Why is The White Lotus Season 3 theme music different from Seasons 1 and 2? Reasons explored

HBO’s highly anticipated show, The White Lotus Season 3 premiered on February 16. 2025. Other than a different cast and location, there was one more significant change in the new season: the theme song.

The White Lotus Season 3 theme song lacks the iconic yodeling of the previous theme songs. Instead, it sounds more ethereal and mystical and aligns well with the new destination.

Created by Mike White, Season 3 of the show is set in an exotic resort in Thailand. Just like the previous seasons, the show continues its tradition of blending dark and satirical comedy with mystery.

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The White Lotus Season 3 theme song aligns with Thai music

The theme song of season 1 was called ‘Aloha’ and quickly became a viral sensation after the season premiered. The season 2 Italian-themed song was called 'Rennaisance' and also incorporated the iconic yodeling that was introduced in the first theme song.

However, The White Lotus Season 3 theme song does not resemble the previous ones. But it does reflect the essence of Thai music and incorporates spirituality and Eastern religion, which will be the major theme of the new season.

Composer, Cristobal Tapia de Veer, in a Variety interview, talked about how he took inspiration from TikTok cat videos for the new theme song. He stated:

"I hear interesting things in TikTok or YouTube sometimes. I think that the best song I heard in the last few years that I can remember is people harmonizing to a cat on TikTok. There’s a cat, and somebody put some piano and then some girls started harmonizing, and then there’s all these versions harmonizing this cat, it’s super moving and so spontaneous and fresh that this is grabbing a lot more my attention than super-produced pop music."

He further added:

"I’m a fan of pop music, but it feels like it’s been a while that I feel like something has surprised me. So I’ve been looking a lot into these eight-second bits of music that people [are] putting together and harmonizing a cat or stupid, silliest things. To me, it’s like a gold mine, it’s just moving to me. It feels like you are actually in contact with a person."

As it is a piece of new music and doesn’t share any resemblance with the previous theme songs, fans might take a little time to get used to it.

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More about The White Lotus theme songs

Out of all three theme songs, 'Renaissance', the theme song of season 2 was the most popular one due to its intense dance beats. It also has a remix version by Tiesto. However, composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer didn’t like the song and considered it subpar.

In the same interview with Variety, composer Veer stated:

"What often happens is we start perfecting things in the studio…and generally speaking things become complicated and too brainy and somehow you start strangling the life out of that…I think there’s an energy that people [liked about ‘Renaissance’] and it has nothing to do with whatever perfection or skills you have in the studio."

He also added:

"It’s just a very spontaneous thing, grabbing a moment, and once it’s there, don’t touch it, just let it breathe."

The White Lotus Season 3 has 8 episodes and will air weekly every Sunday. It premiered on February 16, 2025.

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Catch The White Lotus Season 3 on Max.