SPOILER ALERT: This piece contains the songs by episode in Shrinking Season 3.
Apple TV’s comedy series from co-creators Bill Lawrence, Brett Goldstein and Jason Segel is back with its third season and an hour-long first episode.
Season 3’s theme of moving forward comes to light in Episode 301, titled “My Bad,” as Alice (Lukita Maxwell) looks ahead to college, Brian (Michael Urie) and Charlie (Devin Kawaoka) look forward to the arrival of their adopted baby and more.
Of course, Season 3 kicks off with a loaded episode in terms of needle drops, one of which is a callback to a past season. Alice gets a Role Model song during a big soccer game, and The Rolling Stones, Staple Singers and Electric Light Orchestra close out the return to the world of Jimmy Laird (Segel), Paul Rhoades (Harrison Ford) Gaby (Jessica Williams), Sean (Luke Tennie), Liz (Christa Miller), Derek (Ted McGinley) and their friends and family.
Episode 7, titled “I Will Be Grape,” riffs off Christina Perri’s “A Thousand Years,” a song that Tia (Lilan Bowden) loved and duetted with Jimmy while he played piano. He endearingly remembers that she thought the “I will be brave” lyric was “I will be grape.”
“[The writers] had already come up with that. This is how this show is, it’s so crazy, we’re in flow. My daughter’s a musician. I’ve been doing music supervision for a while, so I have a lot of relationships with musicians,” Miller shared. “But Christina Perri used to date a friend of mine, and so I’ve known her for 15 years, and she happened to be working with our composer [Tom Howe],, and said, ‘I binged Shrinking.’ She reached out to me. A day later, Jason’s like, ‘Can we use the song in the show?’ And I was like [blown away].
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The seventh episode celebrates Tia’s birthday, and star and music supervisor Christa Miller had a fun anecdote about shooting the scenes involving that song.
“I surprised Jason when we were shooting that, and had Christina come to set, and we all sat around the piano,” Miller added. “And she sang with us, and they shot it. I’m sure they’re gonna show B-roll when that episode comes out. It was the most fun. Crazy fun. Christina Perri was there singing.”
The penultimate episode ends with a fight between Jimmy and Paul set to Zach Bryan’s “I Remember Everything” featuring Kacey Musgraves. This was an example for Miller where a needle drop has to give “goosebumps” to be a successful song placement.
L-R: Lukita Maxwell and Jason Segel in ‘Shrinking’ Season 3
Apple TV
Brandi Carlile’s “You Without Me” which closes out the Season 3 finale, was another song the writers knew about ahead of time and wrote for.
“I had heard that song because my daughter’s fiancé, Andrew Watt, produced the album. So I heard the song two years ago. I was like, ‘I need this song for Shrinking. I want it. I want it. So because I know Brandi through Andrew and Charlotte, I was like, we need the song for Shrinking, and then I turned her on to Shrinking so Brandi, and her wife, Catherine [Shepherd], watched Shrinking, and last year it wasn’t ready,” Miller said. “I wanted it last year, and it was a blessing, because it was perfect, obviously, in this [Season 3] spot, but she had called. Brandi reached out to me in the middle of the season and said four shows want to use this song, but we love Shrinking. And I said we want it, and we’re buying it, which I never do because you again, you don’t know. And but thank God everyone loved it.”
Find a list of all the songs in Shrinking Season 3, updated weekly as each new episode rolls out on Wednesdays, below:
Episode 301 – “My Bad”
- “Holding Back The Years” – Simply Red
- “Song 2” – Blur
- “Smile” – Marc Scibilia
- “Superglue” – Role Model
- “Beast of Burden” – The Rolling Stones
- String cover of Sugar Ray’s “Every Morning” followed by “Wedding March”
- Sugar Ray’s version was featured in Season 1 of Shrinking when Gaby gives Paul a ride to work
- “I’ll Take You There” – Staple Singers
- “Livin Thing” – Electric Light Orchestra
L-R: Ted McGinley and Christa Miller in ‘Shrinking’ Season 3
Apple TV
Episode 302 – “Happiness Mission”
- “From the Infinite” – Cameron Leahy
- “Every Little Thing I Say I Do” – Dayglow
- “Drop Stop Roll” – Rainbow Kitten Surprise
Episode 303 – “D-Day”
- “Baby” – Justin Bieber
- “SPEYSIDE” – Bon Iver
Episode 304 – “Field Day”
- “Capricorn” – Vampire Weekend
- “Just One Break” – Josiah and the Bonnevilles feat. Mon Rovia
RELATED: ‘Shrinking’ Star Christa Miller On Episode 304’s “Horrible” Liz Misstep, Song Selection For That Derek Scene And LA Fashion Nods
Episode 305 – “Hold Your Horsies”
- “Confrontation” – Lés Miserables – Sung by Michael Urie and Jason Segel
- “12 to 12” – sombr
- “Nightswimming” – Jason Segel
Episode 306 – “Dereks Don’t Die”
- “Home” – Deyaz
- “The Roads” – Jonah Kagen
Ted McGinley as Derek in ‘Shrinking’ Season 3
Apple TV
Episode 307 – “I Will Be Grape”
- “It’s My Party” – Lesley Gore
- “A Thousand Years” – Christina Perri
RELATED: ‘Shrinking’ Season 3 Stars Ted McGinley And Christa Miller Unpack Derek’s Big Episode 6 Moment
Episode 308 – “Depression Diet”
- “I Love You So Much” – Mae Martin
Episode 309 – “Daddy Issues”
- “Right Now” – Rosi Golan
Episode 310 – “The Bodyguard of Sadness”
- “You Seemed So Happy” – The Japanese House
- “I Remember Everything” – Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves
Episode 311 – “And That’s Our Time”
- “Hold Me Again” – Avaion
- “Crooked the Road.” – Mon Rovia
- “Forest Lawn” – Better Oblivion Community Center
- “You Without Me” – Brandi Carlile
RELATED: ‘Shrinking’ Co-Creator Bill Lawrence Addresses Season 3 Finale’s Unresolved Storyline With Jimmy’s Dad; Teases What To Expect For Season 4