Like in Taylor Jenkins Reid‘s 2019, novel, Daisy Jones (Riley Keough) and Billy Dunne (Sam Claflin) meet for the first time in a recording studio when she is brought in to duet with him in the Daisy Jones & the Six TV series. However, the circumstances are slightly different in Amazon Prime Video’s adaptation. Firstly, The Six has already recorded their sophomore album in the book, having never been dropped from their label like in the show.
But the biggest change is also a subtle one: Daisy doesn’t rewrite the lyrics of the love song, just alters the way she sings them, making “questions as opposed to statements,” per Billy on the page. Their initial—and climactic—introduction is just as tense and thrilling in both versions and is a defining moment for the band, not to mention a sober Billy.
“Billy was writing songs trying to tell himself he had got it all under control,” keyboardist Karen says in the book. “And in about two minutes of singing, Daisy pulled the tablecloth from under his dishes.”
After their recording session, a concerned Billy calls his wife Camila (Camila Morrone) to tell her it was a “horrible” experience, despite everyone in the studio acknowledging they witnessed something special. In the book, the singer also complains to Camila, who tells him, “It’s not real life, Billy. It’s a song. Don’t get bent out of shape.”
However, “I couldn’t get over it,” Billy explains. “I did not like that Daisy turned those lines into questions and I didn’t like that she had felt the right to do it.”