TV/Film

Peacock’s Bel-Air has taken the beloved ’90s sitcom starring Will Smith and reimagined it as something entirely new: a gritty, hour-long drama that dives deep into class disparity, institutionalized racism, the pressures of growing up and so much more. This version has just as much humor and heart as the original, but also dives deep into family, identity and mental health with a depth that the original half-hour format couldn’t allow.

Now entering its fourth and final season, Bel-Air follows Will as he navigates his senior year and his looming future, while Carlton faces decisions that could shape his entire life. Behind the drama, there’s another character that drives the story: music. 

On Bel-Air, music isn’t just a backdrop, it’s a heartbeat. A mood. A mirror held up to every character trying to find their place in a world that demands reinvention. Across the cast’s conversations, one theme came up again and again: the soundtrack isn’t simply something you hear in Bel-Air, it’s something the characters feel, something the actors use, and something the audience remembers long after the screen fades to black.

Grammy-winner Coco Jones, who plays Hilary, uses the show to push her music career forward. “Acting has actually opened me up creatively,” she explains. “Stepping into Hilary gives me another emotional world to write from, it’s like I have access to someone else’s lived experience.”

As the reimagined drama heads into its biggest season yet, the cast agrees that music has quietly become the show’s emotional language. It’s how they unlock vulnerability, shape performances, and lean into the chaos, joy, and pressure that define growing up. “The Bel-Air playlist always goes crazy,” says Olly Sholotan who plays Carlton.

Ask anyone in the cast how they prepare for a scene, and music somehow enters the conversation. “I mean, in a lot of ways, maybe always, I am Will to a T,” says Jabari Banks, who plays the reboot’s lead. “The soul of Philly, the neo-soul roots, the hip-hop influence, it’s all baked into who I am.”

Whether it’s a playlist that grounds the mood or a single song that carries emotional weight, the actors say the show’s sonic world heavily influences their approach. “I make a playlist every season for Carlton,” says Olly Sholotan of his character. “In season one, [Kanye West’s] ‘Hold My Liquor’ became his battle cry, all that darkness and angst. Now his sound has more light in it.”

For many, the right track works like a compass. It helps center their characters, grounding them in the emotional truth of the moment before any cameras start rolling. Take Will for example, “Will was very Philly in season one — by season three, you hear more of that LA vibe, indie artists, Coast Contra, reflecting his journey from Philly to LA,” says Carla Banks Waddles, the series show-runner. When navigating scenes of conflict, heartbreak, ambition, or reinvention, music becomes both preparation and protection: a private space to understand the stakes before bringing them to life.

Bel-Air thrives because it understands something timeless: young people translate their world through sound. Whether it’s Will wrestling with identity, Carlton navigating pressure, or Hilary stepping into adulthood on her own terms, music underscores each journey before a single line is spoken.

“There was only one scene where the director told me, ‘Just so you know, this song is playing underneath when this moment happens.’ And I was like, ‘Ooh.’ She was playing it on set the whole time,” Cassandra recalls. “But music changes for an actor not just based on the scenes we’re doing, but on how our day starts. Me, Coco, and Akira all show up earlier than everyone else because of hair and makeup, so we might be there at 4:30 or 5:00 AM. The music we listen to in the morning is either to wake us up or emotionally center us for the day. So that’s a lot of gospel, sometimes a lot of R&B. And then as the day goes on, it gets eclectic, depending on our mood.”

The cast continues to talk about how certain songs became tied to specific turning points, not just for their characters, but for them personally. “The soundtrack is such an integral part of the series, it really feels like another character in so many scenes,” Sholotan explains. “Snoop Dogg pops up, and moments like that really add to the fabric of the show. It’s always amazing to see how fans connect with the music once they experience it in context.”

A track that plays under a breakup scene doesn’t just mark a plot moment; it marks a memory. A hype anthem used before a high-stakes storyline becomes a ritual. The showrunner’s use of music as emotional architecture gives the cast something rare: continuity through sound. Behind the scenes, Waddles treats music like another cast member, one that needs direction, intention, purpose and “starts at the script stage.” Tracks are placed not because they sound good, but because they shape the way a scene lands emotionally and the price of course.

“We prioritize what we call our tentpole songs,” she explains. “Each song has a rating — four dollar signs means it’s an expensive piece of music — and we decide which big moments in the script are worth spending on. Then we allocate three, two, or one-dollar-sign songs for the smaller moments. That’s how we decide where to spend the budget on music, whether it’s for emotional beats or fun moments, and then we work backward based on what’s left.”

From West Coast energy to nostalgic R&B to mood-heavy modern rap, every sound choice is doing narrative work. It’s telling the audience what words never say out loud. If earlier seasons introduced the world of Bel-Air, this season sounds like the one where everything gets louder, emotionally, musically, and narratively.

By the time credits roll this season, the audience won’t just walk away remembering scenes. They’ll remember how those scenes felt. They’ll remember the soundtrack of growing up, Bel-Air style. Below, the cast shares their respective character’s season four arc as a mini-playlist.

Jabari Banks (Will Smith)

Image Credit: Anne Marie Fox/PEACOCK