A growling two-note bassline (not unlike the theme from the 1975 classic "Jaws") kicks off the new song 鈥�Bye鈥� 鈥� a collaboration by Taylor Nixon and London Elixir, two musicians originally from Columbus now living in Atlanta.
The track was chosen for a scene in the acclaimed HBO and DC Comics miniseries "The Penguin," a spinoff sequel of the 2022 film "The Batman." The show stars Colin Farrell (under heavy prosthetic makeup) reprising his role as mob underboss Oswald 鈥淥z鈥� Cobb.
The sync placement is the first such deal with DC Comics and HBO to be landed by Columbus-native musicians.
星空无限传媒's Matthew Rand spoke with Nixon and Elixir:
Matthew Rand: Taylor, how did the song come about and how did you and London go about recording it?
Taylor Nixon: I wrote the song in 2022. London hit me with a brief and we had no idea of where it would be placed. She asked me to write from the perspective of Harley Quinn, and I had no idea who that was, so I had to YouTube her and kind of dive into her world. But it was very clear the direction and sound she was aiming for. Pretty much, that's how it all came about. I wrote it, we recorded it in her mother's basement, and the rest is history.
Matthew Rand: London, how did this track make its way to the production team at HBO? And then how did you both find out it would be used in this TV show?
London Elixir: Yeah, so I do a lot of work in sync licensing, which is getting music placed on TV shows and films. So, I've been working for the past few years establishing relationships with music supervisors. The one in particular who landed this for us, her name is Whitney Pilsner and she works with Black & White Music and they are really a well-known music supervision company. So, I connected with her at a film festival a couple of years ago, just stayed in touch. She had a really good energy. I was just sending her music over the years and finally she hit me back and she's like, 鈥淥h yeah, we're going to use this in The Penguin.鈥� And I'm not big into DC Comics, so I had no idea what that meant. So, I went and looked it up and I was telling Taylor like, 鈥淭his is about to be a big deal.鈥� And then of course, we went and watched the show and it was amazing. So that was actually how we landed it. Just some music I had sent her and she found a fit for it in the show.
Matthew Rand: How do your experiences growing up in Columbus inform your artistry today?
Taylor Nixon: We both played basketball with Columbus Africentric Early College. And that鈥擨 feel for me, and I think I can speak for London when I say this鈥攊s how much character building basketball implemented into us. Our coach, William McKinney, he was very鈥攚e won state twice. We both have two state titles. And a lot of the work ethic and the mindset that went into winning those championships carried over into definitely the tenacity and resilience that it takes to exist and be successful in the music industry. So, I feel as though that has really played a part in our success and our ability to keep going, you know, because it hasn't been easy.
London Elixir: Yeah, I鈥檒l second that. Just the ability to overcome adversity is something that I took away from being on those state championship teams. So again, shout out to our coach, Will McKinney. He just taught us how to...whatever it is, work through it. If the ref makes a bad call, if you get told no when your first sync (fails), you know, just work through it. Keep going.
Matthew Rand: Congrats again. I'm guessing, though, this isn't a time to be resting on laurels. What's next in this this creative partnership you've formed? Any other projects coming up, especially with HBO, since the folks there know you guys now. Are they going to use you again?
London Elixir: Yeah, absolutely. Still establishing our relationship with Whitney. So, I have more songs on some of her other shows that she's been doing. And then with Taylor specifically in this song with 鈥淏ye,鈥� it's been getting streamed a lot because of the show.
Taylor Nixon: It's taking off globally, I mean, it's literally like 13 plus countries. So it's really taken me by surprise.
You can find all eight episodes of "The Penguin" streaming now on Max. to listen to "Bye."
