Certainly, the viral popularity of \u2018Toss a Coin to your Witcher\u2019 took Batey and the song\u2019s creators ( composers Giona Ostinelli and Sonya Belousova and lyricist Jenny Klein) by surprise.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think any of us were expecting that,\u201d Batey tells RadioTimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it landed, a friend of mine texted me, saying, \u2018Hey, you know that you\u2019ve gone viral, right?\u2019 I was like, \u2018Don\u2019t be silly.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cAll these covers and videos and everyone was doing it online. I never really go on the internet, but it was the one moment I went, \u2018Wow, people are really engaging with the music.\u2019<\/p> \u201cI\u2019m so glad that that happened, because Jaskier is a storyteller. He is a musician. Within Andrzej Sapkowski\u2019s books, he\u2019s famous. We get to actually see the origin story of that in season one.<\/p>\n \u201cSo that meant that by the time we got to season two, we got to have this really, really lovely conversation. It was like, \u201cWell, what next?\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Because season two of The Witcher brought, as Batey puts it, Jaskier\u2019s \u201cdifficult second album\u201d \u2013 and we caught up with the actor and musician to find out how he followed up \u2018Toss A Coin\u2019 with a new, more emotional ballad, which he co-created with series composer Joe Trapanese.<\/p>\n Spoiler alert: Jaskier\u2019s not completely over his fight with Geralt (Henry Cavill) just yet.<\/p>\n I have to ask about \u2018Burn\u2019, the new song. It\u2019s like an Adele-worthy breakup anthem\u2026 but for Jaskier and Geralt.<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s not far off, yeah! Joe Trapanese, who\u2019s the composer on season two, and myself wrote that song over the pandemic. One thing that I wanted to bring to the music of season two was a maturity. I always say this, but we wanted to see the progression of Jaskier\u2019s musical developments, much as you might chart David Bowie or Freddie Mercury throughout their time.<\/p>\n They didn\u2019t settle on one sound. They kept shifting and moving and pushing, and getting more and more progressive with their musical taste and genre-bending. That\u2019s something that Joe and I worked really hard on over the pandemic, to start to mediate between genres, and introduce a more Celtic vibe, and introduce a more operatic singing style at times.<\/p>\n That was really, really rewarding, because by the time we kind of settled on something, and we floated it to all the Netflix gods, they all turned and went, \u201cWell, it\u2019s not as catchy as \u2018Toss a Coin\u2019.\u201d And we went, \u201cGood. I think that\u2019s the point.\u201d<\/p>\n So that was really, really fun, and Joe is just the most talented composer ever. He\u2019s amazing. I was really, really lucky to have worked with him.<\/p>\n I will say the song\u2019s bridge has been in my head since yesterday.<\/strong><\/p>\n Oh, good! That\u2019s a good sign.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t realise that you were so involved with this one, because last time you sang it, but obviously other people composed Jaskier\u2019s songs.<\/strong><\/p>\n I was involved in the songwriting a little on season one, but now all the songs\u2026 well, most of the songs on season two were co-composed.<\/p>\n There\u2019s one song that isn\u2019t, that Joe composed. I tried to rewrite it, and add my own thoughts to it. But after a month-and-a-half of hitting my head against a brick wall, I just said, \u201cNo, this song\u2019s really, really great. I don\u2019t want to change it. I don\u2019t want to do anything to it.\u201d<\/p>\n And that\u2019s how Joe and I work. We\u2019re just playing email tennis, and constantly talking to each other about it, and making those big, strong, creative decisions that mean we get to see a side to Jaskier that perhaps we haven\u2019t seen before.<\/p>\n Was it important to you to kind of have more involvement this season?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah. I really fought for it. I\u2019m a professional musician, and a big part of my life is music, and always has been.<\/p>\n It also meant that when I turned up on set and began to sing and play and fart about as Jaskier is able to do, it meant that I had a lot more ownership over the song, and I felt like I was in\u2026 You know, I felt like these shoes fit. I was able to really take ownership, and enjoy it in a way that perhaps I didn\u2019t get a chance to do on season one.<\/p>\n You mentioned there\u2019s a few more Jaskier songs this season \u2013 anything you can tell us about them?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n I haven\u2019t actually seen the second half of the series, but yeah, there\u2019s definitely ones that might pop up on the soundtrack, and might have a small cameo later on in the season.<\/p>\n Do you think Jaskier\u2019s songs could go viral again, or do you think \u2018Toss a Coin\u2019 was a one-off?<\/strong><\/p>\n That was lightning in a bottle, and there\u2019s no way that we could produce that again. We\u2019re not Taylor Swift! You know what I mean? We\u2019re not trying to be, either.<\/p>\n A big part of writing these songs is making sure that it now is no longer an exercise in PR, which it was on season one. \u2018Toss a Coin\u2019 was all about making Geralt famous, and making Jaskier famous.<\/p>\n It now needs to be driven by character, and it\u2019s Jaskier exploring some of the darkest recesses of his own soul. I believe that some of the best art has that in it. He\u2019s starting to really use his own personal experiences rather than the experiences of others to inspire his work.<\/p>\n I mean, thank you very much for comparing it to Adele, but I don\u2019t think we\u2019re about to get to that level!<\/p>\n You never know.<\/strong><\/p>\n You never know, you never know.<\/p>\n The Witcher season two is streaming now on Netflix. For more, check out our dedicated Fantasy<\/a> page, our guide to the best series on Netflix<\/a> or our full TV Guide<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n![\""The\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/12\/Witcher-Geralt-Jaskier-070473d.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413"\" "\\"\"WW_106_05.04.2019_437.NEF\"\\"\/")
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