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Sydney Sweeney is starting to make a name for herself as an actor who pays exquisite attention to detail. She invests a ton of time to ensure her characters are distinct from one another and herself. When building her characters, the Washington native considers everything from memories to mannerisms. Sweeney even thinks about what kind of music they listen to.

car rebuilder Sydney Sweeney in a white gown looking over her shoulder at a 'Euphoria' event
Sydney Sweeney | Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images for HBO

Sydney Sweeney makes unique playlists for all of her characters

Sweeney started making music a key part of her process after working with the late Jean-Marc Vallée on Sharp Objects. Music was a key part of the director’s creative process, and he encouraged his actors to utilize the medium in their work. In fact, he presented Sweeney with an iPod so that she could listen to songs while they filmed. Sweeney loved the process so much that she started making albums for each of her projects and character-specific playlists.

In an interview with Teen Vogue, Sweeney shared that music is now one of the first things she considers when preparing for a new role. “The first step I take to embody a character is I usually create a playlist for who she is, what she would listen to,” the MMA fighter revealed. “That way whenever I’m reading a script or I start building the character and working on backstory, I’m listening to the kind of music that I think she would listen to. It’s kind of like a big deep dive into a black hole of music.”

The ‘Euphoria’ actor doesn’t listen to the same music as her characters

Funnily enough, there is little to no crossover between what Sweeney herself listens to and what her characters gravitate toward. In fact, the actor deliberately ensures that her character’s musical preferences are separate from her own. “I try to make it so that my characters listen to different music than I listen to,” the Euphoria star told Dread Central in 2018. “But the music I’m listening to right now is all over the board, like, way all over the board. I don’t even know how to describe my taste in music. Whenever people ask me what kind of music I like, I can’t even start!”

Sweeney reveals that she’s still figuring out her personal musical preferences

In 2022, Sweeney still hasn’t managed to work out the kind of tunes that she likes. While speaking to Cosmopolitan UK, she got candid about this. “I am so lame when it comes to music,” The Players Table producer shared. “I have so many songs on my phone, but the thing is I usually correlate soundtracks and music for each character and I forget to do music for myself. And so when people ask me what my favorite music is or what I listen to, I’m just, I blank and I glass over.”

Sweeney may draw a blank when it comes to her music preferences, but she’s sure of what her characters like. Euphoria’s Cassie, for example, has a playlist that features artists like Bazzi, Soap&Skin, and Billy Eilish. Considering that Cassie was deep in her feelings for Season 2, we’d say that checks out.

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