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Today, Explained

The secret soundtrack to your life

Today, Explained

Vox

Politics, Daily News, News

4.310.3K Ratings

🗓️ 17 April 2026

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It's in your TV shows. It's in the ads you watch. It's in your TikToks. Sync music is everywhere, and it's changing the music industry. This episode was produced by Ariana Aspuru, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Gabriel Dunatov, engineered by Patrick Boyd and David Tatasciore, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Zara Larsson performing during the Grammy Awards this year. Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for The Recording Academy. Listen to Today, Explained ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members. New Vox members get $20 off their membership right now. Transcript at ⁠vox.com/today-explained-podcast.⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

You know this piece of music, right?

0:03.7

You know from where it originates?

0:05.8

Except I'm 99.999% sure you don't.

0:10.0

It's called Frollic, and it's composed by Luciano Michelini.

0:14.3

Luciano wrote Frolick in the 1970s for an Italian film called La Belisima Estate,

0:19.4

or The beautiful summer.

0:24.6

From there, it was added to various music libraries and ended up being used in lots of commercials here in the U.S. One day, Larry David saw one such commercial for a bank.

0:29.0

He liked the music, filed it away, and when it came time to pick a theme song for his HBO

0:32.6

comedy, Curb Your Enthusiasm, he chose Frolic.

0:35.9

And from there, it became the soundtrack to a million

0:39.0

memes, shorthand for walking yourself into an especially awkward or embarrassing situation.

0:45.2

Frolick might be the most famous piece of what is sometimes called library music, background

0:51.4

music, sync music, or just sync. And on Today Explained, we are living in peak sync.

1:00.3

Indeed presents.

1:01.7

Pires, you can't afford to get wrong.

1:03.8

Like payroll manager.

1:05.1

Hi, I was just checking my pay slip and it's all in Japanese yen.

1:08.5

Yes, you're welcome.

1:09.5

Sorry?

1:10.1

Given the exchange rate between the pound and the yen, you're technically a millionaire now. Don't spend it all in one place. I can't really spend it anywhere. This is a job for sponsored jobs. This is what happens when you don't sponsor your job on Indeed. So the next time you need someone to get the job done right, get matched with quality candidates with an Indeed sponsored job. Visit Indeed.com slash next hire and sponsor your job today.

1:30.0

What is your pre-performance ritual?

1:32.4

What are you doing 24 hours before that big meeting?

...

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