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My control, continues Jackson.
Control of what I say, control of what I do.
And this time Im gonna do it my way.
Hey, Lucy Liu, he yells.
This is my boy Danny.
Can you show him a good time?
The camera cuts to a dead-eyed Destiny rapidly humping an old man in a private room.
When we have it, when we dont.
Even when were empowered, it doesnt mean were in control.
According to music supervisor Jason Markey, the licensing for Control came down to the wire.
I said, Theres no backing out.
This is in the movie.
We cant take it out at this point, so we need this approved, says Markey.
I always have anxiety, but this was beyond anxiety.
I doubled the Xanax.
After she saw the clip, she loved it, he says with palpable relief.
Its like giving birth.
I was walking in circles all day long, pacing, anxiety, bad dreams, you name it.
Lets just say we pulled off a miracle, okay?
She went so far as to pen personal letters to some of the artists.
The cues made the script feel like a musical in my head, she says.
It really made me up my game as a contributor.
She captures a sound and is an icon larger than Ramonas iconography, even, adds Scafaria.
So I like the idea that it begins and ends with Janet.
Its about a lot more than it sounds like its about.
Theres something emotional about it, too that was the feeling I wanted to get across from Destinys POV.
And I loved that it was a song that Ramona would choose for herself.
The catch: Apple had never before licensed the song for a film.
So Scafaria sent her the sequence and crossed her fingers.
Fortunately, Apple said yes.
But Scafaria thinks it mightve been the dance itself.
1, in A-flat major, written by Frederic Francois Chopin, performed by L.H.
Scafaria says the etudes were the first musical cues she dreamt up back in 2016.
It started with the Chopin cues, these studies designed to teach very difficult arpeggios.
And they score the love story between Destiny and Ramona.
Getting the rights to these specific pieces, most of which were played by German pianist L.H.
Thomas, was, naturally, a challenge.
We spent six months trying to find him, and we couldnt.
I have called friends in Germany who are musicians, and theyd never heard of the guy.
It was crazy, says Markey.
Wed been sweating that one, too, forever.
In an early montage, the friends are sitting inside a massive Escalade at a harshly lit car dealership.
Ramona reaches over to the radio and turns the dial.
Britneys unmistakable growl blares from the speakers: Its Britney, bitch.
Ramona and Destiny start dancing uncontrollably in their seats.
We got a pocket full of ones!
This was another one written into the script that felt so important to the time period, says Scafaria.
I was so desperate to see this in the montage.
I was like, It just has to be Britney and it has to be this song.
Jennifer and I were like, We cant!
It has to be Britney!
We dont know what to do if its not Britney!
Thats my motherfucking song.
Shes one of those artists I have an incredible amount of respect for.
She was put through the wringer and shes on the other side of it.
We got so lucky that Britney said yes.
Motherfucking Usher is here!
The entire scene was made in my dreams, and somehow fully realized, says Scafaria.
And I was like, Ooh, it has to be Love in This Club, Im sorry!
Not that Im not a fan of his entire catalogue Im an Usher fan for life.
Scafaria says it was easy to get Usher to come around on the song choice.
The mood in the room had to be Champagne flowing and money falling.
Whats your Social Security number?
The whole thing is set to Scott Walkers cover of Jacques Brels bruising, bizarre antiwar song Next.
Scott Walker is my idol, says Scafaria.
His voice is made of a material not on Earth.
This song is so important to capture the tone of the scene, which is so tricky.
Its not a pretty sequence, and for some, its wildly uncomfortable.
But I think the song lends itself to any interpretation of the scene.
I was really heartbroken.
Ive never met him; Im just a fan from afar.
Birthday Cake, Rihanna
Its the height of the strippers scam.
Money rains from the rafters.
We brought 100 grand into the club, Ramona brags in voice-over.
In the background, Rihanna is extolling the virtues of cake.
For Scafaria, Rihanna was something of a soul mate to theHustlerscharacters.
Apparently, Rihanna saw similar parallels, and agreed to license the song.
That transition was so great, laughs Scafaria.
I knew I wanted to go seamlessly from song to song, like a DJ does at a club.
These songs just went together so perfectly.
It ended up going perfectly with how they struggle with the tanning bed it went along with the lyrics.
The score to the whole thing is unexpected, but absolutely perfect: Bob Segers Night Moves.
She had the sheet music for Night Moves on the wall in a frame in our editing room.
At the end of a particularly rough day, wed always put it on to feel better.
Were outside of the club, so they need a song that really tells their story.
At first, Seger wasnt exactly onboard.
He was very on the fence with the movie, says Markey.
I think one thing that could have possibly been the reason was the drugs.
A lot of artists dont like to be associated with any drugs.
But I said, Look, nobody got hurt.
Theres no harm here.
Eventually, Seger came around.
He saw the clip and ended up really liking it.
So I think everything worked out in the end, says Markey.
No shit, right?
This guy probably did more blow than anybody.
Suddenly, shes surrounded by cops.
One by one, each of the women are rounded up and arrested.
Scafaria had her heart set on Royals and shot Lopez walking specifically to the song.
But it was perhaps the longest shot of the entire soundtrack.
That songs never been licensed for a film, says Markey.
Lorde is just very she just doesnt care about things.
Shes very passive when it comes to that.
Shes very precious and she usually just says no.
So Markey, who says most of his job involves begging, got to work.
We think its so badass.
And we sent her a clip of the movie.
Scafaria also wrote Lorde a letter, explaining what the song meant to her and to the scene.
Ultimately, Lorde agreed to license her first-ever song to a film.
I asked Markey what he thinks Lorde loved, specifically, about the scene.
Im not sure, he says.
