Microsfot: Worklab - A More Human Theme

The Creative Brief

For this project, I was approached by a creative studio (Run Studios) to reimagine the theme music for Microsoft’s podcast, Worklab. The creative director (Allie Fisher) stressed to me that Microsoft wanted a new direction for their theme. They wanted something optimistic and confident, something that felt like it had real stakes. Most important of all, it should not sound “corporate”. The music update was being timed with a brand refresh and new motion design, so they also wanted the music to match this new look and feel.

Developing the Concept

I knew right away that I wanted to explore something beat driven for this project. I wanted to steer away from the inspirational orchestral direction of the previous theme and into something that was more pop-music adjacent. It was also important that the theme feel like it had emotional weight to it. This was a podcast about the future of work and people have strong feelings about that, especially as AI and agentic workflows surround us on all sides.

For the cold-open section of the podcast, I wanted to start with something that felt intellectual and inquisitive. I turned to a combination of pizzicato strings and a synthesized mallet sound that felt like they were having a conversation with each other. This section leads into the main theme, which is a piano and string based arrangement with a breakbeat foundation. I loved the way the break immediately catapults the audience out of the intro, setting us up for a melody that felt optimistic without being overly sycophantic.

Iterating to Picture

Of the initial demos I sent over, there seemed to be a clear favorite so we started testing that track under the host’s (Molly Wood) voice to see how it would work in context. I realized almost immediately that it would need to be slower and that the drums would have to be filtered to remove some of the high end that was competing with Molly’s voice. I then took the intro from a separate demo track and used that as a way to lead into the main theme. This gave us the contrast that we needed for the theme to feel like it landed with power. After that, most of the work was getting the timing of the intro and outro correct so that it lined up with Worklab’s templates.

Takeaways

Although this is a podcast about work, I wanted to make sure that the music behind it felt truly human. Behind all the logos and brands and the technical business talk, this is a podcast about the future of work and how it will change going forward. That has real stakes for millions and millions of real human workers who are trying to figure out how to adapt. I wanted to honor that reality and make something that felt not just right for Microsoft, but something that felt truly human at its heart. While the world barrels towards automate and speed, I felt that the musical identity of this show should feel like it was crafted with care.