#3: The 'Derry Girls' Soundtrack is a One-Way Ticket Back to the '90s
you should probably watch this show asap rocky. plus, the explicit version of "Potential Break Up Song" you didn't know you needed, and a big ol' end-of-the-year roundup.
I don’t have the slightest idea of what life as a Catholic teen in Northern Ireland in the midst of a contentious sectarian war would be like, but the Derry Girls soundtrack makes me feel like I was there.
The British sitcom, created by Lisa McGee, was the most-watched show in Northern Ireland in 2018 and hit Netflix shortly after. I know I’m late to the party here, but I just have to say, this show is fucking hilarious.
Derry Girls follows a group of Catholic teenagers living in Derry (or Londonderry), a city in Northwest Ireland during the end of a tumultuous period known as the Troubles. The colorful characters and the witty one-liners are reason enough to watch this show (shoutout Sister Michael), but it ultimately it was soundtrack that sold me.
The show opens up with The Cranberries’ “Dreams” blasting us straight into the 16-year-old protagonist, Erin’s, bedroom. Her walls are covered in posters of Dolores O’Riordan, Sinead O’Connor, and other iconic Irish indie-rock stars. In one lush riff of electric guitar, you are transported right to the foot of Erin’s bed, listening to her cousin, Orla, recite pages from Erin’s scrapbooked diary as if it were narration for the show.
“It’s fair to say I have a complicated relationship with my hometown. Everybody knows everybody…and sometimes all I really want is to be simply left alone.”
Dolores O’Riordan’s voice is quietly heard in the background: Oh my life is changing everyday/in every possible way.
The Derry Girls’ soundtrack is exactly how soundtracks ought to be, a steady current of an era’s top hits weaving nostalgia into every scene. The show’s music somehow captures such a precise moment in time, yet helps audiences feel like they are looking back at their own memories, rather than someone else’s.
Having a stacked set list was always an intentional move by the show’s creator. In an interview with the Irish news site JOE, McGee notes that she crafted scenes specifically around certain songs, such as the opener, “Dreams.”
Erin and myself are massive Cranberries fans and also, Dolores' voice does so much work for you. You know, she’s just so enchanting. We need so much music that there are moments when you realise that we need more," says McGee.
It also just happens to be the dream ‘90s playlist. Music is a constant for the five main teenagers the show follows as they navigate adolescent life. The Undertones’ “Teenage Kicks” hypes up a bus full of Protestant boys the Derry Girls swoon over. Salt N Pepa’s “Let’s Talk About Sex” hangs in the air as Erin and her friends pass out school magazines documenting an anonymous lesbian’s experience at their Catholic high school.
However, the show comes full circle with the reprise of “Dreams” in the season one finale. O’Riordan’s voice is what first entranced us into a show of adolescent shenanigans amidst a tense political backdrop. She once again appears, this time to carry us out of the show. We flash back and forth between the group of friends dancing around on stage together during a school talent show — and back at the house — where Erin’s family is gathered around the TV, reeling from the latest news of a deadly bombing in their hometown.
“Oh my life is changing everyday/in every possible way.”
With this moment, the background music steps into the foreground, becoming a character itself in the show. It reminds you that, just like the violence and the fighting during the era it’s set in, it’s been there all along. (Especially poignant, since the finale aired only a few weeks after O’Riordan tragically passed away in 2018.)
So I may just be getting too caught up in minutia of Netflix shows as we hit month 10 of this pandemic. Actually I’m definitely getting too caught up in it. But it’s been a while since there’s been such a perfect, feel-good show with incredible music to gush about. And you know I can’t wait to finish up season two.
You can listen to all 93 songs played in the show here.
🚨 ALERT 🚨
Aly & AJ have dropped an *explicit* version of “Potential Break-Up Song,” and it low-key goes just as hard as it did in 2007.
carry on.
The 2020 Favorites Edition
just a quick round-up of things i’ve consumed that made this year a tad bit brighter.
Albums
Haim - Women in Music Pt. III
Taylor Swift - folklore
Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher
Fleet Foxes - Shore
The 1975 - Notes on a Conditional Form
Songs
This song is 2020 mood. I’m warning you now, there’s a scream at the end that isn’t for everybody, but if that is not a perfect portrayal of how 2020 would sound then idk what is
Just a really lovely song I found myself listening to a lot
My favorite crossover episode
Huge main character, my-life-is-a-rom-com energy
Books
(because if you read a book and don’t tell anyone about it, did you really read it?)
Call Me By Your Name by Andre Acimen
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
and of course….the iconic chewsday performance
This year hasn’t been easy, and we’ve all been living under extraordinary circumstances. At times that’s included a lot of heartache, grief and isolation. I want to tell you that I’ve felt it all too, and I am proud of you for making it here. You’ve done what you could, and that is absolutely enough. Here’s to the sun setting on a horrific year, and to brighter days in the next one.
That’s it for this week!! If this is your first newsletter, or you’ve been around since the beginning, just know I appreciate your support so much!! I can’t wait to go even deeper into the music world in 2021.
Any burning questions or thoughts on this week’s topic? Reply to this email to get in touch. Or reach me at sarahhallam17 [at] gmail [dot] com.