Daisy Jones & The Six has been living in the heads and hearts of fans for years now. Since the original book (written by Jenkins Reid) came out in 2019, readers have been begging for a screen adaptation. They were gifted just that earlier this month.
Videos by American Songwriter
The series stars Riley Keough, Sam Claflin, Will Harrison, Suki Waterhouse, Josh Whitehouse, and Sebastian Chacon as the titular band.
The group rises to fame in the ’70s rock scene thanks to an anthemic hit called “Look At Us Now (Honeycomb).” Despite being written for the show, the song has become a very real hit with audiences the world over. Find out who wrote the song, below.
Who wrote the song?
Like the rest of the accompanying soundtrack, “Look At Us Now (Honeycomb)” was written by Grammy-winning producer Blake Mills, with the added help of Marcus Mumford.
In the series, the song launches Daisy Jones & The Six to national fame, earning them a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. It also acts as a turning point for the two leads of the show, Daisy (Keough) and Billy (Claflin).
The lyrics mirror the characters’ failure to see eye to eye at the beginning of their relationship. Billy originally writes the song as a love letter to his forgiving wife, Camila, while Daisy makes it into a less optimistic affair. Much to Billy’s chagrin, Daisy’s version makes the final cut and takes the nation by storm, prompting the frontwoman to join the group full-time.
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Given the track’s gravity in the plot, it makes sense to seek out a perpetual hitmaker to create something that could believably be a No. 1 song. Luckily Mills was down for the job.
“Creating the library of music for Daisy Jones & the Six was an experience I’ll never forget,” Mills said in a statement. “I am grateful that, among other things, it afforded me an opportunity to collaborate with so many of my peers, and also some of my heroes.”
Blake Mills
Mills got his start as part of a band called Simon Dawes, which also featured Taylor Goldsmith (who is now a part of the group Dawes). Simon Dawes released their debut EP, What No One Hears, in 2005. They soon followed it up with a full-length project in 2006, Carnivore. The band was short-lived though, calling it quits in 2007.
Following that break-up. Mills went on to tour with the likes of Jenny Lewis, Band of Horses, Cass McCombs, Julian Casablancas, and Lucinda Williams.
Mills has also carved out a lucrative career as a session musician, collaborating with Conor Oberst, Kid Rock, Weezer, The Avett Brothers, Norah Jones, The Chicks, Lana Del Rey, and more on their projects.
He launched a solo career in 2010 with the release of the LP Break Mirrors, with the intent for the album to be a calling card for Mills to get more session work. Despite that original goal, the album was backed by many musicians as an effort worthy of merit outside of garnering attention for his session work.
Mills made a shift to production work after releasing that record. His credits to date include albums by Dawes, John Legend, Perfume Genius, and many more.
Marcus Mumford & Maren Morris Version
After Keough and Claflin’s version of the song was released, Mumford and Maren Morris tried the duet on for size.
“It’s so crazy to have Marcus Mumford write a song that we get to sing” Keough recently shared with American Songwriter. “Then he then covers it? It’s like a “pinch-me” thing.”
“Shows depicting the reality of what it takes to become a band or what it’s really like touring can so often get it wrong,” Morris said in a statement. “One of the components of Daisy Jones is that they chose to ground this fictional universe with real songwriting. The music in the show that Blake Mills created and the incredible performances by the actors give this world a heartbreaking authenticity. I’m so honored to have gotten to sing on ‘Look at Us Now’ with Marcus.”
Check out the cover version, below.
Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
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