Follow us on Google News
Get the latest updates directly in your Google News feed
Finding pop and rock superstardom led Isabella Summers on an exciting journey. While the co-founder of Florence & the Machine (and current member), Summers helped break the band into the mainstream. With the world lifting Florence & The Machine to superstardom, new opportunities came knocking.Hitpig, a new animated film, continues Summers’s career in film and television. After a few hits, the singer/songwriter takes on the world of animation with the new action comedy. She sat down with FandomWire to discuss the exciting transition and the power of seeing her music on screen.
Adding levity to an animated action comedy.
Summers proves how excited she is to talk aboutHitpig. “When I got invited to score this, I was like, ‘Hell yeah.’ This was my chance to be John Williams!” she exclaimed. “It’s basicallyPigs in Space,and we’re doing Star Wars. Everyone got on board with that.” For Hitpig to nail the tone between space comedy and action-adventure, it needed a soundtrack to sell the tone. Summers knew that forHitpigto work, her music had to help sell the characters.
This starts with the titular character, Hitpig, but applies to the side characters. One of the more bizarre characters inHitpigis “The Leaping Lord,” voiced by Rainn Wilson. He has to be a devious villain yet still maintain his big-top circus act. “It was really fun to go down the road of making this ridiculous, oppressive man into a sugar plum fairy. It was fun to lean into the humor of that.”
Summers leans into the inherent levity that a comedic animated movie can create for its audience. “It’s a good chance for me to flex while working in animation. In this movie it was wall-to-wall action music. Everything is so elevated in animation.”
Star Wars Outlaws and Helldivers 2’s Composer Wilbert Roget II Explains the Difference in His Approach, Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance, and His ‘Perfect Score’ (INTERVIEW)
Explaining the jump from composingLisa FrankensteintoHitpig
WhileHitpigis Summers’s most recent feature, she has proven reliable for other filmmakers in recent years. Earlier this year, she also composed a synth-based score forLisa Frankenstein, helping channel the 1980s vibe. “WithLisa Frankenstein, we landed on what our main love theme was, and we tried to iterate that. We made that the core of the movie.”
Due to the amount of music Summers needed to provide, bothLisa FrankensteinandHitpigtook around six months to craft. InHitpig, this was primarily related to the everchanging environments, which each required different themes. “WithHitpig,it was like, ‘now they’re in a rocket,’ ‘now they’re being chased,’ ‘now we’ve got a superhero that’s a chicken. He needs a theme.’ It was music in abundance.”
Both movies also feature considerable amounts of source music. Having come from Florence & the Machine, Summers knew how to properly blend score and source music. “Finding what the instruments are that can complement what’s going to happen in the needle drops is a really fun thing to do.” After the composer identifies those sounds, they must hone the score around these transition points. After starting small, the composer explains that she has to “get that with all the orchestra.”
Melissa Barerra and Cast and Crew of Your Monster Interview
Summers found working in film creatively rewarding.
Earlier in her career, Summers also found TV was a perfect home for her sound. While not formulaic, TV has to get done quickly and efficiently. “With TV, I get the picture when it’s locked, I come in at the end, and they will have a specific tone set. It’s a very quick turnaround.” With shows likeLittle Fires EverywhereandPhysical, she found success accentuating the tone set by the showrunners.Fires Everywhereearned Summers her first Emmy nomination in 2020.
However, as Summers explains, not all TV is written the same. She believes movies give her more opportunities to expand the storytelling with music. When speaking aboutLittle Fires Everywhere, she notes, “I wrote a theme in a cinematic way, and we did iterate those.” Meanwhile, films likeHitpigandLisa Frankensteinoffer Summers more freedom. She explains, “There’s more scope to be completely artistic in scoring a movie, which I love.” This creativity appears throughoutHitpig, with at least a half-dozen genres present in the score.
“Dog Days Are Over,”Guardians of the Galaxy, and Helping Animals
While Summers continues to grow as a composer and producer, her past work in Florence & the Machine remains influential. In 2023, “The Dog Days Are Over” lifted the final sequence ofGuardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. Summers, a co-writer of the song, reflects on its amazing journey. “We wrote ‘Dog Days’ in 2008, so to have it still used as the end of a movie 15 years later is such an honor.”
BothGuardiansandHitpigfocus on animals being held in captivity and exploited for someone else’s gain. It may not have been the driving force behind Summers’s choice to doHitpig, but it did not hurt. “What’s not to love? When scoring animation, especially, it’s got good morals.Hitpighas got a good heart.”Hitpig‘s message comes through as a common-sense approach to animal rights, and it’s a family film that’s easy to get behind.
Nimona Review: One of the Best Animated Movies of the Year So Far
What’s next for Summers?
Having been marked as an exciting composer, Summers already has a few gigs lined up for the future.Bad Fairies, a Warner Bros. Animation feature, is slated for 2027. She also scoredDust Bunny, Bryan Fuller’s star-studded horror film. More projects have yet to be announced as well. Summers laughs, “Watch this space. One thing’s coming, but I don’t know if I’m allowed to mention it.” Additionally, she’s returning to the studio to finish other music she’s been working on. “I definitely have my record coming. It’s close.” Between hit music and film scores, Summers might have a busy schedule. Yet she’s proving herself an emerging talent in film’s composing community.
This interview was condensed and edited for clarity.
WatchHitpigin theaters on August 11, 2025. Viva Pictures distributes.
Alan French
Film/TV Critic
Articles Published :280
Alan French began writing about television and film by covering the Emmys and Oscar beats in 2016. Since then, he has written hundreds of reviews on TV and movies. He attends film festivals regularly. He is a Rotten Tomato-approved critic and is on the committee for the Critics Association of Central Florida.
