From Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” in Stranger Things to Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” in Never Have I Ever, there’s nothing better than a good needle drop that hits at the perfect moment. For its second season, Fate: The Winx Saga includes songs from Taylor Swift, Lorde, Charli XCX, Grimes and more that create magic moments on-screen.

Curating the Fate soundtrack is a magical power all its own, but the process is a much longer journey than one would think. Music supervisor Matt Biffa chatted with Tudum about the inspiration behind Season 2’s biggest hits and how he picked them out.

There are so many great pop needle drops in Season 2. Where do you even begin with the music selection? 
With Season 1, we were finding the sound of the show. With Season 2, we had a much clearer idea of where we were starting from, which was very inclusive, energetic female pop, for sure.

What I’d do was I’d email [showrunner] Brian Young and Judy [Counihan], the producer, and go, “I found this song, but it’s a bit outside of where we sit. I think you should have a look.” And then Brian would look, and he’d go, “I’ve just watched it walking in Whole Foods and I’m crying, so it’s in.” It always is a great collaboration.

Can you talk specifically about getting the rights to “Wildest Dreams” by Taylor Swift in Episode 2? That’s a huge song.
How do you clear Taylor Swift for a show like this? The answer to that is that during the pandemic, I found myself Zooming with her brother and her mom, at the request of her publisher. Since that time, we stayed in contact and we’ve written to [Austin Swift] about a few things, and nothing quite came off.

But with this, I was like, “This is the show, this is the demographic, this is how many households watched it and this is the scene that we are intending it for.” [It also took Young writing a letter to the musician herself to convince her.] He wrote back to me and said, “Let’s go for it.” So we did the deal. It then becomes much easier to get Charlie XCX, Grimes and all those other artists. Once you’ve got Taylor on board, it opens doors for sure.

Fate is set in a fantasy world, but the music is very current. Was it an artistic decision to blend these two worlds through the songs that you’re using? 
Well, I think the focus is the girls. They’re a group of young, exciting, vibrant women who happen to reside in this magical space. Look, as a music supervisor, we’re music geeks and so we like to throw our music knowledge out with obscure deep cuts and all this kind of stuff.

I realized very early on that that wasn’t doing it for Brian. I’d sort of throw in an obscure The Mamas & the Papas song. Absolutely not. My slightly nerdy approach was not the right one, and vibrant, contemporary music was definitely on the money.

🤐 SPOILER ALERT 🤐 The fairy transformations are such an iconic part of the animated series. In Season 1, we watch Bloom (Abigail Cowen) transform to Odesza’s “A Moment Apart.” In Season 2, we see the rest of the fairies transforming to “Player of Games” by Grimes. Was there any pressure trying to find the perfect song for such big scenes?
Oh my God, always. The transformation is the most difficult one. We might have anything up to 10 passes trying to find the right song. Although in this case, the Grimes song did come two or three passes in. Season 1 with Bloom’s transformation was by far the most difficult one. There were endless Zooms.

You get yourself into a situation where you no longer know if music is good anymore, or what it is you’re doing. I remember with Season 1, I went away on holiday and I had sort of 10 days to not think about that transformation or anything. I came back with a clear brain, and then it was quite quick. Brian’s got a thing for Odesza, and before you know it, it’s the one.

Are there any songs that almost made it in this season that you’re bummed about or just weren’t quite right?
Hilariously, in Episode 1, there’s a scene with Bloom and Sky. There was that song “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals that the editor just plumped on there as a placeholder. That song actually sounded pretty good, and everybody’s like, “Yeah, we should try and clear it.”

But then, in between the time the editor put it on to the time that it went out of clearance on it, it had become the biggest song in the world. Ultimately, the band felt that it was just too used.

For a personal question, what was the last song you listened to?
The last song that I listened to for my own personal enjoyment? “Stevie” by Warpaint. I’m going through a really big Warpaint phase at the moment.

Season 2 of Fate: The Winx Saga is now streaming.