As you watch Hulu’s limited series, The Dropout, you are drawn into Elizabeth Holmes’ inner circle as she creates her first company, Theranos. Holmes doesn’t yield to anyone except her own blinding ambition, and Anne Nikitin’s score is reflective of Holmes’ restless mind. It throbs and hums and amps you up. As the series progresses, you question every interaction and relationship as Holmes’ world crumbles, but Nikitin’s electronic, synth score is the perfect match for the action on screen.
Believe it or not, this is Nikitin’s first electronic score. She has always been drawn to the idea, but there was a lot to learn along the way. With a character like Elizabeth Holmes, she could incorporate a hard edge for the entire series since the character is simultaneously trying to keep everyone at an arm’s length while trying to draw them into her world.
“I’m not a tech-head. It scared me a little bit. I’ve got some synths, and I’ve used them before in films like American Animals. Using synths on that film was really fun, and it gave me some confidence when I approached this. I was nervous with the physics behind them and what all the knobs to. But I thought that I would grab a few synths, find some sounds that I really like, add some effects that feel like me and just go with it. I let go of my inhibitions. The showrunner, Liz Meriweather, was very encouraging, and we went with it. We didn’t set out to do a fully synth score. We thought we would have synths for the lab scenes and then we would go for gritty strings for Elizabeth Holmes.”
When The Dropout begins, Holmes is a softer-spoken, wide-eyed student, but that changes quickly. To go along with the character’s upward momentum, Nikitin evolved the score as well. It’s almost as if the music swims upstream with Holmes on her journey towards success. If Holmes deceives people, the music needs to be on the same level.
“Every episode seems to have its own character. Episode four, ‘Old White Men,’ focuses on Walgreen’s as they negotiate a deal with her. She’s taking them for a ride, and there I used some drums to represent that. They are trying to break through with her, and they are dealing with this dubious woman. In another episode, it gets really dark, so I brought in some heavier synthier pads to bring in a darkness. I wanted a sinister aspect to a score that is relatively bubbly. As the series goes on, it gets less playful and fun, and it certainly takes darker turns to the end. There is a lot of drive to a lot of the characters.”
One of the brighter pieces of music is titled, “The Lab.” When Holmes walks into the lab for the first time, the music shimmers. It’s almost as if she can hear her own potential as she watches scientists hard at work and she takes in the scene.
“It was when Elizabeth makes her way into the lab for the first time. She is in college, and she has proven to other older people that she is very bright. That’s something you have to remember about her. She didn’t just get there on deception. When she enters the lab, it’s her idea of heaven. She can see so many opportunities, and she was so obsessed with big tech companies at the time. When she sees the lab, she can see her passion and those opportunities in front of her.”
In a later episode, Holmes is about to lose her own position in the company. She is told, ‘You need adult supervision,’ and it’s a low point for the young CEO. Nikitin took the music down, but as Holmes revs herself back up with believing her own lies, the music swells and enhances the scene. It’s almost as if the score is helping Holmes in her mission to stay on top.
“Elizabeth thinks she’s at the end there. When she goes into that room, she’s almost in a hypnotic state, and she thinks everything has gone wrong for her. She decides she’s not going to go quietly, and that’s a moment where we see deception. Elizabeth is playing a character and she’s play acting, and, at the same time, she’s determined to carry out her goal. I wanted to capture that feeling from “The Lab.” I have elements of that track in there, but I built it up and built it up, so you’re rooting for her, in a ways. You are riding the wave with her. I wanted the music to follow her rise again–Elizabeth is risen.”
Nikitin is still very drawn to her experience with electronic music, and, with The Dropout under her belt, she has even more confidence for the next all-electronic venture.
“They’re so beautiful, and I’ve always been drawn to them. I feel like I get what a lot of them are capable of even though I am such a huge fan of orchestral instruments and movements. I love fusing these two worlds together. I would love to do another one if it came up.”
The Dropout is streaming on Hulu.