Taylor Jenkins Reid’s 2019 novel, Daisy Jones & The Six, became a hit with readers, in part because it’s everything you’d want in a behind-the-scenes look at the rise and fall of an iconic rock band — even a fictional one. In book form, however, we didn’t get to hear the magic that was created when Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne came together, baring their souls to write music, while fighting their undeniable attraction. Amazon Prime’s series remedied that problem, with two dozen original songs being created to flesh out the band’s story for its screen adaptation. Below are my rankings of the best of those tunes.
An established list of songwriters — including Blake Mills, Jackson Browne, Phoebe Bridgers, and Marcus Mumford — produced original music for the series, compiling 11 tracks for the Daisy Jones & The Six album, Aurora, on which Riley Keough, Sam Claflin and the rest of the cast members actually sang and performed. The other songs included music said to be written by the band members earlier in their career — like The Dunne Brothers’ “Flip the Switch” — and by other characters in the series — like Wyatt Stone’s “Stumbled on Sublime.” Some ditties were featured more prominently than others, and these, to me, made the biggest impact:
7. Aurora
When it was announced that the bestselling novel was being adapted for a series (which is available to stream with an Amazon Prime Video subscription), fans of the book were excited to see the sparks fly between the band members, but we also NEEDED to hear their music.
“Aurora” is the opening track on Daisy Jones & The Six’s soundtrack album, and it’s a solid introduction to Riley Keough and Sam Claflin’s chemistry as vocalists. The song was featured in the book, and it really establishes what vibe the band is trying to achieve with its nod to Fleetwood Mac, which the fictional group was loosely inspired by.
6. More Fun To Miss
This song feels different than the others on Aurora, and maybe because narratively, Billy wrote this one for Daisy, rather than the two collaborating. It’s introduced at a pivotal moment in the series for the two singers, when you can’t tell if they’re going to kill each other or jump each other’s bones. The bluesy grit of this one, coupled with the angst that surrounds Daisy trying to perform it to Billy’s liking in the studio, makes it easily one of the highlights of the album and the show.
5. Ya Love Ain’t Enough
This is such a fun song, and a sentimental pick to be sure, because I loved what Simone Jackson (Nabiyah Be) added to Daisy Jones & The Six. She was doing her own thing in the series, and although they gave her most of the focus in Episode 7, I wish there had been a way to incorporate her and Bernie’s (Ayesha Harris) story more throughout. “Ya Love Ain’t Enough” is a nod to the disco era, as Bernie took one of Simone’s vocal tracks, added a disco backing and made it a hit on the club scene. Simone became a star in her own right when she started doing multiple live performances of her single each night.
4. Regret Me
Even the title of this song oozes passion, and it was definitely one that readers were most excited to see come to life. The series didn’t disappoint. Like “More Fun to Miss,” this tune caused turmoil between Daisy and Billy, because it was not a collaboration. Daisy was inspired to write it in the aftermath of the “More Fun to Miss” debacle, and Billy didn’t want it on the album (Fleetwood Mac fans will get the “Silver Springs” parallels here).
One big missed opportunity was not including the line, “And, baby, when you think of me, I hope it ruins rock ’n’ roll,” from the book and giving us instead the awkward, “Go ahead and regret me, but I always will too regret you.” But the cool way Daisy sings, “But I’m beatin’ you to it, dude,” lives rent-free in my brain, so all is forgiven.
3. Let Me Down Easy
To me, “Let Me Down Easy” is the biggest earworm on Aurora, and with it being the first song Daisy and Billy wrote together, it was a treat to see it come together on screen. The opening guitar is very “Rhiannon”-esque, and it just so happens to be a favorite of Daisy Jones & The Six author, Taylor Jenkins Reid, who told TV Line:
My daughter feels very, very strongly, at six-and-a-half years old, that ‘Regret Me’ is the best song on the album, and so sometimes we debate about it, because, lately, my favorite is ‘Let Me Down Easy’… I will sing it in the shower. That is how good I think it is.
“Let Me Down Easy” was such a turning point for the band in the series, because Daisy was finally part of The Six, and the writing of that song really highlighted her and Billy's magnetism.
2. The River
If we’re talking about favorite songs, though, “The River” wins in quantity at least, as Camila Morrone (who played Camila Dunne) and Suki Waterhouse (keyboard player Karen Sirko) were among those who told Decider it was the one they liked best. Co-showrunner Will Graham told TV Line why it stuck with him:
I love "The River," which is the one that came onto the album last and has just stuck in my head the entire time. I remember when [executive music supervisor] Blake [Mills] came in with those lyrics… One of them was, ‘I’m an echo in your shadow,’ and it was [one of] those moments where a character blows up in the song for you, and you suddenly hear Daisy’s voice coming through these other voices. It was just incredibly exciting.
“The River” was featured a number of times in the series, particularly Episode 8, as we saw how Daisy was spiraling out of control a little more each time they performed it live. In Episode 10 — for the band’s final performance in Chicago — Simone Jackson even joined Daisy Jones & The Six on stage for this one.
1. Look At Us Now (Honeycomb)
This was the song that started it all for Daisy Jones & The Six, as well as the final song they ever sang. Billy wrote it as a love song for Camila, but it was rejected by the label. Teddy Price (Tom Wright) gave it to Daisy to get her take, and she turned it into something more complicated — much to Billy’s displeasure. With Daisy accompanying a perpetually sour Billy, the chemistry was undeniable, and Daisy’s guest appearance became a permanent gig.
Everything came crashing down ahead of their Chicago concert, when Camila witnessed a tender moment between her husband and Daisy. When introducing “Look at Us Now (Honeycomb)” that night, Daisy finally acknowledged it as a love song and told Billy to go after Camila. Keough told TV Line this was probably her favorite song, and Claflin added what he liked about it:
It really goes on such a journey, as well. There are moments where it gets really fast, and then it gets slow, and then it slows down completely, and then it goes back to going fast. It just sort of hits all the right notes.
A fictional band trying to live up to the magic of Fleetwood Mac is a pretty tall order, but there’s no denying the achievement of Daisy Jones & The Six, the songwriters and musicians. The group actually became the first fictional band to hit No. 1 on iTunes with Aurora, and it’s pretty easy to see why, with the songs listed above and more continuing to live on in our heads long after finishing the Amazon Prime Video series.
