Earlier than assuming the SVP of DreamWorks TV Music position, Alexandra Nickson labored, as she places it, throughout the “heyday of Disney Channel.”
“I used to be there for Hannah Montana and Wizards of Waverly Place and was immersed in creating nice pop tracks for a youthful viewers,” remembers Nickson. “Disney may be very vibrant, very bubblegum, very a lot catering to that youthful viewers. They usually do an amazing job with that. However that’s after I got here up with the concept to neglect in regards to the viewers that we’re creating for and convey in several genres of music.”
Nickson, who has been at DreamWorks for roughly 9 years and oversees all of the studio’s music for tv, streaming initiatives, and dwell occasions, has a quite simple motto: there’s no youngsters’ music, simply nice music. It’s a precept she’s utilized to all of the sequence she’s labored on, together with the award-winning live-action/animated hybrid preschool sequence Gabby’s Dollhouse that debuted its seventh season as we speak, March 20, on Netflix.
“Whether or not we’re engaged on a preschool present, or we’re engaged on a 6 to 11 age vary present, and even an grownup sequence, I try to create music that transcends all age teams and is sonically refined,” says Nickson. “We’ve stated it earlier than, nevertheless it’s value repeating that you just need not dumb issues down for kids. You do should be aware, from a lyrical perspective, to ensure the music’s applicable, and we’re at all times striving for that repeatable hook, particularly in one thing like Gabby’s Dollhouse or with our TV theme songs. However we don’t put the music in a field.”
Whereas loads of soundtracks for DreamWorks’ animated options have been well-received, from Shrek to Abominable, Nickson says there’s a particular type of reward to be gained from creating musical content material for sequence one is aware of can be watched repeatedly by youthful, preschool-aged audiences.
“I like seeing my pals’ youngsters be excited,” she says. “I used to be at a celebration a couple of weeks in the past, and there was somewhat woman there who had a Gabby’s Dollhouse hat. And I used to be like, ‘Oh my god, that’s my present!’ It’s wonderful to see folks out within the wild, who love the present, who know the songs, who sing the songs, and realizing that I had a small half in making that occur.”
Gabby’s Dollhouse follows Gabby (Laila Lockhart Kraner) as she unboxes a shock earlier than leaping into an animated world filled with cute cat characters that dwell inside her magical dollhouse. For a sequence stuffed with purrr-planes, googly eyes, and hug assaults, Nickson knew the music wanted to be enjoyable. Nevertheless it additionally needed to be fascinating to each youngsters and their dad and mom for the music to be a sonic success.
“From a manufacturing perspective, I need it to sound like a prime 40 radio hit,” notes Nickson. “I need it to sound like Meghan Trainor’s new observe. In the meantime, I’m additionally ensuring that manufacturers are aligned, the whole lot has its personal distinctive sound, and the whole lot is flowing.”
She continues, “Once we have been developing with the music for Gabby’s, it was a collaborative effort with our wonderful showrunners and the studio executives. We didn’t need the sound to only be pop, or rock, or funk. And Teri Weiss, our EVP of Tv Improvement, urged, ‘What if we use youngsters’ devices?’ And we’re like, ‘That is a tremendous thought.’”
Paying particular consideration to the truth that the present’s in depth musical dialogue and sound results all needed to have a cohesive observe, the music staff paired child devices with up to date pop sound for the sequence.
“In any other case, it could be very limiting, to solely use the child devices,” says Nickson. “There’s simply a lot music integrated in each facet of the present. So, we have broadened it out. And we have labored actually carefully with our songwriter/composer, PT Walkley, to be sure that we have been getting the complete sound that we have been searching for.”
Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Present Music Room performances of pop tracks with child devices additionally served as an enormous inspiration. The soundtrack of the present even contains genres not sometimes present in youngsters’s packages, resembling disco.
Working carefully with their companions at Again Lot Music, DreamWorks has launched over 19 singles from Gabby’s Dollhouse, making it, in accordance with Nickson, “the most important vendor that we have had of any of the music [DreamWorks TV] has ever launched.”
“Gabby’s co-creator Traci [Paige Johnson] named the sound our ‘quirky cat bop,’” shares Nickson. “For those who shut your eyes, and also you’re within the different room, you understand, simply by listening to an instrumental, that it’s Gabby’s Dollhouse taking part in. We love that it’s that particular, and it’s the objective we have now with all our sequence.”
Nickson says that if she have been to place collectively a “DreamWorks Playlist” of finest reveals to look at that amplify the most effective of the studio’s sound, she’d counsel, before everything, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts.
“We created authentic music for that sequence, and we additionally labored with an unimaginable music supervisor, Kier Lehman, for our licensed music on that present,” notes Nickson. “I’m fully obsessive about it and am so happy with the work all of us did. The rating is a really hip-hop-driven, up to date sound. It is like nothing you have ever heard earlier than. And it was simply so thrilling to create one thing so distinctive and completely different.”
Her different ideas for sequence to look at to style the most effective of DreamWorks’ music are, not surprisingly, Trolls: The Beat Goes On! and Trolls: Trollstopia.
“I had Alana Da Fonseca as our songwriter and producer, and she or he was in a position to create hit after hit of those nice hooks that have been relatable and on the identical degree because the movie, which I assumed was simply so unimaginable,” says Nickson. “And Alex Geringas was our composer on the rating and was in a position to take these pop parts and create one thing distinctive for the underscore of a present, which is so essential. I feel that is one other factor that defines us right here at DreamWorks. We actually take a look at underscores as one other predominant character of a sequence. That is why we’re at all times seeking to style meld and create distinctive palettes. We’re by no means searching for that orchestral Mickey Mouse animated rating.”
Nickson was first recruited to be SVP of tv music when the DreamWorks TV studio was model new. She not solely turned a part of constructing sequence soundtracks from improvement to closing combine, however she additionally performed a pivotal half in influencing how DreamWorks reveals approached the entire thought their music manufacturing.
“Throughout my time at Disney, I additionally moved over to ABC Household, which is now Freeform, and I oversaw all of their musical content material, and I created a self-publishing group, the place we labored with indie bands to create music that we owned,” explains Nickson. “I beloved my job, however then I acquired a name from DreamWorks, and so they stated, ‘Would you have an interest on this new place we’re creating?’ and I by no means shut an open door.”
She continues, “I feel my expertise within the live-action world has actually helped my work right here. In 2015, we did a sequence referred to as The Mr. Peabody and Sherman Present the place we labored with indie bands and did little animated music movies on that venture. I might inform the songwriters, neglect that you just’re writing for a youngsters present. Music could be refined, and youngsters can perceive it. My daughter is 9 and she or he’s listening to The Beatles and The Eagles and she or he’s into it. So, it’s at all times one thing completely different with each venture, and that’s what makes my job so thrilling.”
Victoria Davis is a full-time, freelance journalist and part-time Otaku with an affinity for all issues anime. She’s reported on quite a few tales from activist information to leisure. Discover extra about her work at victoriadavisdepiction.com.
