As Season 1 of Hulu’s “Paradise” came to an end, showrunner Dan Fogelman alerted his co-music supervisors, Tom Wolfe and Manish Raval, that Graceland was going to be featured in the new season.

The dystopian show’s sophomore season kicks off in Memphis, Tennessee, long before the extinction-level event that would eventually level the planet. Viewers are given a glimpse into the life of Annie Clay (an exceptional Shailene Woodley). After spending her childhood as a caretaker for her mentally unwell mother, Annie perseveres, getting to her third year of medical school before a mental breakdown forces her to withdraw. Floundering and distraught, she takes a job giving tours at Graceland (Yes, Elvis Presley’s sprawling mansion) and befriends Gayle (Angel Laketa Moore), one of the property’s security guards. Annie and Gayle are together at Graceland the day a black cloud blankets the world.

Armed with that knowledge, Wolfe created a collection of Elvis covers rather than using actual Elvis songs. Speaking with Variety, he explained, “It’s in keeping with the tone of the show; we’re watching a world that seems familiar but really isn’t.”

With no shortage of Elvis covers, he says, “We split them into two camps. One was re-imagining — songs that were covers but sounded completely different than the original versions — and then ones that were faithful to the original versions and would be recognizable.” Because Elvis didn’t write any of his songs, obtaining the license to use the music proved easy. Aside from Elvis, Wolfe also dives into the stories behind finding covers of Phil Collins and Counting Crows songs.

Unchained Melody – She & Him featuring The Chapin Sisters

Zooey Deschanel recorded this version with her band. Wolfe explains, “We have a long history with Zooey because we did ‘New Girl.’ We love this song, and this song existed in one of those playlists, and our editor grabbed it for this scene.” In the case of “Unchained Melody,” where the song has been covered numerous times, Wolfe says, “We pick ones that we respond to or resonate with, or ones that we think have a dramatic type of color that would work in the show. This was just a version that we liked a lot.”

“Another Day in Paradise” – Soundwall

For the Phil Collins classic, Wolfe had used Joyner’s different version in season one, which he says “wasn’t as hyper-dramatic.” This was a needle drop that Fogelman had tipped Wolfe onto early. “We went out to people to see who might be up for the task of creating an ultra-dark version of this song. Soundwall was one of the people we reached out to. We had not been familiar with John Coggins, but he has a studio in Thousand Oaks. A friend introduced us to him, and he sent in this version. We thought it was so dramatic that it might get shot down for that reason, but Dan Fogelman loved it, and it worked great against the picture.”

“Can’t Help Falling in Love” – Ingrid Michaelson

In Episode 4, Wolfe used Ingrid Michaelson’s cover of Elvis’ classic. After the episode dropped, he said, “We got a nice note from her. She had forgotten that she had recorded this song, and this reminded her of it. She was really pleased with the use and that it got exploited again.” Wolfe adds that the cover was over 10 years old, but when he put the song to picture, he knew he had a “keeper.”

“Mr. Jones” – Freedom Fry

“This was another situation where we knew we wanted to possibly reprise the Counting Crows song from the beginning of the episode. We reached out to friends of ours or people that we work with or know, and Freedom Fry is a husband and wife musical team based here in L.A.” Wolfe says, “We went to them and said, ‘Would you be interested in doing this?’ And they’re always game to do something, and they turned this version in, and everyone loved it as soon as they heard it. The editors, Dan Fogelman, and the other producers loved it, and it went right onto the end of episode five.” He adds, “It’s the opposite to the hyper-dramatic covers that we’ve been talking about. It’s small, intimate, and it’s acoustic, with just voice and guitar.”

“The Final Countdown” – Soundwall with vocals by Amelia McLean

Wolfe says, “The writer of the song, Joey Tempest, approved the publishing, but contingent upon having approval of what version we used. We submitted a different version of the song, which he denied because he wasn’t happy with the vocal performance, so this is another one we went to Soundwall with, and they came back, and then we submitted it to Joey again, and he approved it. He just had one note, and it was a word in the lyrics to one of the verses. John had used the wrong word, so we just had to switch that, and that was it.”