With the season two return of The Deuce, HBO revealed a new main title sequence that’s set to a new song: “This Year’s Girl,” by Elvis Costello, in a move to match what’s happening on the show as it time jumps to 1977.

The series starring Maggie Gyllenhall and James Franco chronicles the rise of the porn industry in New York City. The scenes in the new opening credits convey Candy (Gyllenhall) and others transitioning from the streets to the camera, while replacing Curtis Mayfield’s “If There’s a Hell Below We’re All Going to Go” with “This Year’s Girl” establishes a new tone for the next chapter of the series.

“It was definitely one of the hardest songs we’ve ever had to find,” The Deuce’s music supervisor Blake Leyh told Vulture.

He wanted to make sure the theme song was historically accurate and reflected the city’s dynamism. He also wanted it to be sung by a woman, but couldn’t find one that fit and eventually abandoned the goal.

“This Year’s Girl” works, Leyh told Vulture, because. “it’s about the commodification of women and the process of turning them into sexual products for male consumption.”

The tune itself may sound uplifting, but lyrics such as “You want her broken with her mouth wide open ‘cause she’s this year’s girl” speak to a darker message that matches the show’s theme of objectification of women in the 1970s.

READ MORE: Vulture

Tags: hbo the deuce


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