Posted in: Fox, TV | Tagged: Juan Carlos Enriquez, the simpsons, treehouse of horror

The Simpsons Composer Juan Carlos Enriquez on THOH XXXV Opening

Juan Carlos Enriquez spoke with Bleeding Cool about guest composing Jorge R. Gutiérrez's Treehouse of Horror XXXV's opening for The Simpsons.

It's safe to say you've made it into pop culture relevance if you ever have the opportunity to participate in the prime-time institution of Fox's The Simpsons, which is what happened to Juan Carlos Enriquez, who was the guest composer for the season 36 episode 'Treehouse of Horror XXXV,' the animated series annual Halloween tradition. Enriquez, who has been active for over 10 years, has worked on several franchises, including RoboCop (2014), Fast, xXx: Return of Xander Cage (2017), Narcos, Fox's Lethal Weapon, and Ubisoft's Far Cry. The composer spoke with Bleeding Cool about getting involved with The Simpsons, working with opening sequence animator Jorge Gutiérrez, making as much impact in such little time, and his biggest influences.

Juan Carlos Enriquez on His 'The Simpsons' Musical Journey

Bleeding Cool: How did you get involved with 'The Simpsons?'

I was invited by the animator Jorge Gutiérrez, who was invited himself to do the custom opening of 'Treehouse of Horror XXXV' this year and I worked with Jorge on previous occasions on this show, 'Maya and the Three,' a miniseries on Netflix, and various pilots on Netflix. He invited me one day to work on the music for his opening and we started from there.

What inspired this theme, and did you feel any pressure to get involved with something as big as 'The Simpsons'?

First, in terms of the pressure, yes, I have felt enormous pressure and responsibility. I knew a lot of eyes and ears were going to be focused on what we were doing. I gave it my best in terms of production and all my hard work. I gathered an amazing team to work on it to put my best foot forward, and then, in terms of inspiration, it was the visuals of Jorge with his animation style, which is colorful and characteristic of him. That was enough inspiration for that.

Since you have collaborated with Jorge before, do you feel like you had to condense what you usually do with him? Were you involved in any of the other music in the episode?

I didn't work on any of the other music in this 'Simpsons' episode. That was done by Kara Talve, the lead composer at Bleeding Fingers Music. I only worked on the opening and I had to condense it in a way, like the musical essence of what Jorge wanted in 22 seconds. That was one of the biggest challenges, making it feel musical with a musical arc and structure that made sense, was exciting, and said what needed to be said in only 22 seconds.

Was there any talk of any future 'The Simpsons' collaborations? I know the 'Treehouse of Horror' is usually its own thing, but maybe down the line?

The door is always open and I'm always down for any future collaborations or other special appearances. At the moment, now it's this one-off special bucket list situation.

What are your biggest musical influences?

I come from a rock background, so I love rock music, progressive rock, and metal. I'm a big fan of bands like Dream Theater, but also as a composer, I love the works of James Newton Howard and John Powell. I'm all over the place as a music composer. We usually take inspiration from a lot of styles because we don't like to be restrained by them.

Does it become easier for you from one medium to another? You've worked across several genres, like for the game franchise, 'Far Cry.' How do you compare?

The medium changes sometimes the way you approach music, especially on platforms like video games. On this Jorge was very straightforward because 'The Simpsons' is straightforward, because he and I got only 22 seconds. We needed to give a strong musical punch. I approached it like a hybrid of our song combined with a scene from any movie or TV show. For example, on TV shows, you can develop things on a longer arc, and in movies, you can do a slow burn, too. This was a fun challenge to be fast and effective.

What's next for you?

I have a Disney film coming up in Latin America, opening on January 16 in Mexico in theaters, and eventually, it will move on to Disney Plus. And I have a few other feature films on the horizon and fingers crossed more collaborations with amazing talent like Jorge.

The Simpsons airs Sundays on Fox and is available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu.

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