George Michael and werewolves: How Babygirl crafts a soundscape of desire
A little over an hour into Babygirl, something magical happens.
CEO Romy (Nicole Kidman) and intern Samuel (Harris Dickinson) meet in an opulent hotel room to rekindle their BDSM-tinged affair. Right as they reconnect — with Samuel finally calling Romy his "babygirl," no less — you hear them. The telltale snare drums and synths of George Michael's "Father Figure," ushering us into a montage where Romy and Samuel explore their sexual boundaries, complete with a shirtless dance scene from Samuel.
It's a needle drop that is at once sensual and playful, as Romy and Samuel search for the "something special, something sacred" Michael sings about wanting in the song. It's also just one of many reasons Babygirl is a feast for the ears. Immaculate needle drops and the growling wolves and operatic vocals of Cristobal Tapia de Veer's (The White Lotus) score prove to be the perfect accompaniment to Romy and Samuel's exploration. However, Babygirl's soundscape also charts Romy's own journey of self-discovery, following her from her initial repression and shame about her desires to being unafraid to share what she wants.
To learn more, Mashable spoke with music supervisor Meghan Currier (Past Lives) and de Veer about their work on the film, including why "Father Figure" is Babygirl's anthem, and how Nicole Kidman's voice ended up on the soundtrack in an unexpected way.
"Father Figure" by George Michael is Babygirl's musical centerpiece.
"Father Figure" was written into the first draft of Babygirl's script that Currier received from writer/director Halina Reijn. "It was always in her mind," Currier told Mashable over Zoom. "She was like, 'As I was writing this script, I played this constantly.'"
(Outside of the song, the word "fatherly" does pop up a few times in the Babygirl screenplay, twice being used to describe Samuel's tone with Romy.)
Because of Reijn's connection to "Father Figure," Currier knew there was no alternative song for the scene and made it a priority to secure it. She also used it to build a musical mood board for Babygirl, which included gabber dance music for the film's rave scene and Christmas songs to match the film's time period as well. While these help flesh out the music of Babygirl's wider world, "Father Figure" remained the guiding sound for Romy and Samuel's relationship. It led Currier to use INXS's "Never Tear Us Apart" in the film as well.
"Almost in a generational context between Romy's character and Samuel's character, [Reijn and I] felt that leaning into some of these timeless songs that were created in the '80s felt really right," Currier said. "INXS also emerged from that same root."
"Never Tear Us Apart" plays during the first montage of Romy and Samuel's affair, speaking to the early days of their relationship. "Even though it's a beautiful love song, there's a darkness that cuts through it as well, and I think that really underscores the naughtiness of what they're engaging in," Currier explained. "At the same time, we see them figuring out the roles of the game, so to speak, so there is this push-and-pull quality sonically that beautifully takes us through that montage of them figuring out their roles."
By the time we get to the "Father Figure" montage, Samuel and Romy's relationship has shifted. Now they have a better sense of their roles in their sexual escapades. But there's also more of a willingness to be vulnerable with one another, highlighted in George Michael's lyrics about wanting to understand and be there for his lover. To paraphrase "Father Figure," Romy and Samuel can finally "be bold and naked" at each other's sides.
"The song has a much more grounded, soft quality to it that really supports what we're seeing in the dynamics of the two in this beautiful hotel room," Currier said. "It feels more cocooned and safe."
Babygirl's score tells a "werewolf" story.
In the time between the "Never Tear Us Apart" montage and the "Father Figure" montage, Romy has grown to further embrace and understand her own desires, yet she still finds it difficult to verbalize what she wants, something Babygirl mirrors in de Veer's score.
De Veer plays with two main themes throughout. The first, titled "Mommy's Dollhouse," is our gateway into Romy's manicured, polished world. Strings, operatic vocals, and a lilting piano guide us through Romy's seemingly picture-perfect life – yet thumping drums hint at an underlying darkness and stress within. That inner conflict also comes through in the theme's piano line.
"I wrote this with my partner, Kim [Neundorf]. She was playing the right hand, which is this waltz-y melody, and I was playing the left hand. In my head, I was playing a military march," de Veer explained to Mashable over Zoom. "A waltz would be in three time, while what I'm playing is in four time. So there's kind of a fight going on. There's two things going on, which is unusual for a waltz, and I like the fact that there is something militaristic about her professional life."
The "militaristic" nature of "Mommy's Dollhouse" couldn't be farther from de Veer's second theme, "Wolves." Here, distorted vocals, animalistic breathing, and growling wolves blur together. It's part survival instinct, part distilled desire. For de Veer, the emphasis on the wolf sounds is also representative of Romy's personal transformation.
"There's almost a werewolf situation going on in this movie," de Veer said. "The theme transforms throughout until it becomes this kind of atonal music. It's rhythm, it's pulse — that's pretty much it."
Somewhere among the layers of rhythm and pulse that represent Romy's desire lies some of Kidman's own voice. In one iteration of "Wolves," de Veer samples a surprised noise Kidman made when she almost tripped on set during one of the dailies de Veer saw. (This isn't the first time de Veer has sampled Kidman's voice in his work. During his time in Canadian band One Ton, he sampled part of Kidman's argument with Tom Cruise in Eyes Wide Shut.)
"This 'woo' sound [from Kidman] was spontaneous, so I took that," de Veer said. "I pretty much used anything I had."
While "Wolves" and "Mommy's Dollhouse" represent the two very different sides of Romy — her hidden desires and her outward perfectionism — de Veer manages to meld them together in the film's final scene, when Romy's husband, Jacob (Antonio Banderas), helps bring her fantasies to life. The organization and harmony of "Mommy's Dollhouse" mix with the primal, animalistic sounds of "Wolves," until Romy gets exactly what she wants.
As de Veer put it, "It feels like an explosion."