For the last several weeks, I’ve been driven mad by an obsession, and now I can finally admit it. I can’t stop thinking about the Perfect Couple dance.
Netflix’s new series The Perfect Couple has a lot of factors that could make it a hit. It’s based on a best-selling book by beloved author Elin Hilderbrand, the third in her highly popular “Nantucket” series. The cast is absolutely stacked; it stars Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Dakota Fanning, Eve Hewson, Meghann Fahy, and other actors you’ll definitely recognize, like the guy who played the awful boyfriend in Midsommer. It’s a sexy, salacious murder mystery set in a wealthy enclave that provides both an entertaining plot and tons of real estate porn.
But the real draw of the show? Its completely nonsensical yet utterly delightful opening credits sequence. In the start of every episode, the entire cast—leads, supporting characters, and extras—perform a choreographed dance routine to an extremely catchy pop song during a rehearsal dinner before a wedding. Why? Extremely unclear.
I first fell in love with the dance routine when watching the pilot episode. “Why, this is delightful!” I said to myself. Imagine my surprise when this was not just an element of the first part of the show, but something that would repeat every episode. My husband soon joined me to watch the rest of the series, and every time the song and dance routine would come on, we’d groove on the couch, attempting the moves (badly) and singing the song.
Predictably, the song soon got hopelessly stuck in my head. So I pulled out Shazam to identify it. When nothing came up, I assumed it was a song that had been written especially to be used in this manner, like one of my other favorite songs of all time, “Raise Your Glass” by Dena Deadly, a.k.a. the Vanderpump Rules theme song.
I was completely wrong! Turns out, the song, “Criminals,” is by the one and only Meghan Trainor. The reason I couldn’t find it was because it hadn’t been released yet. The song officially dropped on August 16, shortly before the premiere of the show, as part of the deluxe edition of Trainor’s sixth studio album, Timeless.
But why does The Perfect Couple open with a dance routine in the first place? And what is the dance they are doing, exactly? To answer my questions, I turned to Netflix, whose PR folks were kind enough to bring them to the series director and executive producer herself, Susanne Bier.
Her explanation is both simple and makes perfect sense.
“I thought it was really fun for those characters,” she tells me.
Bier says that in her mind, the backstory for the dance was it that everyone had practiced the choreography in the days leading up to the rehearsal dinner so they could all dance it together.
Maybe this is something that rich people on Nantucket do? I’m not sure because I’ve never been to a wedding at a Nantucket mansion (if anyone wants to invite me, I’m game). But in real life, the dance was choreographed by Charm LaDonna specifically for The Perfect Couple.
“I wanted to create something that the entire cast could enjoy, like a dance you might join in at a party,” the dancer and choreographer tells me. “It was exciting to create such a light and fun moment to Meghan's song ‘Criminals,’ which is such a cool record to dance to. It was a perfect moment for The Perfect Couple.”
For Bier, the lighthearted moment is the perfect encapsulation of the show.
“I wanted to signal for the audience that, ‘Hey guys, it’s a murder mystery. It has a dark undercurrent, but it is really a lot of fun; you should know that this is not going to be homework,’” she says. “It’s not going to be a serious ride. It’s going to be fun, light and bubbly.”
Mystery solved. Now, to watch The Perfect Couple dance another 10,000 times on YouTube.
