Riley Keough is channeling her inner musician with the release of her highly anticipated Amazon Prime series, Daisy Jones & the Six, a TV adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s 2019 novel of the same name.
The series (and novel) follow a 70s rock band led by Daisy Jones (Keough) who found themselves at the top of the world before they suddenly called it quits for reasons unbeknownst to the public. Years later, the band reunites and unpacks why they decided to break up.
In an interview with ET, Keough, alongside her co-star Sam Claflin, discussed how they had to musically prepare for their roles in the series, having not been very musically inclined prior to the start of filming.
“It’s pretty amazing. I think we really came from not being able to play anything on a guitar or sing really, to having a full record going out which is like, it’s crazy to us I think,” Riley started, referencing the release of their fictional band’s debut album, Aurora, which will be available on Spotify and Apple Music the same day as the premiere of the show, March 3. “We had months of jam sessions, so we had months of rehearsals, so we were basically in band practice for, I don’t know, a year.”
Claflin also expressed his struggles making music, despite having graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
“It was not only playing the guitar but singing whilst I’m playing the guitar,” he admitted, “while also trying to move like I know what I’m doing and I’ve been doing this my entire life whilst also singing in an American accent, whilst also running on no food because I was trying to lose weight for the part.”
The two joked about their relief to discover that they were both not the best musicians.
“Up until [we met], it’d just been like me auditioning alone and him auditioning alone, and it was this moment of like, ‘Oh, we’re both f–king bad,’” Riley said.
“Yeah, oh phew, it’s not just me,” Sam agreed, “I thought maybe she’s miles ahead of me, I was like, ‘Oh no, no, we’re both, we’re both terrible.’”
Seeing Riley’s musical lineage, there’s much anticipation and expectations set by fans for yet another Presley family member to be involved in music. But Riley doesn’t feel this way, emphasizing that she sees this opportunity as something to make her own and not have any pressure to fill the shoes of neither her mother nor grandfather.
“I certainly wouldn’t put that pressure on it,” Riley answered ET when asked if the show would contribute to continuing her family’s musical legacy. “I don’t know if there is continuing my grandfather’s legacy, it’s its own sort of thing to me. But [making the show] was a really fun experience for me. I’m not a musician – or I am now I guess. I’ve been interested in film my whole life and so for me, it was more really loving to get to have a relationship with music in that way.”
Although she has never been on stage to perform music, Riley has been familiar with the music industry her entire life.
“I’ve listened to music and my whole family are musicians and I’ve been around this world a lot and been on tour and all that kind of stuff. But I’d never really done it myself,” she confessed. “So for me, it was more about my personal relationship with getting to play music, which was fun.”
Having been in headlines for the past month or so, following the death of her mother, Lisa Marie Presley, and the ongoing legal battle between Riley and Priscilla regarding Elvis’ estate, Riley decided not attend an event promoting the upcoming Prime series. Instead, she hopped on Tik Tok to post a video about the show, which is available for streaming on Amazon Prime on March 3.
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