The three-season run of “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” Amazon Prime’s popular young adult drama that aired its finale on Wednesday, spawned many viral moments. It also hooked viewers who came of age before TikTok, outperforming similar content from the streamer among 35- to 44-year-olds, according to the data tracking service Luminate.
Based on the books by Jenny Han, the series follows Belly Conklin (Lola Tung) and the Fisher brothers, Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno), who develop a love triangle as they come of age.
As showrunner, Han, 45, handpicked all the music, often choosing tracks from the 1990s and 2000s, when she was experiencing the same milestones as her characters, for its headiest plot points. “I just love a moment where you can bring back a song that maybe younger people don’t know about and then it gets to have like a sort of, like, resurgence or, like, new eyes, new ears on it,” she said.
Han discussed six millennial- and Gen X-coded needle drops that helped define the show.
Season 1, Episode 2
Belly’s Carefree Make-out Session
“Teenage Dirtbag” by Wheatus (2000)
Belly’s breakthrough summer begins with a short-lived flirtation with a non-Fisher — Cam Cameron. He takes her on her first date, gives her her first kiss, and exists as the first sign that Belly’s not a little girl anymore. This early-aughts punk-pop track about getting romantically ignored in high school plays as she and Cam make out on the beach, while her older brother smooches someone else and their mom reads a book given to her by a handsome author. Hormones!
“Teenage Dirtbag” was Han’s go-to karaoke song when she studied abroad in London and belted lyrics including, “Man, I feel like mold / It’s prom night and I am lonely.”
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The post How Jenny Han Handpicked ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ Soundtrack appeared first on New York Times.
