Daisy Jones & The Six follows the life of Daisy Jones, an aspiring musician who sneaks into clubs on the Sunset Strip dreaming of being on stage. The book also chronicles the humble beginnings of The Six (originally dubbed The Dunne Brothers), who find their big break when Teddy Price (Tom Wright) discovers them playing clubs on the strip. Meanwhile, Daisy is desperately trying to find her own way.
Eventually, the band embarks on their sold-out Aurora arena tour, and by the time they reach the last show at Chicago’s Soldier Field, they are beyond repair. So, The Six decide to go their separate ways, and 20 years later, they finally tell their sides of the story on why exactly Daisy Jones & The Six broke up — including Billy and Daisy.
This is a spoiler-free review.
Daisy Jones and The Six is a fairly faithful book to screen adaption. That being said, there were some storyline switches (one of them in particular I’m still piecing together). Much like Stranger Things helped with the 80s resurgence a few years ago, it’s very possible that Daisy Jones and The Six will do the same in reigniting the love of the 70s aesthetic. From the flawless editing to the costumes and sets, it’s as if we’ve stepped out of a time machine and right back into the height of Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Riley Keough’s Daisy Jones and Sam Claflin’s Billy Dunne steal the show as co-leads in a way that makes it feel like they are meant to play Billy and Daisy. Their on-screen chemistry is electric. The dynamic between the pair is so captivating that it’s hard to compose words that will do justice to just how good they are. Claflin isn’t new to starring as the lead in book adaptions, but Claflin takes the naysayers’ opinions and throws them out the window. They utterly blew me away.
Elsewhere, Camila Morrone shines as the real heartbeat of The Six (no, I will not be taking questions at this time), Camila Dunne. Morrone’s portrayal of Camila Dunne is so heartbreakingly beautiful. I will say, as opposed to the book, we see Camila a lot more across the 10 episodes. Because of this, though, oftentimes Camila ends up being relegated to a “third” where Daisy and Billy are concerned. In my opinion, I think there was more story to tell with Camila that could have been fleshed out on screen. However, Morrone embodies all the best parts of Camila. Even if you’re familiar with Morrone’s previous work, nothing can prepare you for her enthralling performance in this series.
Nabiyah Be plays Simone Jackson, a performer in her own right, but also Daisy’s right hand. In the book, Simone’s story isn’t nearly as fleshed out as it is in the series, which is exciting because we learn a bit more about who she is outside of being Daisy’s best friend and an emerging disco performer in the L.A. scene. Be’s an absolute powerhouse as Simone and gave a breakout performance in the series that left me wanting to see more of Simone!
Honestly, the casting of the entire band is just what I’d imagined it would be. Suki Waterhouse, Josh Whitehouse, Sebastian Chacon, and Will Harrison round out the band with Claflin and Keough. They’re all so harmonious, it’s hard to put into words just how well they mesh together. You’ll just have to take my word for it and see come Friday! However, Chacon’s energy as Warren Rojas is iconic. There aren’t any other words for it. He embraces the drummer stereotypes and tropes about percussionists not really being “musicians” and spins it into something undeniably hilarious. Especially when a serious scene cuts to Warren; he just adds another layer of enjoyment overall.
What makes Daisy Jones and The Six stand out is obviously the music, and the music is incredible. With influences from Fleetwood Mac, Joni Mitchell, Civil Wars, and more, it’s hard to keep still when watching! Aurora, the band’s second album but the first with Daisy, is being produced into a real, live album recorded by the cast. Produced by Blake Mills and recorded at the legendary Sound City Studios, Aurora features co-writes from Marcus Mumford, Phoebe Bridgers, Jackson Browne, Taylor Goldsmith, Madison Cunningham, Chris Weisman, James Valentine, and more. Getting to see and hear the music come to life is such an exceptional aspect of the show, nothing could have prepared me for it. Out of all the songs featured, “The River” totally knocked my socks off.
The other key component of Reid’s writing style with Daisy Jones & The Six is the interview style format. I’ll be completely honest, I was (only slightly) skeptical about how they’d be able to pull it off because that’s … the entire book. Would it be choppy and hard to follow? Would there be too much filler? Luckily, the book did a lot of the writing, so there aren’t a ton of unexplained inconsistencies, which are often seen in book adaptions.
KarenGraham is one of the most favorable relationships in the book, one that rivals DaisyBilly in terms of fanbase. Suki Waterhouse and Will Harrison do an incredible amount of justice to these two characters. Have lots of tissues at the ready when viewing. Speaking of Waterhouse, who plays the queen of keys Karen Sirko, gives an absolutely glimmering performance as Karen. One of the first women in a major rock band, Karen is a power symbol for non-conformity. It feels almost as if Waterhouse channels every stereotype thrown her way about established career-driven women straight into Karen.
The arena shots are so mesmerizing that there was a constant reminder running in my head that it isn’t an actual documentary or a real band. This is also a testament to the editing and how they blurred the lines that much more. Breaking away from storytelling, I want to give the set design team a shout-out for their incredible work on making the concert scenes look authentic. They featured a lot of the legendary Sunset Strip bars mentioned in the book in the show, as well as a reconstruction of the iconic Filthy NcNasty’s. If you’re going to have a famous rock band come out of the 70s, you have to do it right. In the 1970’s, more women started cropping up and forming female-led rock bands, so Daisy Jones & The Six fits in perfectly for the time. The same clubs that housed the humble beginnings of rock ‘n’ roll royalty make Daisy Jones & The Six feel like a proper band on screen.
No matter if you’re a fan of the novel or not, Daisy Jones & The Six carries an energy that is scarce in the modern era of film and television. It’s worth it to experience the aura that is Daisy Jones & The Six and that feeling alone. Let’s face it, everyone has a story to tell, and it’s finally time to tell theirs.
Daisy Jones and The Six releases this Friday, March 3 on Prime Video.
