For a good decade now, Rob Lowry has been busy as one of the go-to and most in demand music supervisors for films and TV shows looking for some extra love in their soundtracks. He is currently working on Paramount’s The Lost City of D, starring Brad Pitt, Sandra Bullock, and Channing Tatum; the record-breaking Gossip Girl reboot for HBO Max; and Henry Selick’s Wendell and Wild for Netflix, written by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, and he recently helped create the soundtrack for Gia Coppola’s festival darling Mainstream. We asked him to curate the ultimate date playlist to make those awkward car silences a little less awkward.
“There’s something unique about the early stages of any relationship—romantic or platonic—that can be heightened by the accompaniment of music. Songs can put us in any time and place in mere seconds, and we have the ability to create core memories with those experiences by sound tracking them. Perhaps most widely regarded are those early stages of dating and the potential of romance and love, where the right music selection can set the mood like no other, and hearing those songs years later can bring you right back to that moment.
This mix represents the arc and nuance of getting to know someone during those early stages—the tenderness, the sentimentality, the vulnerability, the excitement, the hope. There’s subtlety in messaging, in vibe—there are moments to bop your head to; moments to quiet the dialogue and turn up the volume; and lyrics that inspire a conversation. This mix, like most of my mixes, is meant to be listened to in chronological order, and would be a nice soundtrack early on in a new relationship for: car rides to dinner; to see your favorite band; or to that hidden gem bar that you can’t wait to introduce to that special person. It’s meant to be played in halves: play the first half for the car ride there and the second half for the car ride home.”
CHECK OUT ROB LOWRY
IG @ROBERTLOWRY
