Gavin Brivik and Andrew Bird Both Needed Someone

For composer Gavin Brivik and songwriter Andrew Bird, the creation of “Need Someone,” the emotionally-charged song from season two of The Pitt, was the culmination of two very different musical journeys that unexpectedly converged around television’s most acclaimed drama. For Brivik, the road to dramatic music started with a comedy.

“It was the movie School of Rock,” Brivik says. The composer traces his musical awakening to seeing Richard Linklater’s 2003 comedy as a preteen, and watching kids his own age perform Led Zeppelin songs opened a floodgate of musical discovery. Brivik became obsessed with guitar-driven rock and enrolled in group guitar lessons at school, which eventually led him from metal bands to jazz studies, classical music and composition. Bird’s path began at age four, as he studied violin and spent years immersed in classical music before growing restless with its conventions. “It was around when I was 15 that music became a true focus,” Bird says. As academic and social challenges mounted, Bird threw himself into music, going to music school as a violinist but soon becoming fascinated with folk traditions, early jazz, songwriting and film. Bird recalls spending as much time in the film library as anywhere else, even creating his own live scores for older movies before embarking on the touring career that would define much of the next 25 years.

Those parallel interests in composition and film eventually led both artists to The Pitt. As producers sought composers with more experimental instincts, Brivik’s score for How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2022), which incorporated field recordings and industrial sounds gathered at New Mexico oil refineries, helped distinguish him from other candidates. When he watched the pilot of The Pitt, Brivil knew that his approach would have to be unconventional. Instead of imposing music onto the series, Brivik imagined the hospital itself generating the soundtrack. Electrical hums, medical machinery and EKG-like rhythms became the foundation of a score designed to disappear into the environment. The goal was immersion rather than attention, and this philosophy defined season one and the first five episodes of season two, until an opportunity presented itself to do something different. 

In episode six, the team at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center says goodbye to a member of the family, as Louie Cloverfield (Ernest Harden Jr), an alcoholic, unhoused man and “frequent flyer” at the ED, unexpectedly dies. As Dr. Robby (Emmy Award winner Noah Wyle) finishes his speech to the staff and the episode reaches its emotional conclusion, viewers hear music move to the forefront for the first time. It was a moment Brivik felt deserved something original. During a spotting session, producers were discussing the possibility of licensing an existing song for the sequence. Brivik pushed for another option. “I begged him for the opportunity to pitch a song,” Brivik says. At the time, he already had a collection of instrumental sketches that would eventually become “Need Someone.” He also had a list of dream collaborators, and at the very top was Bird.

Brivik had followed Bird’s work for years, admiring the way the classically trained musician moved effortlessly between genres. Through a fortunate twist, the two artists now shared representation. Brivik asked his agent to send the demos. Bird responded almost immediately. “When these things come along, I like to really jump on them and go with my first knee-jerk reaction,” Bird says. Using Brivik’s sketches as a foundation, Bird quickly wrote and recorded a demo. The response from the creative team was enthusiastic, though approval had to make its way through multiple levels of decision-making. For Bird, the project offered a chance to reconnect with a long-held interest in writing for film, and what particularly appealed to him was the challenge of writing lyrics that served the story rather than himself. “I really find the challenge of writing lyrics that make sense with a scene to be the ultimate challenge,” Bird says. 

Before writing, Bird binge-watched the first season to understand its emotional landscape. The lyrics were designed not to focus on a single character but to reflect multiple journeys. Louie is present in the song, but so are Robby, Nurse Dana (Emmy Award winner Katherine LaNasa) and others who have endured trauma throughout the series. The chorus emerged from a broader observation about healthcare workers and the unique burden they carry. “[For] a lot of people, the last people they see in their life are health care workers,” Bird says. The process was surprisingly immediate, and given a scene and an emotional target, Bird found himself writing quickly and instinctively, comparing the experience to improv comedy, where a prompt sparks a spontaneous response. That spontaneity is part of what makes “Need Someone” feel so natural within The Pitt. The song arrives only after 20 episodes spent avoiding overt musical statements, making its appearance feel earned rather than manipulative.

For both artists, the collaboration represented a rare creative alignment: a composer searching for the perfect voice, a songwriter eager to return to narrative-driven music and a series willing to trust them with one of its most important emotional moments. The result is a song that serves as a moving tribute to the patients and healthcare workers who are the heart and soul of The Pitt.

Read more from Patrick Gibbs on The Pitt:
Charles Baker on Finding a Home on The Pitt
The Pitt Cast on ICE

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