In the first episode of Ryan Murphy’s Love Story, John F. Kennedy Jr.—played by Paul Anthony Kelly—bumps into his future wife, Carolyn Bessette (Sarah Pidgeon) at a crowded party. It’s their first meeting, and the scene is, frankly, electric. Bessette’s boss, fashion designer Calvin Klein (Alessandro Nivola) introduces them. “You’re gonna thank me for this,” Klein says to Bessette, taking her arm and guiding her toward People’s “Sexiest Man Alive” for 1988. In the background, Kate Bush’s haunting ballad “This Woman’s Work” starts to play.
“‘This Woman’s Work’ was at the top of the list from day one,” says music supervisor Jen Malone, who curated the soundtrack for the sweeping—and somewhat controversial—Kennedy bio-series. “It was always a song I wanted to put in the show.”
Across all nine episodes, Malone’s soundtrack threads together the romance, friction, and tragedy that defines the story of one of the 1990s’ most talked-about couples. She drew heavily on the era’s alternative, dream-pop, rock, and hip-hop music, as well as selected tracks—including many that were personal favorites—by artists like Björk, Cocteau Twins, Mazzy Star, and Portishead.
It’s not a straightforward process: some songs can take months to clear, and often a carefully chosen cue hinges on securing last-minute approval from the artist. Malone—whose credits span Euphoria, Wednesday, and Overcompensating—is always guided by one thing: finding the moment where music and picture walk in lockstep. Below, she lets Vogue in on her process.
Vogue: What were your first thoughts when you were brought on board for Love Story? How do you begin a project like this?
Jen Malone: So I got a call from [20th Television, Inc] who told me about the show. I love period pieces, and I had just come off of Caught Stealing, the Darren Aronofsky film that takes place in 1998 on the Lower East Side. So I had already been just super immersed in the ’90s… I love working in that space. Obviously, I knew about Carolyn and John’s story—they were so beloved. I grew up on the East Coast, between New York and Boston, and I was living in New York at the time [that they were alive]. I kind of work on a lot of darker type shows. So this one being a love story, I was so excited to dive in.
What was the direction from Ryan Murphy and the team when you were first landscaping the soundtrack?
I think the directive, really, was to make it so that it wasn’t just one genre. We were really going to try to make it as broad as possible. And I think we hit that with each song just being very different, whether having Sade and the Cranberries [in Episode 4], or all of the fun music in the pilot. Obviously [the music] had to be very period-specific; each episode took place in a different year. I went to my own personal playlist of songs that I love from the ’90s and then just took them into their respective year. New York, I think, is a character in itself. We say this a lot in TV: music is a character. But I think, in a period piece, music actually is a character, because that helps bring you into the story.
You say you delved into your own playlist. Were there any songs that you wanted to get in there that you couldn’t get clearance for?
We actually didn’t get any denials. We got every song we asked for. There were a couple of tracks that were eventually cut because the episode changed, but overall [all of the artists and labels] were really excited about the show.
The most difficult clearance, though, was Björk. She’s very, very, very protective about where her music is used. At first I thought, Let’s try Björk, and then realized what I’d got myself into because approval just wasn’t coming through… it was stuck in that frustrating place where it’s not a yes, but it’s not a no either. Usually at that stage the director or showrunner might write a letter to the artist, but this time I wrote it myself. When I lived in New York, Björk’s first two records, Debut and Post, were the soundtrack to the first time I ever fell in love. I wrote a very personal, vulnerable letter about what her music meant to me and how it fit the show’s tragic, beautiful love story. Within 48 hours we had approval—just two days before final mix. I didn’t even have a proper back-up track. I kept telling everyone: “It’s going to clear.” Thankfully, it did.
What other songs did you love squeezing in there?
I also worked very closely with Kate Bush’s team to clear “This Woman’s Work,” which I absolutely love. That’s a song I always wanted to place in the show. From day one it was at the top of the list—especially for the scene where John meets Carolyn for the first time. Beyond that, we used so many artists I love: Cocteau Twins, the Stone Roses, Mazzy Star, the Breeders, Portishead. Anyone who knows my taste would probably say: “Yep, that’s a Jen pick.” But it was very much a collaboration. Ryan Murphy knows music incredibly well and brought great ideas. Another directive was to avoid only choosing the obvious ’90s tracks. Some classics are there, of course, but we were able to sprinkle in songs that might not appear on everyone’s standard ’90s playlist.
For sure. I’ve discovered so much new music from the show. How does it feel to be bringing this music to new audiences?
My job first and foremost is to serve the story and the showrunner’s vision. But I do love introducing people to music they might not already know. Sometimes I think of it like being the older sister making mixtapes—that feeling of: If you like that, then listen to this! The show becomes a way to reintroduce these artists to a new generation, while also reminding everyone just how incredible ’90s music was.
What are you looking for in music to put to a scene?
A lot of the time, you really do just know. We’ll usually present several options—maybe five songs—and watch the scene with each one. Eventually there’s that moment where everyone realizes: No, that’s the one. It’s about what the song is doing lyrically, emotionally, and narratively. What is the scene trying to say, and what role is the music playing? When a song truly works, you feel it immediately. It’s like the music and the picture were made for each other. At that point it’s hard to imagine anything else working as well. That’s exactly what happened with Björk’s “Human Behaviour” [in Episode 2, at Kelly Klein’s Pools launch party]: there was no other song that could beat it—and it was the same with Kate Bush.
Are there ever major disagreements on which song to go with?
Sometimes there are debates, but on this show we were largely on the same page. There were maybe two moments where we had three or four songs that all worked really well. In those cases the editor, the assistant editor, and I would share our opinions, then present the options to Ryan Murphy, Brad Simpson, Nina Jacobson, and the producing team. Ultimately it’s their show and their vision. That said, throughout my career there have definitely been moments where I’ve had to say: “Trust me. This is the one.” A great example is “Goo Goo Muck” by the Cramps in Netflix’s Wednesday. I kept saying, “Just trust me,” and they did. It ended up becoming a huge moment for the show.
Speaking of your other projects, you’ve worked on Atlanta, Yellowjackets, and Euphoria, to name a few. Do you have any needle drops that have stuck with you over your career?
As for favorite needle drops, I honestly don’t know if I could pick just one. Even with Love Story, it’s hard to choose. I love the moment where “Blood of Eden” flows into “This Woman’s Work,” but then there are cues from Cocteau Twins, Mazzy Star, and so many others that I adore. Each song carries its own emotional impact. Sometimes it triggers a core memory for people, and other times it introduces them to a track they’ve never heard before—and suddenly their first memory of that song becomes the moment they heard it in the show. That’s one of the most rewarding parts of the job.
Maybe they’re the obvious picks, but two of my favorites so far have been “Linger” by the Cranberries and “No Ordinary Love” by Sade. I love that the Sade moment is actually part of the dialogue, too.
“What animal doesn’t like Sade?” is what John says. [Episode 4] really shows the range we wanted. Going from Sade to the Cranberries’ “Linger” covers a lot of musical ground. The episode itself is stacked—Madonna, Stereo MCs, Sade, Jeff Buckley—and that variety was very intentional. We wanted the soundtrack to reflect the breadth of music people were actually listening to at the time.
The mix is so diverse. It also feels authentic to the music that John and Carolyn would have been listening to at the time.
Definitely. I know John loved classic rock; his favorite band was the Rolling Stones. That’s great, of course, but Tom Petty felt like someone who absolutely would have been on his playlist as well, so we included that.
This interview has been edited and condensed for claritys throughout.