Streaming giant Spotify recently launched two curated playlists tied to the wildly popular docu-series, “The Last Dance,” which chronicles Michael Jordan and the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls.
Aside from the story itself, the music in the series, with curation assistance by Rudy Chung, has been garnering fan buzz and interest.
This launch in partnership with ESPN and Netflix features two exclusive Spotify playlists –one with music, and the other with podcasts titled “The Last Dance” and “After The Last Dance.”
The Last Dance official playlist will include music from and inspired by the series, including hits such as LL Cool J’s “I’m Bad”, Prince’s “Partyman,” and The Alan Parson Project’s “Sirius”, known by many as the Chicago Bulls Theme Song, and others.
Additionally, the second playlist will feature podcasts, as a part of Spotify’s newly announced podcast playlists, designed to help listeners find their next favorite show by introducing them to the latest and greatest in podcast content.
After The Last Dance podcast playlist, updated once a week, will include podcasts that discuss and dive further into the docuseries, giving streamers a closer look at the show, including episodes from The Bill Simmons Podcast, Jalen & Jacoby The Aftershow, Skip and Shannon: Undisputed, and more.
Carl Chery, creative director and head of Urban Music at Spotify, said it was an honor to join forces with ESPN and Netflix to curate a playlist supporting the critically acclaimed series that serves as sport fan’s favorite cultural moment.
“The list of songs, updated in tandem with the episodes, is an ode to the music that defined the 90s. From hip-hop to rock to R&B, the tracks were specially curated for streamers to discover and experience the culture of this influential time,” Chery said.
“We’re grateful to have a hand in bringing together music, entertainment, and sports fans during a time when we need community and a dose of sports content the most,” he added.
Music supervising Chung, on the other hand, said the music curation for the documentary is a “monumental team effort.”
“This has been a monumental team effort spearheaded by Jason Hehir and our editors. In putting together the music our main concern was having the songs help tell the story for each episode, but we’re thrilled fans have responded to the soundtrack as a standalone. Hopefully younger fans will have gained a newfound appreciation of not only MJ but also the great music from his era,” Chung said.
The 10-part documentary series, kicked off on April 19. It airs on ESPN in the U.S. on Sunday nights and is available outside the US on Netflix.
