‘White Lotus’ Composer Wins Emmy for Theme Song Despite Mike White Drama

Now-former The White Lotus composer Cristóbal Tapia de Veer won the Emmy Award for his theme song for the HBO series’ third season Saturday, despite the track sparking a disagreement with creator Mike White that resulted in Tapia de Veer’s exit from the show.

Tapia de Veer has now twice won the Creative Arts Emmy for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music for The White Lotus’ first and third seasons, with an Outstanding Music Composition for a Series win in-between for the series’ second season.

The composer’s win Saturday was surprising, however, given the behind-the-scenes arguments that spilled out into a very public drama between Tapia de Veer and White, who initially butted heads over the third season’s controversial and radically different theme, including the removal of the fan-loved “ooh-loo-loo-loos.”

 “People are furious about the change of the theme, and I thought that was interesting,” Tapia de Veer said. “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.” Tapia de Veer eventually released the uncut version, dubbed “Enlightenment,” on his own YouTube channel.

“Mike gives Cristo a lot of creative freedom, especially with the themes,” music supervisor Gabe Hilfer told Rolling Stone after Season Three’s theme premiered. “He’ll say, ‘How do you want to interpret the theme this year? How do you want to do it?’ They go back and forth and they have a conversation about it. It’s a whole process.”

However, this time around, that “conversation” turned into creative differences that ultimately resulted in Tapia de Veer opting to leave the show prior to the inevitable Season Four. However, due to the bad blood, Tapia de Veer didn’t directly inform White of his decision, instead revealing his intentions to the crew and in a New York Times interview that preceded the third season’s finale.

“It’s kind of weird right now because I announced to the team a few months ago that I was not coming back, that I was leaving,” Tapia de Veer told the Times. “I didn’t tell Mike for various reasons; I wanted to tell him just at the end for the shock and whatever. Except I told the whole editorial team and music editor and producer and all that, but I didn’t think that they were going to tell him. At some point he heard about that.”

In a subsequent interview on the Howard Stern Show, White lashed out at Tapia de Veer. “I knew he wasn’t a team player and that he wanted to do it his way. I was thrown that he would go to the New York Times to shit on me and the show three days before the finale,” White said. “It was kind of a bitch move.”

“I honestly don’t know what happened, except now I’m reading his interviews because he decided to do some P.R. campaign about him leaving the show,” he added. “In reading the interviews, I just realized… I just don’t think he respected me. I think he basically wants people to know he’s edgy and dark and I’m… I watch reality TV.”

Despite the initial outcry over the changed theme and the ensuing beef between the parties involved, Emmy voters still deemed the song worthy of an award Saturday. While The White Lotus will return for Season Four in what’s rumored to be France, it remains likely Tapia de Veer has won his last Emmy for the series.