grabbed on that and he started laughing,� the composer said of season one�s
music. �I was on the phone with her [Heather Persons, one of the show�s
producers] all the time, and she was trying to convince Mike about this
theme, because he didn�t want the theme.�

Tapia de Veer said his original idea for season three�s music was altered.
There has been a lot of discussion and feedback on social media about how the
theme music was much different than the first two seasons, which he also
blamed on White.

�I had TMZ calling me, even people from England and from France, because they
wanted some kind of statement about the theme,� he told NYT. �People are
furious about the change of the theme, and I thought that was interesting.�

That made Tapia de Veer want to share the �uncut ending� of the song
publicly.

�I texted the producer and I told him that it would be great to, at some
point, give them the longer version with the ooh-loo-loo-loos, because people
will explode if they realize that it was going there anyway. He thought it
was a good idea. But then Mike cut that � he wasn�t happy about that,� he
said.

�I mean, at that point, [Mike and I] already had our last fight forever, I
think. So he was just saying no to anything. So I just uploaded that to my
YouTube,� Tapia de Veer said.

The composer said he�s �pretty proud� that he �never gave up� fighting for
the music he envisioned.

�Maybe I was being unprofessional, and for sure Mike feels that I was always
unprofessional to him because I didn�t give him what he wanted. But what I
gave him did this, you know � did those Emmys, people going crazy,� the
musician said. Tapia de Veer added, �it was worth all the tension and almost
forcing the music into the show.�

When asked how White reacted to him leaving, Tapia de Veer said, �He says a
lot of things, but I can�t really talk about that.�

He continued, �There was a French movie, �La Cage Aux Folles.� You know how
there�s Albin, which is like the star, and there�s Renato, who is the
producer who is always taking care that Albin doesn�t lose his mind about
something, because Albin is the diva and Renato is the guy who is trying to
make everything work. To me, the show felt very much like that.�

A representative for HBO told Entertainment Weekly in a statement via email,
�We�ve got nothing to add at this time (but can confirm only that Cristobal
isn�t returning to the show).�

Tapia de Veer won three Emmys for his work on the show�s music, including one
for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music and two for Original Dramatic
Score.