“You only live once but you can rock forever,” promises the tagline in the first trailer for Netflix’s YA musical series Julie and the Phantoms. To which we say…rad.
Julie and the Phantoms is a nine-episode series set to arrive to Netflix on September 10. It follows high schooler Julie (Madison Reyes) struggling to regain her passion for music after the loss of her mother. Thankfully, some rockin’ ghosts from the distant past (1995) will soon arrive to help out. Check out the first full trailer below.
“Why have you been keeping those cute boys a secret?” one character asks. Why indeed, Netflix? This looks to be a charming YA adventure, which makes sense as it comes from Kenny Ortega – the director and choreographer behind High School Musical. Netflix official description for the series reads:
“High schooler Julie (Madison Reyes) lost her passion for music after her mom died last year. But when the ghosts of three dreamy musicians (Charlie Gillespie, Owen Patrick Joyner, Jeremy Shada) from 1995 suddenly appear in her mom’s old music studio, Julie feels her own inner spirit beginning to reawaken, and she’s inspired to start singing and writing songs again. As their friendship with Julie grows, the boys convince her to create a new band together: Julie and the Phantoms.”
In addition to Ortega, Paul Becker is attached as choreographer. Dan Cross and Dave Hoge serve as executive producers and showrunners. The series is adapted from an original Brazilian series known as Julie e os Fantasmas written by Paula Knudsen, Tiago Mello and Fabio Danesi.
Perhaps is difficult to create a winsome YA series on the premise of three dead teenagers but thankfully Julie and the Phantoms will have a soundtrack to help. Netflix has collaborated with Columbia Records to release a collection of original music performed by Julie and the Phantoms in the series. The tracklist is as follows:
1 Now or Never
2 Wake Up
3 Bright
4 This Band is Back (Reggie’s Jam)
5 Wow
6 Flying Solo
7 I Got the Music
8 The Other Side of Hollywood
9 All Eyes On Me
10 Finally Free
11 Perfect Harmony
12 Edge of Great
13 Unsaid Emily
14 You Got Nothing to Lose
15 Stand Tall
Additionally, Netflix has released a video of the cast performing an acoustic rendition of “Edge of Great.”
That’s right: bring back mid ’90s soft rock boy bands!