Posted by As Season 2 of Severance approaches, we rediscover the magic behind the theme song and why it sounds so familiar.
Apple TV+ announced it together with many other big releases for 2024: Severance will return with Season 2 in the summer, continuing the story we witnessed in the first season. It has been described as one of the most mind-blowing series of the last few years, and that’s no surprise. The plot is constantly evolving, starting from an original premise and continuously introducing new twists, situations, and conflicts that don’t have an easy resolution.
As usual, a great TV show must have a great soundtrack, and Severance is no exception. The music featured in the series never lets the tension fade: we hear that piano often while the plot develops, and it’s always like running in circles around an empty spot, trying to find a difference that never comes.
The main title in the opening credits of Apple TV+’s Severance has become a cult favorite among series fans: the theme song is part of the original soundtrack created by Theodore Shapiro, an American composer with years of experience in the field. You can listen to “Main Titles” and watch again the opening sequence below.
Severance‘s theme song is entirely made on piano: a hypnotic loop keeps going in the background while the melody becomes a secret passage to madness. After all, the show’s plot is about trying to solve a mystery created after an invasive alteration of the protagonists’ memories: Mark feels desperately lost in a world where half of his life takes place out of his consciousness, and the music keeps reminding us of the disorientation he experiences.
One of the most interesting aspects of the Severance theme song is that it sounds familiar from the first time you hear it. Many fans couldn’t avoid thinking they already heard it somewhere else. The truth is that it’s an original composition by Theodore Shapiro, made on purpose for the show. However, it follows a simple and effective series of chords that has been explored multiple times in the history of music, and you surely have heard many songs with a similar sequence of notes. Someone even identified another soundtrack that sounds very similar: Amy’s Theme, part of the music score of the 1974 movie The Conversation. You can listen to it here on Youtube.
Still, Severance‘s Main Titles is an authentic new invention by Theodore Shapiro, and the feeling we have when we hear it is close to magic: it feels like we always knew it, but it never fails to generate a unique sense of anxiety. Season 2 of Severance is coming, and we can’t wait to see how the music fits as the plot continues.