“Booksmart” Gave Us the Most Epic Indie Soundtrack of the Year

Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever in "Booksmart"

Booksmart gave us one of the most accurate portrayals of the high school experience in recent years, and the music was a big part of it. This coming-of-age comedy is filled with epic bangers, and here’s how its amazing soundtrack came to be.

Olivia Wilde made her directorial debut on a $6 million budget, and getting the rights to chart-topping party jams was a mission impossible. That didn’t hurt her prospects one bit, since the limited budget allowed her to dig deep and discover amazing tracks by alternative artists, including Kelsey Lu, Lizzo and Lykke Li.

Booksmart is filled with girl power anthems that perfectly suit its general spirit, but its standout song comes from an unexpected place. This teen comedy features a karaoke scene, which is a major turning point for one of the lead characters, and it wouldn’t work without Alanis Morissette classic “You Oughta Know”.

Wilde originally filmed the scene using the karaoke version of the song, but something just wasn’t working. She feared it would be expensive to get the rights, and that’s when she decided to pen a heartfelt letter, asking Morissette for permission to use her song.

“I just said how much she had meant to me in my youth and when I was in high school – ‘Jagged Little Pill’ in particular. Her strength as a woman and an artist and her singularity had really inspired me,” said Wilde for Huffington Post.

Check out some more amazing tracks that made it to the Booksmart soundtrack!