‘The Witcher’: Joey Batey Who Plays Jaskier Loves The Songs Too
One of the most surprisingly good elements of The Witcher is probably the music. This music is usually provided by the bard Jaskier, played by Joey Batey. Fans cannot get the songs out of their heads. However, fans are not alone.
Joey Batey himself, who plays Jaskier in The Witcher, is a fan of the songs as well and also cannot get them out of his head. Find out what he has to say about them and about Jaskier’s character.
How does Joey Batey describe his character Jaskier in ‘The Witcher’?
In an interview with Decider, Batey talks about who Jaskier in The Witcher would be if he was in the real world. According to Batey, he would be in “an Instagram influencer kind of role.” His job in the show, of course, doesn’t involve Instagram but Jaskier does ” wander around the Continent and tell stories and entertain people and also give them the news.”
Jaskier’s songs would be “how people would find out what’s happening in the world around them.” The songs would also be “the way Jaskier would get his message across to the people, the actual people, as opposed to the kings and queens of the world.” This explains, in Batey’s opinion, why the popular song “Toss A Coin To Your Witcher” sounds “almost [like] pop” music.
How long has Joey Batey had Jaskier’s ‘The Witcher’ songs stuck in his head?
In an interview with ComicBook.com, Batey says that he’s had songs like “Toss A Coin To Your Witcher” in his head “for eight months.” So our Jaskier can’t get The Witcher‘s songs out of his head either. The songs, especially the aforementioned far too catchy one, have”been stuck in [his] head since the first time [he] heard it.” He’s “gone to bed humming it.”
He’s also “[woken] up the next morning humming it.” According to Batey, no one can “know the hell that [he’s] gone through.” Though fans of Jaskier and The Witcher probably have a clue.
What does Joey Batey have to say about Jaskier’s songs?
Though he went through “hell” having the songs stuck in his head, in his interview with ComicBook.com he praises those behind them. According to him, the songs are so catchy because of “the wonderful compositions of Sonya Belousova and Giona Ostinelli who are just superlative composers.” Batey says that “They [Belousova and Ostinelli] understand the power of song, but also the writers with the lyrics, the power of storytelling within this context.”
Batey also may have had to sing the songs more than once, which may explain how they got stuck in his head. He tells ComicBook.com that “It was a joy playing them on set, because [he plays] them on set and [he sings] them on set and then [he] will go away and come back four months, five months later and record them in a studio, because […] if a plane flies over, then that’s a vocal take ruined.” Batey, according to the actor himself, didn’t mind though. He thought “It was a lovely thing to be able to come into the studio and see [everyone involved with The Witcher] again, and put on those Jaskier shoes.”
In his interview with Decider, Batey mentions how he had a say in the writing process of “Toss A Coin To Your Witcher.” “It was the tiniest things that only really composers and actors would really care about,” he says. “Moments of rubato, which is a sort of musical term and me saying, ‘oh wouldn’t it be wonderful if we slowed this down to give myself a bit more room to play within the scene?’”
