9/10 songs written after plot. emotional highs and lows. premise genre, is it earned.
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| Title | Performed by | Episode | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| "West Covina" | Rachel Bloom | S1E01 | The opening song of the series features Rebecca arriving in West Covina from New York to find Josh, though claiming it to be a coincidence that he lives there. Throughout the song she sings in awe of her surroundings in a musical theater style while denying her true reasons for moving. The song was designed to glorify the mundanity of West Covina but with a desperate undertone. A 35 piece orchestra recorded the music at Warner Bros studios. The melody is used frequently in the score throughout the series, with part of it designed to mimic Rebecca's heart fluttering when sees Josh.[1] |
| "The Sexy Getting Ready Song" | Rachel Bloom | S1E01 | Rebecca sings about how women get ready for a date and what men do in comparison. It features her singing in her bathroom, in a studio with backing dancers and nude in a bathtub and includes a rap by Nipsey Hussle. Getting ready for her date was an emotional high for episode. The song was written to convey how the reality of getting ready not same as idealized version usually shown on television. It is often not a fun experience and is invisible to men. They juxtaposed Rebecca trying to be more physically attractive but leaving behind a disgusting residue in the bathroom. The song was filmed on the first day of the pilot, and nearly had the rap cut due to running over budget.[1] The song won over viewers by juxtaposing a sexy song with the reality of women getting ready, however was noted to be like one of Bloom's previous viral videos rather than being connected Crazy Ex-Girlfriend world and characters.[2] |
| "West Covina (reprise)" | Rachel Bloom and Donna Lynne Champlin | S1E01 | Paula confronts Rebecca as she realizes Rebecca's true reason for being in West Covina is that she loves Josh. The briefly reprise "West Covina", singing different lyrics over each other then ending up in sync. It was a challenge to find a word to link both parts of the duet; they were keen to use the name a romantic comedy actor, eventually settling on Gere.[1] |
| "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Theme" | Rachel Bloom | S1E02 | The animated opening theme of the first season summarises the events of the pilot, and was inspired by older television shows such as The Nanny. It was designed to be twinkly and sparkly but with sinister undertone, which was a challenge to create in the exact time required for a theme song. It was animated by Stoopid Buddy Stoodios. Rather than always using it at the very beginning of the episode it would be used often following a joke or as a funny response to a character's question.[1] The theme was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music.[3] |
| "I'm So Good At Yoga" | Gabrielle Ruiz | S1E02 | The song features Rebecca at a yoga class taught by Valencia and is performed in a Bollywood style. The writers note our yoga bastardizes Bollywood culture; the song was designed to mirror this.[1] Although a parody of "obsessive yoginis", there is reference to the insecurity women face when in a culture that expects perfection.[2] Kathryn Burns won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography for her choreography on this, "A Boyband Made Up Of Four Joshes" and "Settle For Me".[3] |
| "Feeling Kinda Naughty" | Rachel Bloom | S1E02 | When Rachel goes on a night out with Valencia she develops a girl crush on her. In the first song written after being picked up by CW, Bloom wanted a song about Rebecca's obsession with Valencia in a reference to "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry. The song was originally titled "I Wanna Fuck You With My Jealousy Dick", as Bloom notes when she has girl crush it is not only cute but can be testosterone fuelled possession. The change in network from cable to primetime required the show tone down explicit material, resulting in a change of direction with the song. Many of the lyrics were transferrable, however there was difficult coming up with hook.[1] Described as a "stalkery overintensification of “I Kissed a Girl”" and "so disgusting that it’s hard to listen to again", though the reference to the similar themes of Behind the Candelabra feature bloom in a Liberace costume was praised.[2] |
| "Face Your Fears" | Donna Lynne Champlin | S1E03 | Paula sings to Rachel to convince her to face her fears with Josh. The gospel style song features Bloom's childhood song in the final third. The song was used to show Paula's philosophy on life. In an earlier version titled "You Gotta Get What You Can Get When You Can Get It", she exhorting Rebecca to be selfish but it was felt this did not work. They realized the song needed to be about facing your fears, like if a bear was to approach you, telling it to go away. It was inspired by Steve Martin's song "Grandmother's Song" where increasingly crazy advice is given, but sung as if everyone knows the song.[1] The song was compared to "The Greatest Love of All" - Champlin's vocal performance was praised, however the joke described as one-note.[2] |
| "I Have Friends" | Rachel Bloom and Ava Acres | S1E03 | Rebecca sings with her child self (Ava Acres) about how they have friends. The song should Rebecca's inner child and was described as a straight forward process to write. Music written within a day of demo vocals, and was made to sound "intentionally crappy".[1] This "peppy little number manages to capture a lot of laugh lines and some quiet pathos between its handclaps." and was also described as "absurdly catchy", a likely reason for being used frequently in the series' score.[2] |
| "A Boyband Made Up Of Four Joshes" | Vincent Rodriguez III | S1E03 | The song features Rebecca fantasizing about Josh being the members of a boyband. As lot of boyband parodies have been done, the writers were keen to come up with something fresh. They felt this song showed Rebecca's psychological dysfunction and explains her feelings for Josh, as he sees her and is there to help her, representing her childhood fantasy. He is not just there to be boyfriend but to cure her ills, highlighting a theme of the series that underneath the romance is a girl working through her inner demons. A 90s throwback felt appropriate as her childhood trauma occurred in this time, and represents her being stuck in this era.[1] The song was praised for being a "hilarious Backstreet Boys parody (with note-perfect choreography)", and for the show beginning to address mental health issues.[2] Kathryn Burns won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography for her choreography on this, "I'm So Good At Yoga" and "Settle For Me".[3] |
| "Sex With A Stranger" | Rachel Bloom | S1E04 | Rebecca brings a man who uses stress balls back to her apartment for a one night stand. The pop song was inspired by Beyonce's "Partition" and Ciara's Love Sex Magic" to show a very neurotic person attempting to have one night stand. It features a middle eight referencing how the man's balls smell weird, which required stress balls to be visible to get through the network censors. Although Bloom wanted to avoid double entendres, she felt it worked in the end and was pleased to see a live audience laugh at the jokes.[1] The song was felt to be more in line with Bloom's pre-show work than fitting Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s style; other songs conveyed aspects of casual sex more effectively.[4] |
| "Settle For Me" | Santino Fontana | S1E04 | Wanting to do for long time. When not picked up by showtime disappointed at prospect of not getting to do this song. Our pathologies are on a date. All of parents and grandparents behind showing all the fucked up dates that led to this one. Tooc omplicated and not what episode about. Romantic song, great person for you to settle for. Take musical theatre trope of love is splendid thing, realistic side people settle for someone. Listening to frank sinatra, big band feel. Bloom sent demo to Adam. Took lyrics and changed melody. Great, more of thing picturing. Bloom made 40s Adam made more 20s cold porter. Adam mock up on piano with basic reference, orchestra arranged. Santinos first song. Sang acapella at table read, firs ttime many heard him, women enjoyed. The song was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics, and Kathryn Burns won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography for her choreography on this, "A Boyband Made Up Of Four Joshes" and "I'm So Good At Yoga".[3] |
| "Settle For Him" | Rachel Bloom | S1E04 | A reprise of "Settle For Me". The song was recorded live on set a capella, allowing the audio quality to match being in a portable toilet where the song is sung.[1] |
| "I Love My Daughter (But Not In A Creepy Way)" | Pete Gardner | S1E05 | Darryl sings a Christian country music song about his love for his daughter. Getting the tone right was a challenge while writing the song, which was originally envisaged as a metal ballad. The writers wanted to joke about about the strangeness of lyrics about loving a daughter but without being too dark, so needed to balance subtlety and extreme humour. They decided for Darryl to realize the strangeness of lyrics and getting frustrated worked better than getting creepier as the song progressed. The felt this song solidified his character and gave them a clear understand of who he was.[1] |
| "I'm a Good Person" | Rachel Bloom | S1E05 | An explicit version of the song was recorded as well at the broadcast version. The song developed from being in the style of Avril Lavigne and Green Day to Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off".[1] The explicit version was felt to be funnier, and is a song which highlights the charisma and dynamism of Bloom's performance.[4] |
| "I Give Good Parent" | Rachel Bloom and Amy Hill | S1E06 | Rebecca meets Josh's parents in a rap song with lyrics joking of how children are raised to ingratiate themselves with other people's parents. [4] The bridge was originally in Tagalog, and there were plans to add production to the song but they writers ultimately felt it worked better as it was for the lyrics to stand out.[1] |
| "What'll It Be?" | Santino Fontana | S1E06 | Greg sings of how he would like to escape town, contrasting Rebecca's enthusiasm in "West Covina". Bloom wrote an early draft of lyrics in parity to Piano Man, which was then rearranged by Schlesinger to make more interesting and balance Greg being condescending while remaining likeable. The music is often return to for score in later episodes.[1] |
| "Sexy French Depression" | Rachel Bloom | S1E07 | Originally lana del ray. Sexy depression. Women being sexy sad. Like the idea of women being powerless and thus sexy. I'm so sexy sad. Originally going to be all in French. Funnier for bridge to be in French. Little hoarse that day but worked for recording.[1] |
| "His Status Is Preferred" | Donna Lynne Champlin | S1E07 | Shes really impressed by this guy but hes maybe not that impressive. Adam wrote lyrics before music.[1] |
| "Where's the Bathroom?" | Tovah Feldshuh | S1E08 | What are emotional points of episode. Strong mother songs. Dont oh mom me liza minelli. Strong matriarical song. Brainstormed lyrics but needed to come up with hook. New rapid pace. Wahts something a parent says when they come into your house. Once had title came together quickly. Gave song sense of urgency. Gives fun structure to song.[1] |
| "California Christmastime" | Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Cast | S1E08 | Couldn't nail down what funny about christmas song, well trodden area. Something about Jews at Christmas? Dark number? What about a fun group number. Songwriters all busy so hard to get together. Came up with meoldy that loved. Just find an hour for three to get in room together to finish. Stressed as song doesnt come directly from plot. Celebration before christmas break. People crave it after lots of individual dark songs.[1] |
| "Women Gotta Stick Together" | Gabrielle Ruiz | S1E09 | A theme in search for a song. Disney villian song women are not my sisters women are not my friends. V represent women who have been taught wrongfully other women are meant to be seen as threats. Defense mechanism out of fear. Not funny to just sing this without another angle. Folk rock anthem, lilith fair.[1] |
| "West Covina (reprise II)" | Rachel Bloom and Vincent Rodriguez III | S1E09 | Originally poeple in separate cars and then party bus. Not originally planned to confess love but happened organically. Seemed right to use west covina. both children live in past, can see why work together.[1] |
| "Dear Joshua Felix Chan" | Rachel Bloom | S1E10 | Working on love story and rapport. music becomes part of score for couple. childlike, for different reason are stunted children[1] |
| "Having A Few People Over" | Pete Gardner | S1E10 | originally 90s this is how we do it, ?get rights and do first cover. wants party whats the genre that fits best and contrasts with who darryl is - answer house/EDM music.[1] contrast crudites and lame party stuff but also shows enthusiasm (SAG) |
| "Put Yourself First" | Lulu Antariksa, Marisa Davila and Jazz Raycole | S1E10 | group of girls doing makeover, if you dont care about impressing a man who are you doing yourself up for. fun to get guest act on a number.[1] |
| "Textmergency" | Ester Dean, Briga Heelen, Ivan Hernandez, Jeff Hiller and Scott Vance | S1E11 | originally thank you technology like we are the world. a bit dated and played. emotional dehieghening of moment. on set at camp in pasedena for prev ep. one up man ship. early 80s corporate rock. dont want to take high energy moment and give depressed song. rebecca freaking out, tension[1] |
| "Where Is The Rock?" | Ester Dean, Briga Heelen, Ivan Hernandez and Jeff Hiller | S1E11 | originally textmergnecy reprise with different lyrics. Rock and rock.[1] |
| "You Stupid Bitch" | Rachel Bloom | S1E11 | on set for whatll be as ep and thought if greg has dramatic song rachel should to. didnt have a second song for this ep so thought what about a dramatic song where she goes full on. originaly shards and lies. first pass taking from anx and dep experiences what yourereally thinking are the most hateful things no metaphor to it. to be bernadette peters are carnegie hall. sounds great but scary. unsure of melody. one of the most personal songs. am i the only person that thinks these. dark and funny to coddify into songs. pages of lyrics. big sweeping ballad so needs to move slowly and have time to sing the words. song condensed. chorus was originally part of a verse. cut and editted to length. not as comedic or conventional as prev songs.[1] |
| "Group Hang" | Rachel Bloom | S1E12 | Shakira homage. sub joke making fun of bastardised mexican restautents Chillis in southern california. think going on date, get screwed and then stuck with cheque[1] |
| "Romantic Moments" | Nina Zeitlin | S1E12 | |
| "Cold Showers" | Rachel Bloom, Donna Lynne Champlin and Pete Gardner | S1E12 | harold hill patter song. worried about being too soft so joke about crack. done on simpson with monorail, how to make current and "edgy".[1] |
| "JAP Battle" | Rachel Bloom and Rachel Grate | S1E13 | Jewish American Princess rap battle. Thanksgiving, came up with rough ideas, nset to sherman who turned into gold. hook was his. jap to jap instead of black to black by drake. made more early 90s like tribe[1] |
| "Flooded With Justice" | Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Cast | S1E13 | Adam reistant as not wanting to do Les Mis. at first we are the towns of san gabriel, moved more to justice and water metaphors. took a lot of drafts. david hull not aware would be in scene until shortly before filming which influenced his acting confused[1] |
| "Don't Settle For Me" | Vella Lovell and Santino Fontana | S1E13 | literally what heather was saying, natural reprise. indie rock falvour, intimate, acoustic. benefited from vella having a different voice to the other cast.[1] |
| "Flooded With Justice (reprise)" | Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Cast | S1E13 | Call out meta joke of slow clap.[1] |
| "Gettin' Bi" | Pete Gardner | S1E14 | Met was glaad and done research of preconceptions about bi people. what would darryl think is really rockin music to announce that, probably really into huey lewis. early idea more jaunty musical thetre by the by im bi. references 80s, what would have growing up loving. straight dude genre, juxtaposing.[1] listed as one of their 9 hardest to write achel had the initial idea — that Darryl would have a song about coming out as bi and the joke is that no one gives a shit — and Rachel originally pitched it as being this kind of old-timey, 1920s-ish song. We made a version of the song and brought over a representative from GLAAD to help us with bi visibility. Like, “We’re making a bi anthem, let’s try to dispel some myths about bisexual people, especially bisexual men.” A lot of gay guys say, “Oh, there’s no such thing as a bisexual man.” So Adam put a lot of work in with, “Now some may say / Oh you’re just gay / Why don’t you go gay all the way?” It’s magical, especially when we do it live. You can see it in the concert special we’re airing. People stand up, they dance. It’s a fucking anthem. |
| "The Villain In My Own Story" | Rachel Bloom and Gabrielle Ruiz | S1E14 | ep 9 self aware disney villian song about how she hates other women. scrapped but idea of disney villian song stuck with me. show about bubbly anti hero and rebecca needed to realise that. written mostly over christmas break. sang in villian voice for parts which added to song.[1] |
| "Dream Ghosts" | Michael Hyatt, Amber Riley and Ricki Lake | S1E15 | Biggest ear worm according to aline. we have a character being a dream ghost, why dont we write a song calling out that trope. rachel had temp melody which adam rewrote. first celebrity guest vocals.[1] |
| "I Could If I Wanted To" | Santino Fontana | S1E16 | wanted something that reflected gregs point of view in episode. nuanced version of his apathy, agression and insecurity. slacker rock the right genre. demo version needed very little adjustment[1] |
| "Clean Up On Aisle Four" | Hunter Stiebel | S1E16 | [1] |
| "Heavy Boobs" | Rachel Bloom | S1E16 | had big board of song ideas, aline want to do heavy boobs, rachel find a place. body image and changing clothes, valencia insecure about own boobs, what does that say about relationship with josh (SAG) rachel wanting to do fo r a long time, pitched bunch of times but never fitted. aline want every song to be emotionally driven so engineered plot to make work for this.view of boobs forever changed when saw breast reduction surgery on tv. wanted to desexual the boob for a while. song that should be sexy but its not.[1] |
| "I Gave You A UTI" | Santino Fontana | S1E17 | originanly much more barry white, aline brought up genre was trite. jack and adam reworked. breakthrough was santino singing his own background parts imaginine doing call and response. tone is goofy joy rather than aggro joy. post sex goofyness[1] |
| "Angry Mad" | Vincent Rodriguez III | S1E17 | |
| "Oh My God I Think I Like You" | Rachel Bloom | S1E17 | took a while on hone in on genre. when first dating have moment you realise you feel for them during sex, is scary, trying to deny it. poppy light sweet carly rae jepson feel but wanted to hit more emotion. started with more silly feel but realised depth and richness with emotional angle which also gave it more sweetness. joke is still there. courtship is backwards than used to - sex then like rather than like before sex. if dirtier version possible would have had the sweetness contrasting more explicit sex.[1] |
| "After Everything I've Done For You (That You Didn't Ask For)" | Donna Lynne Champlin | S1E18 | big broadway ballad. paulas turn like roses turn. lets find better hook. natural contradiction in songs intention. allowed donna to let loose in singing. burlesque vibe. al joelston. aline pushed for bigger finished.[1] |
| "One Indescribable Instant" | Lea Salonga | S1E18 | celine/disney over the top ballad. funy idea you cant describe it but full of adjectives. it is the thing its parodying, doing as good a job. sounds like real power ballad. lea salonga known for this type of song. wedding has arabian nights theme, rachel imagining magic carpet with josh, salonga was jasmine voice.[1] |
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq Rachel Blood etc (10 June 2016). Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 1 (Original Television Series) (commentary album). CBS Studios Inc. and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
- ^ a b c d e f Pape, Allie (8 April 2019). "Every Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Song, Ranked". Vulture. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
- ^ a b c d "Creative Arts Emmys: 'Murderer' & 'Grease Live' Lead The Field On Night 2". Deadline Hollywood. September 11, 2016. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
- ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference
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