What's The Song In The Latest Trailer For Stranger Things Season 4?
"Stranger Things" is back with Season 4, and it will be stranger than ever. The latest trailer for Netflix's nostalgia-fest opens with Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Will (Noah Schnapp), and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) settling into their new home in California. At the end of last season, Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) decided to move her family and Eleven away from Hawkins. Apparently, they legged it all the way to Cali. The Season 4 trailer also shows Eleven's life at school and teases new cast member Eduardo Franco ("American Vandal").
As a cheerful, Beach Boys-esque song plays over the clip, Eleven writes a letter to Mike. She counts the days since they last saw each other, echoing how Mike used to count the days since Eleven disappeared back in Season 2. Eleven's letter is optimistic and also a little facetious. She says she likes school and has friends (she does not). She also says she and Mike will have the best spring break ever (judging by all the gunfire and explosions in the rest of the trailer, they will not).
The song that plays throughout the trailer underscores the dramatic irony of Eleven's letter. If it's not the Beach Boys we're hearing, who actually sings this happy little tune?
The Stranger Things season 4 trailer uses a song by an American folk singer
Although it definitely uses that Beach Boys flavor, the "Stranger Things" Season 4 trailer uses a song titled "A Place in California" by native Vermonter Jeremiah Burnham (via YouTube). The song appears on his album "Burnham Would," which collects 50 years of his music (via Burnham's official website). The album title sounds like a pun riffing on the Birnam Wood from Shakespeare's "Macbeth."
Burnham has been a session and touring musician since the '60s. According to his website, he has worked with James Taylor, producer John Hammond, and The Strangers. He also created music for the APM music library, where he still has 21 albums of library music for use in film and TV productions. His library music seems to focus on mid-20th century throwbacks, similar to the Beach Boys soundalike used in the "Stranger Things" trailer. "A Place in California" appears in the APM library in a compilation album called "Remember the '60s." It includes songs that evoke girl groups like The Crystals, British skiffle, and multiple faux protest songs.