Daisy Jones & The Six, premiering March 3, 2023, on Prime Video, is based on Taylor Jenkins Reid’s bestselling novel about a ’70s rock group that experiences similar success (and romantic turmoil) to Fleetwood Mac. Naturally, when the Reese Witherspoon-produced television series went to cast its titular band, it needed charismatic and musical performers. Elvis’ granddaughter seemed like a sure bet for Daisy Jones herself–except Riley Keough couldn’t sing at all when she signed on to star.
“[At] the end of the day, it’s not like I’m the best singer in the world. You know? Like, we’re not phenomenal singers,” Keough admits in a new profile for Vanity Fair. “But we were proud of how far we got.”
Far, as it turns out, is pretty far, as she herself says when she first tried belting as the role required she “sounded so bad that I started crying.” Producer Lauren Neustadter shares that “We talked about her singing and we talked about her grandfather and she sort of said, ‘You know, I know I have it in me, but I really don’t sing outside the shower.’”
But Keough was determined to improve: “I was like, I can’t do it, and when I can’t do something it lights a fire in me to be able to do it. I was like, I have to do it. I’m gonna go to this vocal coach, and he’s gonna teach me how to fucking belt, whatever I need to do to get this. It really became about pushing myself to do things I’ve never done before. This is not a thing that I’ve done before, but I’m ready to do the work,’ and she really did.”
As it turns out, the show’s other lead, Sam Claflin, also couldn’t sing or play—and in fact, reportedly fibbed about just how musical he was in his audition for the show. (“I’d never picked up a guitar before I got this part.”) Not only did he lack ability, but he apparently lacked any knowledge of rock music altogether. He chose, at random, “Your Song” by Elton John for his audition, and when asked to do The Beatles’ “Come Together” he responded, “‘Oh, I know that song, that’s Michael Jackson!’”
“So I had that much of a journey to go on,” Claflin understated the issue for VF. “I knew nothing. But thankfully, they saw something in me and knew that I was sort of pliable and flexible and willing to learn and wanting to learn and willing to sacrifice myself for, like, three years.”
Both the show’s leads managed to get their musical abilities up to scratch (at least, according to them and their producers). And good thing, too, because the show has an involved soundtrack that combines lyrics from the book as well as original compositions that musicians Blake Mills and Tony Berg worked on, with collaborators like Phoebe Bridgers. Folks can judge whether Keough and Claflin and their Daisy Jones compatriots accurately embodied rockstars when the show debuts next year.