The Netflix comedy Nobody Wants This is centered on the unlikely relationship between outspoken, agnostic woman, Joanne (Kristen Bell), and an unconventional rabbi named Noah (Adam Brody). The show also stars Justine Lupe, Timothy Simons, Paul Ben-Victor and Tovah Feldshuh.
Aperture Music's Manish Raval earned an Emmy nomination in the Music Supervision category and says his role was to work closely with producers to help bring their creative vision for the show’s music to life.
"Together, we shape the musical identity of the series by selecting songs that complement the score created by our composer," Raval explains. "Sometimes that means licensing existing tracks, and other times it’s commissioning original music specifically for the show."
There’s also a significant business side to the job. Raval served as the bridge between the creative team and the music industry, working with record labels, publishers, artist managers and studios or networks to secure the right songs while staying within budget. It’s a balance of creativity, collaboration and negotiation.
He came on board for Season 2, with the first season already establishing the show’s fresh, contemporary musical identity.
“Our goal was to build on that foundation while continuing to find music that elevated both the fun, high-energy moments and the more emotional scenes,” he shares. “Following the incredible commercial and cultural success of Season 1, we pitched the idea of creating a Season 2 soundtrack built around exclusive, previously unreleased songs made specifically for the show. We initially envisioned one original song per episode, but the response from artists was so overwhelming that we ultimately created a soundtrack featuring 19 original tracks.”
At the same time, the music team realized that the audience also expected the recognizable songs that helped define the series. Therefore, they balanced those exclusive releases with standout moments featuring artists that include Taylor Swift, Chappell Roan, Charli XCX and many others.
Raval says one of the biggest game changers for him involved working in a single Pro Tools “All Session” that contained all 10 episodes.
“Having every episode in one session made it incredibly easy to move songs between scenes and experiment with different placements across the entire season,” he shares. “Since we were working with unreleased music, we never knew when a great new track would arrive. When one did, I could immediately test it against multiple scenes across different episodes with just a few clicks. From there, I’d quickly export the scenes as QuickTime files and send them to the producers for review. In some cases, the turnaround from receiving a song to having it cut into picture and ready for producer feedback was as little as 10 minutes. It created an incredibly fast, collaborative and efficient creative process.”
Raval points to the final 15 minutes of Episode 210 - the season finale – as a highlight in terms of the use of music.
“As the episode came together in editorial, we realized the characters were navigating an incredible emotional arc — hopelessness, sadness, regret, optimism, hope and ultimately, love,” he explains. “We were fortunate to have a collection of exclusive soundtrack songs that perfectly matched each emotional beat.”
Over the final five scenes, those songs unfold almost continuously, creating what feels like a 10-minute music video.
“It wasn’t something we intentionally designed from the beginning, but everything aligned naturally in the edit. Those are the moments you hope for as a music supervisor — when the storytelling and the music come together so seamlessly that they become inseparable.”