Riley Keough couldn’t sing when starting ‘Daisy Jones and the Six’
Last month, Amazon released the first teaser trailer for the upcoming miniseries Daisy Jones & The Six, which stars Riley Keough and Sam Claflin as the lead singers of a fictional 1970s rock band. The highly-anticipated show is based on the 2019 novel of the same name by Taylor Jenkins Reid.
The synopsis explains how Daisy Jones & The Six follows the “precipitous rise and fall of a renowned rock band” fronted by the magnetic vocalists: Daisy Jones (Keough) and Billy Dunne (Claflin). Following in the footsteps of The Office, the series takes the form of a documentary. It tracks the band through its ups and downs, revealing why they decided to disband at the height of their powers.
Alongside the trailer, Amazon also released the fictional band’s lead single, ‘Regret Me’, which will appear on the 11-track album titled Aurora. The full album will be released on Friday, March 3rd, in conjunction with the show’s premiere.
In a recent conversation with NME, Keough revealed that going into the project, she could barely sing. “After they hired me, I remember [the producers] saying: ‘OK, well, Riley has a long way to come,'” Keough admitted. “So whoever we hire [as her partner] will have to be a great singer to balance her out.” Claflin jumps in: “And then they went for me! Idiots!”
In the series, Keough portrays Daisy, the ebullient frontwoman of The Six. Meanwhile, Claflin plays the band’s co-founder Billy Dunne. The pair clash artistically in the studio, but the resulting songs and the love-hate relationship that ensue make for top entertainment.
“We just laughed through it,” Clafin added of the pair’s off-screen relationship. “We had a joint singing lesson quite early on, and at that point, I had imposter syndrome. I thought, ‘I shouldn’t be here; this is terrifying. I’m so nervous.’ Then Riley walked in, and they immediately got us to stare at each other to try and find that romantic connection.”
“It doesn’t take much for me to turn really giggly,” Keough added, giggling. “But then we sang, and I was thinking, ‘Oh yay, we’re both awful!'”
“There was no way that they could have put our voices together and known that they could blend in that way,” Clafin added. “But I remember thinking, ‘Oh wow, actually, it’s not as bad as I thought it was gonna be! There’s something there!'”
“I’m so proud of how far we’ve come,” agreed Keough. “The band as well: they were all musicians already, but they were doing things they’d never done before. Will [Harrison, who plays guitarist Billy] was playing lead guitar, and he’d only played rhythm before. Seb [Chacon, drummer Warren] played drums, but he hadn’t in a while, so he was kinda rusty. Josh [Whitehouse, bassist Eddie] had very limited experience on bass. And Suki [Waterhouse, keyboard player Karen] had never played piano.”
Watch the trailer for ‘Daisy Jones and the Six’ below.
