TL;DR
People We Meet on Vacation features 23 tracks including Taylor Swift, ODESZA, and Polo & Pan, plus an 11-song original score. The curated soundtrack does major emotional heavy lifting for the Netflix romance.
Netflix’s latest book-to-screen romance doesn’t just rely on chemistry and gorgeous backdrops to sell its story. People We Meet on Vacation understands something crucial about modern romance films: the right song at the right moment can do more emotional work than a page of dialogue ever could.
The Emily Henry adaptation hit the platform with a soundtrack that’s as carefully constructed as the decade-spanning love story it accompanies. We’re talking 23 licensed tracks spanning everything from Paula Abdul to boygenius, plus an 11-song original score from Keegan DeWitt. It’s a bold musical statement for a film that could’ve easily coasted on generic rom-com beats.
When Music Does the Heavy Lifting
What makes this soundtrack work isn’t just the big names—though having Taylor Swift and ODESZA certainly doesn’t hurt. It’s the curation. These aren’t random picks thrown together by a music supervisor scrolling through trending playlists. Each track serves the film’s dual nature: wanderlust mixed with that particular ache of wanting someone you can’t quite have.
Take the French duo Polo & Pan, who dominate the soundtrack with four appearances (including a remix of Remi Wolf’s “Hello Hello Hello”). Their sun-soaked electronic sound creates this almost Mediterranean vibe that perfectly captures those montages of Poppy and Alex exploring new cities. The end credits even mirror the aesthetic of a Polo & Pan music video, which is a nice touch that shows someone was paying attention to the visual-audio marriage.
Then there’s the emotional gut punches. Taylor Swift’s “august” shows up at what you can probably guess is a pivotal moment—Swift’s catalogue of yearning has basically become shorthand for complicated feelings in millennial and Gen Z media. Pair that with boygenius’ “Cool About It,” and you’ve got a one-two punch of indie heartbreak that hits exactly where it should.
The Eclectic Travel Playlist Approach
The beauty of using music in a film about traveling together is that you can justify almost any genre. New Orleans gets the Rebirth Brass Band’s extended mix of “I Feel Like Funkin’ It Up.” Quieter moments of realization get Kings of Convenience and Frankie Cosmos. Grimes’ “Genesis” makes an appearance, as does the dreamy nostalgia of Washed Out’s “It All Feels Right.”
This is how real people make travel playlists, isn’t it? Nobody curates their vacation soundtrack with just one genre. You’ve got high-energy tracks for walking through unfamiliar streets, downtempo stuff for long train rides, and those songs that make you stare out windows contemplating your life choices. The film’s music supervisor clearly understood that assignment.
Some deep cuts deserve recognition here. Willie Wright’s “Nantucket Island”? Evinha’s “Esperar Pra Ver”? Bonobo featuring Innov Gnawa on “Bambro Koyo Ganda”? These aren’t the obvious choices, and that’s precisely why they work. They give the film a musical identity that goes beyond just licensing whatever’s popular on streaming services this week.
The Score That Binds It Together
While the licensed tracks grab headlines—”Taylor Swift! ODESZA!”—Keegan DeWitt’s original score is doing crucial structural work underneath. With 11 compositions ranging from 49 seconds to over five minutes, DeWitt’s music provides the connective tissue between all those carefully selected needle drops.
Track titles like “Alexander the Greatest,” “Only Weird with You,” and “Probably Always” suggest these aren’t just ambient background cues. They’re character-specific themes that reinforce the emotional arc. The longest piece, “Home” at 5:35, likely accompanies a significant moment—you don’t write a nearly six-minute cue for a throwaway scene.
DeWitt’s previous work on The Chair and Company shows he knows how to write intimate, character-driven music. This isn’t bombastic orchestral romance; it’s the kind of score that works in the margins, supporting rather than overwhelming.
Why January Actually Works
The review mentioned the film being “almost too good for January,” referencing how Netflix historically dumps less confident projects in the post-holiday doldrums. But maybe there’s method to the madness here. January is when people are making resolutions, dreaming about travel, and recovering from forced family time during the holidays.
A romance about escaping ordinary life through vacation? That’s perfectly timed counterprogramming. And the soundtrack reinforces this—it’s not cozy winter music. It’s music for planning your next trip, for remembering that summer fling, for texting someone you probably shouldn’t.
The Spotify Factor
All 23 tracks are available on Spotify as a compiled playlist, which is smart marketing in 2025. Rom-com soundtracks have become their own promotional engine. People discover the movie through the music, or they watch the movie and then live with the soundtrack for weeks. Either way, it extends the film’s cultural footprint beyond the couple hours you spend watching it.
The playlist format also acknowledges how audiences consume music from films now. We’re not buying CDs or even full albums. We’re pulling individual tracks into our own playlists, using them to create personal meaning. A song that scores Poppy and Alex’s New Orleans trip might become someone’s own travel anthem.
The Verdict on the Vibe
Does the soundtrack alone make People We Meet on Vacation worth watching? No, but it certainly elevates what could’ve been a standard beach-read adaptation into something with more texture and personality. When a film gets the music right, it creates these sense memories—you’ll hear “august” six months from now and immediately think of that specific scene.
The mix of French electronica, indie darlings, nostalgic pop, and emotional heavy-hitters creates a sonic landscape that feels both specific to these characters and universal enough to resonate with anyone who’s ever traveled with someone they’re trying not to fall for. Or who’s already fallen and is trying to play it cool. Or who’s past pretending altogether.
In a streaming landscape cluttered with forgettable rom-coms, having a memorable soundtrack is how you stand out. People We Meet on Vacation clearly got the memo. Whether you’re here for the romance, the wanderlust, or just really good music supervision, there’s something on these 23 tracks that’ll hit home.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a Polo & Pan rabbit hole to fall down.