Miley Cyrus, Megan Moroney, Bella Kay and Others Land New Music on ‘Nobody Wants This’ Season Three Soundtrack, With Participants Calling It a Win-Win

The season three soundtrack for Nobody Wants This arrives Friday, Oct. 23, on Atlantic Records, one day after 10 new episodes of the Netflix series become available. The romantic comedy debuted in 2024. It follows the not-so-simple love story of an agnostic podcaster (Kristen Bell) and a “hot rabbi” (Adam Brody), as he is dubbed in the show.

The album includes 16 previously unreleased songs from artists including Miley, Ellie Goulding, Ravyn Lenae, Metric and Bella Kay, plus a duet from Bailey Zimmerman and Stella Lefty. Most of the material came from songs the artists already had on hand. Country singer Megan Moroney was inspired enough by the show to write its first original song, “Say When.”

“When I first saw the scene, I knew I wanted to write it with Jessie Jo Dillon and Luke Laird,” Moroney said in a statement about the rootsy, soulful track, which is about waiting for the green light to cross a line. “It’s always fun to challenge myself to write about something fictional rather than my own life.”

The cast of Nobody Wants This, including Bell, Jackie Tohn and Timothy Simons, attended the first of Miley’s two sold out Hollywood Bowl shows. “Miley loves the show,” says Simon Tikhman, co-founder and CEO of The Core Entertainment and executive producer of the season three companion album. He adds that “Netflix is so excited about Miley. I think [her] demo is similar to the Nobody Wants This demo in a lot of ways.”

Tikhman says landing an original song is “very challenging.” His running joke during the project was that he thought artist management was hard, “but making a soundtrack with so many different artists and teams is very hard.” He had done it before for season two, and this time he worked with fellow soundtrack producers Jeff Levin, Atlantic’s president of A&R, Chief Zaruk, CEO and co-founder of The Core Entertainment, and Ian Cripps, Atlantic’s EVP of A&R. Music supervisors Manish Raval, Tom Wolfe and Jonathan Leahy of Aperture Music also contributed.

“Season one was just a crazy success that no one expected, including Netflix and the producers,” Tikhman says. “It became such a huge hit – and music was such a big component of it. And then when season two was rolling around, one of the music supervisors talked to [creator and writer] Erin [Foster] about doing a soundtrack, and they came to me. I was like, ‘This is a no-brainer.'”

Tikhman and Foster have been married since 2019. The music executive says that adds some pressure: “I especially want this to be great because my wife and I just like to do things to make each other happy and proud. This comes from real love.”

The season two soundtrack featured Selena Gomez, Kacey Musgraves, Role Model, Ella Langley and others. Tikhman says he learned a lot from that album. The biggest lesson he applied this season was to set clear, early expectations for each artist.

“Artists don’t necessarily feel as invested in a soundtrack as they would if it was their own album, EP or single, which is obvious,” he says. “I think I was naive to assume that a lot of the artists will just push no matter what… I took that to heart in working with the team at Atlantic. We’ve really [encouraged] the artists to push their songs out pre-release, as they would their own song that’s not on a soundtrack. And it seems to be working well.”

Tikhman started work on the album about a year ago. Season four episodes are being written now, and he will soon begin work on the next album. He also left room for artists who would be having a moment when the show returned, relying on Jamie Sudhalter, The Core’s head of A&R. “A lot of it is, ‘Who are the most relevant, interesting artists that are zeitgeisty?’ I personally love Bella Kay and Alyssa Grace. It makes so much sense for them to be part of it.”

“There’s a lot of artists that I present to the [show] producers, and there’s definitely times where they’re like, ‘Never heard of them, but I like what they sound like.’ Erin has heard of Bailey Zimmerman because I manage him, but I’m sure that the producers never [had]. And I know six months ago, they’d never heard of Stella [Lefty].”

Every song on the album appears in the show except Miley’s pop piano ballad “Cold Blooded.” Tikhman says “fans are desperate for” it, “so it was a win-win for all.” He does not remember which song came in first, but “Cold Blooded” arrived near the end, within the past couple of weeks. He says the timing did not stress him or his team, since he gave the same message across the season two and three albums.

“My whole thing is, I always tell everyone that the show could be silent – no score, no songs – and it would be a hit. So let’s just not ruin what they’ve built,” he says, adding that the show’s producers have final say. “At the end of the day, I trust them, because they have a hit Netflix show. There’s a reason why all these artists say ‘yes’ to doing this soundtrack. So let’s never forget that.”

Source: Billboard