How ‘The Dropout’ Music Supervisor Crafted a 2010s Time Capsule With Katy Perry and Lil Wayne
Ellise Shafer SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not watched “The Dropout” on Hulu.When crafting the soundtrack for Hulu’s “The Dropout,” music supervisor Maggie Phillips and show creator Elizabeth Meriwether sought out, as Phillips puts it, “songs that scream 2010.”Set between 2003 and 2018, “The Dropout” chronicles the rise and fall of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes (Amanda Seyfried), as she goes from founding a medical technology company worth $9 billion to being indicted for fraud. Based on the ABC News podcast of the same name, the limited series has been critically lauded for its writing, acting and music, which incorporates everything from Katy Perry’s “Firework” to Lil Wayne’s “How to Love.” Phillips, who supervised the show with coordinators Kristen Higuera and Andrew Brady, was drawn to it because she had never worked on a project with music that came out during her adult years.“[It’s] a time period that I knew very well, so that was enticing,” Phillips says.