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{{Infobox single
| name = Succession (Main Title Theme)
| type = single
| artist = [[Nicholas Britell]]
| released = July 20, 2018
| recorded = 2018
| genre = {{hlist|[[Classical music|Classical]]|[[hip hop]]}}
| length = 1:42
| label = [[Milan Records]]
| producer = Nicholas Britell
}}
"'''Succession (Main Title Theme)'''" is the [[theme music]] of [[HBO]]'s [[Satire (film and television)|satirical]] [[dark comedy]]-[[Drama (film and television)|drama]] television series [[Succession (TV series)|''Succession'']] which plays during the title sequence. It was originally [[Composer|composed]] by Beethoven & Franz Schubert and recontextualized by [[Nicholas Britell]] in 2018 and was released by [[Milan Records]] and HBO on July 20, 2018. The theme was composed using piano tunes, layered with strings, brass, beats from the [[Roland TR-808]] drum machine and percussive sounds to blend [[classical music|classical]] and [[hip hop music]]. The title theme was critically acclaimed and became hailed as "one of the best television show themes" while also being referenced in popular cultures, with being included in memes, remixes, fan projects, and [[TikTok]] [[Viral phenomenon|viral trends]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bitran |first=Tara |date=2019-11-20 |title='Succession' and the Theme Song That Launched 100 Memes |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/succession-theme-song-launched-100-memes-1255958/ |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=McGovern |first=Kyle |date=2019-10-11 |title=Why Is the Succession Theme So Meme-able? |url=https://www.vulture.com/2019/10/succession-theme-song-memes.html |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=Vulture |language=en-us}}</ref> A remixed version of the theme song by rapper [[Pusha T]] was released in October 2019. At the [[71st Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards]] the title theme won the award for [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music|Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Mitovich |first=Matt Webb |date=September 22, 2019 |title=Emmys 2019: Game of Thrones Ties Record and Leads TV Pack; Fleabag, Chernobyl and Mrs. Maisel Win Big |url=https://tvline.com/2019/09/22/emmys-2019-awards-winners-list/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727222920/https://tvline.com/2019/09/22/emmys-2019-awards-winners-list/ |archive-date=July 27, 2020 |access-date=September 24, 2019 |website=TVLine}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Hill |first=Libby |date=September 14, 2019 |title=Complete Creative Arts Emmy Awards 2019 Winners List: 'Game of Thrones' Torches Competitors |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2019/09/2019-creative-arts-emmys-winners-list-1202173604/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614221342/https://www.indiewire.com/2019/09/2019-creative-arts-emmys-winners-list-1202173604/ |archive-date=June 14, 2020 |access-date=September 24, 2019 |website=IndieWire}}</ref>

== Background ==
For Britell, hip hop was a major influence in the show, especially in the opening sequence where Kendall Roy ([[Jeremy Strong (actor)|Jeremy Strong]]) listens to [[Beastie Boys]]' "[[An Open Letter to NYC]]" (2004) as he arrives the headquarters of his family business.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Everything Is Better Set to the 'Succession' Theme Song |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/43k4vw/hbo-succession-theme-song-memes-nicholas-britell |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=www.vice.com |language=en}}</ref> He said,『I wanted to incorporate some oversized hip-hop beats... While I grew up as a classical pianist, when I was in college I was in a hip-hop band – I used to make like four beats a day. But I've never had the opportunity or canvas to explore these things on the scale that ''Succession'' enabled [...] When you put things together and realize it's working, it's almost like a physical or emotional response.』Although he composed the theme, it still needed approval from the showrunner [[Jesse Armstrong]] and executive producer [[Adam McKay]], who agreed to use it in the sequence.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Britton |first=Luke Morgan |date=2020-06-16 |title='Succession': how composer Nicholas Britell wrote the show's iconic theme tune |url=https://www.nme.com/features/tv-interviews/succession-theme-nicholas-britell-2689089 |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=NME |language=en-GB}}</ref> The title theme serves as the foundation of the score, and is fragmented into smaller sections that can be heard throughout the show. Multiple variations of the track have been recorded, featuring the same chords played in different ways with different instruments.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2021-12-07 |title=What makes the Succession theme worth ignoring the 'Skip Intro' button every time |url=https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/what-makes-the-succession-theme-worth-ignoring-the-skip-intro-button-every-time-10191181.html |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=Firstpost |language=en}}</ref>

According to former film and television composer, and founder of Ample Music, Drew Silverstein, "the score subverts expectations and leaves it up to viewers to determine a scene's mood or subtext. Unlike sitcoms with clear audio cues or Marvel movies with big, bombastic musical moments, the ''Succession'' score refrains from providing a meta-commentary. That also adds to the documentary-style realism of the show. It's meant to draw you into the reality that exists. It's relatable enough that we're like, 'Oh wow, that's our world, not a Disney movie in some imaginary world.'"<ref name=":1">{{Cite magazine |title=Here's Why the Theme Song on 'Succession' Stands Out So Much |url=https://time.com/5662975/succession-theme-song/ |access-date=2022-11-30 |magazine=Time |language=en}}</ref>

== Composition ==
The main title theme was composed from the classical piano tune underneath a massive hip-hop beat. It paraphrases a piece of [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s [[Pathétique Sonata|''Pathétique Sonata'']].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mello-Klein |first=Cody |date=2023-05-24 |title=How did the music in 'Succession' become so iconic? |url=https://news.northeastern.edu/2023/05/24/succession-music-nicholas-brite/ |access-date=2024-06-22 |website=Northeastern Global News |language=en-US}}</ref> Britell further used strings, brass and low-end beats from the [[Roland TR-808]] drum machine, while oddly dissonant percussive sounds were laid and woven through the theme and other cues of the score.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Desowitz |first=Bill |date=2019-05-06 |title='Succession': Nicholas Britell Mixed Classical and Hip-Hop to Show the Precariousness of Power |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2019/05/succession-nicholas-britell-mixed-classical-and-hip-hop-to-show-the-precariousness-of-power-1202131536/ |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=IndieWire |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Rao |first=Sonia |date=2019-08-12 |title=How 'Succession' composer Nicholas Britell captured the HBO series' gravitas and absurdity |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2019/08/12/how-succession-composer-nicholas-britell-captured-hbo-series-gravitas-absurdity/ |access-date=2022-11-29 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> The song starts with a downbeat that "creates a decisive beginning that dominoes into a pattern of optimizing the downbeats as the bars recur through the score". It then progresses into [[C minor]] and to [[B major]], creating a dissonant sound.<ref name=":0" />

Music theorist and psychologist Stefanie Acevedo said that the piano is played in high and low registers and sometimes out of sync, the melody is in a minor key punctuated by dissonant chords, and the distorted base line rocks "the foundation of the theme". There are two string layers: a "low [[ostinato]]" pattern that gives the theme forward momentum, coupled with high strings that echo the piano motif with a "very raw, shrill, almost out-of-control tone. Nick has done a really good job of not only making a powerful score and theme, but also staking out a unique sound."<ref name=":1" />

== Reception ==

=== Critical response ===
The ''Succession'' title theme was lauded by mainstream critics, referred to as one of "the best title themes for television".<ref name=":2">{{Cite magazine |last1=Sheffield |first1=Rob |last2=Browne |first2=David |last3=Collins |first3=Sean T. |last4=Dolan |first4=Jon |last5=Garber-Paul |first5=Elisabeth |last6=Greene |first6=Andy |last7=Gross |first7=Joe |last8=Krisztina |first8=Tatiana |last9=Matos |first9=Michaelangelo |date=2022-11-24 |title=The 100 Greatest TV Theme Songs of All Time |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-tv-theme-songs-of-all-time-1234630913/ |access-date=2022-11-30 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref> Calling it as an "unmistakable earworm" and "trippy tune", ''[[Firstpost]]''-based critic Lakshmi Govindrajan Javeri said that the tune is "both rich in its dark classical sound from the 1700s, yet groovy like [[Coolio]] was composing it on a [[Steinway & Sons|Steinway]]".<ref name=":0" /> ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' listed it in number 25, in one of their "Top 100 television theme songs of all time" and said "the music for ''Succession'' nicely drives home the notion of a ruling class that has descended into gangster decadence, of ambition and entitlement collapsing into chaos and nihilism".<ref name=":2" />

=== Themes ===
The combination of dark classical music and hip hop underlines a "kind of duality that is representative of the show’s themes", as Javeri had recalled, that "on the one hand, there are outrageous heights of luxury and obscene exploitation of power, the other hand holds within the quirks of humane vulnerability that hides behind the absurdity of one’s misplaced sense of self. It is cyclical in its very nature because every oppressor operates from a space of fearing victimhood, and every victim in the show has a false, egoistic perception of how they have perhaps scored a home run in manipulation. There is neither clarity of morals nor vision, and the title theme heightens this obfuscation with striking distortion effects."<ref name=":0" />

== Personnel ==

* Nicholas Britell – score producer
* John Finklea – score producer
* Patricia Sullivan – mastering
* Tommy Vicari – mixing
* Stefan Karrer – executive producer
* Jean-Christophe Chamboredon – executive producer
* Pablo Manyer – production manager

== Remixed version ==
{{Infobox single
| name          = Puppets (Succession Remix)
| type          = single
| artist        = [[Nicholas Britell]] and [[Pusha T]]
| released      = October 4, 2019
| recorded      = 2019
| genre         = {{hlist|[[Classical music|Classical]]|[[hip hop]]|[[remix]]|[[rapping|rap]]}}
| length        = 2:17
| label         = {{hlist|HBO|[[Def Jam Recordings|Def Jam]]}}
| writer        = Pusha T
| producer      = Nicholas Britell
| chronology    = [[Pusha T]]
| prev_title    = Coming Home
| prev_year     = 2019
| next_title    = Good Morning
| next_year     = 2020
}}

The title theme was remixed several times by fans of the show, as the song reached popularity.<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=The 'Succession' Theme Is Getting the Rap Remix It Deserves |url=https://time.com/5695288/succession-rap-pusha-t/ |access-date=2022-11-30 |magazine=Time |language=en}}</ref> However, Britell wanted the song to be officially remixed, hence he chose [[Pusha T]] to produce the remix version, as he felt that "his voice is like a missile". Pusha met Britell at a recording in [[Los Angeles]], who was pitched the track and said about the series' theme: "We talked about the connection to power and its dynamic, issues writ large: struggle, pain, all of the things we could deal with". He had to redo the lyrics, as it might reveal the plot details for the second season as "the lines were too detailed". For the remix, he used more bass and hip hop to create "more bigger and bolder sound", while also adding choral arrangements to the sound.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Holmes |first=Charles |date=2019-10-07 |title='Succession' Super Fan Pusha T is Remixing the Show's Theme Song |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/pusha-t-succession-theme-song-895826/ |access-date=2022-11-30 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text="The greed, the resentment, the idea anybody is basically disposable — that’s a gangsta movie type of quality. On Succession, it’s involving family, it’s like, Whoa! It’s a bit more shocking. And so that’s what made the writing process fun, because I could use all of the street, gangster rap nuances and qualities and energy and incorporate it into the theme of the music. It was really just a dope exercise, honestly."|author=Pusha T|title=on the themes of ''Succession''}}

The track was released as "Puppets (Succession Remix)" as a single on October 4, 2019, by HBO and [[Def Jam Recordings]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Harris |first=Hunter |date=2019-10-11 |title=Good God, Pusha T Remixed the Succession Theme |url=https://www.vulture.com/2019/10/succession-pusha-t-remix.html |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=Vulture |language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Wang |first=Amy X. |date=2019-10-11 |title=Song You Need to Know: Pusha T and HBO's 'Succession' Are the Media Merger of the Year |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/pusha-t-hbo-succession-remix-puppets-896973/ |access-date=2022-11-30 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}
{{Succession (TV series)}}{{Nicholas Britell}}{{EmmyAward MainTitleThemeMusic}}

[[Category:2018 songs]]
[[Category:Television drama theme songs]]
[[Category:2018 compositions]]

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