The theme from the second season of HBO masterpiece The White Lotus - also known as Renaissance - has become one of the more unlikely electronic music bangers over the past few months. A rework of the title music from season 1, with a four-to-the-floor beat adding energy to the warbling melody, it’s been played at numerous festivals and clubs since the show returned to our screens at the end of October 2022.
Inevitably, there have been remixes, too, but only now do we have the first ‘official’ reworking of Cristobal Tapia De Veer’s haunting theme, and it comes courtesy of Dutch DJ/producer Tiësto.
It seems that, rather than being commissioned, Tiësto simply went ahead and created the remix, then started dropping it into his live sets. However, having received positive online feedback and the blessing of HBO, the track has now been released.
According to Rolling Stone, Tiësto said in a statement: “As a huge fan of The White Lotus I couldn’t be more excited to be releasing the official remix. I was instantly hooked on the theme song so I had to put my spin on it for my live sets… every time I play it, the crowd goes crazy! I’m thrilled HBO wanted to partner and make it official.”
The question, of course, is whether this actually improves on the original? It certainly hits you hard, but for us, the lightness of touch that made the theme so great has been somewhat lost in the Dutch DJ’s version. What was once a deft, slightly disconcerting slice of off-kilter weirdness has become an on-the-nose EDM banger. Subtle it is not.
Still, we’re sure it’ll go down well in clubland, and if the remix encourages even more people to watch what was possibly the best TV show of 2022, great.
