Every Song in ‘Voicemails for Isabelle’ and Why the Soundtrack Hits So Hard

Netflix’s latest emotional gut-punch came with a playlist to match. ‘Voicemails for Isabelle’ is a romantic dramedy written and directed by Leah McKendrick that follows Jill, played by Zoey Deutch, a chaotic but lovable young woman struggling to cope with the tragic loss of her sister. The film arrived on the streamer on June 19th, and within hours the conversation online had shifted from the story to the songs.

The tragedy at the heart of the film revolves around the death of Jill’s younger sister Isabelle, played by Ciara Bravo, from cystic fibrosis. Jill continues calling her sister’s old phone number to leave life updates, not knowing that the number has been reassigned to Austin real estate agent Wes, played by Nick Robinson. What makes this film feel alive, beyond the performances, is how deeply its music is woven into that emotional architecture.

The ‘Voicemails for Isabelle’ Songs That Define the Film

Accompanying the original score, the movie’s tracklist is stacked with recognizable hits, threading the needle between family tragedy and new love, with the music perfectly reflecting that mixed tone. There are dance-floor anthems sitting right beside devastatingly tender ballads, and that tonal range is entirely intentional.

The full list of songs in the film includes “Dancing On My Own” by Robyn, “Almost Happy” by Laces and Butch Walker, “To Build A Home” by The Cinematic Orchestra and Patrick Wilson, “JOYRIDE.” by Kesha, “Walking at a Downtown Pace” by Parquet Courts, “Electric Love” by BØRNS, “marjorie” and “New Year’s Day” by Taylor Swift, “Beautiful Things” by Benson Boone, “San Francisco Blues” by Peggy Lee, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” by Tony Bennett, “Cherish You” by Mikky Ekko, “Show Me Love” by Robin S, and “Either Way I Lose” by Meshell Ndegeocello, among others.

The soundtrack was put together by music supervisor Season Kent, who previously worked on ‘People We Meet on Vacation’, while composers Este Haim and Amanda Yamate scored the 118-minute film. That combination of a sharp needle-drop curator and two composers with serious genre credits makes for a rare kind of sonic coherence.

The Robyn ‘Dancing on My Own’ Connection

No track in the film carries more emotional weight than the Robyn anthem that opens and closes the story. At the heart of ‘Voicemails for Isabelle’ is the beloved Robyn anthem “Dancing on My Own,” which the film reimagines as a tender tribute to sisterhood, resilience, and finding one’s way through grief. It is both a plot device and an emotional thesis statement for the entire movie.

Director Leah McKendrick has said that “Dancing On My Own” was always part of the script, describing Robyn as her “North Star” musically and sharing that vision with composers Este Haim and Amanda Yamate from the start of their collaboration. There was never a version of this film without it.

Music supervisor Season Kent described the song’s use by saying it becomes entirely told through Isabelle’s point of view, watching Jill from across the room, calling it heartbreaking and beautiful with the full package of a timeless song you can feel in your soul. That reframing is what gives an already iconic track an entirely new dimension inside the story.

How Taylor Swift’s ‘Marjorie’ Made It Into the Film

Securing Taylor Swift songs for a film is rarely straightforward, and McKendrick had to fight for this one. The director wrote Swift a personal letter to secure the rights to “Marjorie” and “New Year’s Day,” explaining how pivotal both songs were to the movie, acknowledging that having Este Haim working on the score did not hurt her chances, but that the letter was still a necessary and deeply personal act.

Composer Este Haim said that any movie with a Taylor Swift song is one she is in, while music supervisor Season Kent noted that “Marjorie” was a song McKendrick had in mind before shooting even began, and that once the team tried it in the edit, there was no going back. The song felt irreplaceable in context.

McKendrick also revealed she had originally envisioned a third Taylor Swift song, “London Boy,” for another scene in the film, but ultimately had to let it go, acknowledging she was already pushing her luck with two. It is a small but telling detail about how music-first her entire creative process clearly is.

The Score Behind the Soundtrack

Beyond the needle-drops, the original score brought its own level of craft to the project. Composers Este Haim and Amanda Yamate described one of their proudest achievements as recording a live orchestra at The Village, a legendary Los Angeles music studio, with Netflix’s support and McKendrick’s championing of the idea.

Yamate noted that the room at The Village was originally built for Fleetwood Mac, and that the session players they worked with were true legends of the craft, with some recounting having recently worked with John Williams and having first met on the recording of ‘Toy Story’. That kind of pedigree in the recording room shows up in the final product.

The film was produced by Todd Black, Becky Sanderman, Jason Blumenthal, and Steve Tisch, as a Netflix presentation from Sony Pictures of an Escape Artists production, with camera work by Julia Swain and editing by Lee Haxall and Ryan C. Fill. Every technical department served a story that music clearly led from the very beginning.

Benson Boone, Grief, and the Full Emotional Range

The soundtrack does not shy away from contemporary radio hits either, weaving them directly into the film’s most kinetic moments. McKendrick described running through the rain to Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” as a core vision she had while writing the film, and expressed how extraordinary it was to actually secure the very song that inspired the scene. That kind of music-first storytelling is increasingly rare in studio filmmaking.

The mix of upbeat dance-crying anthems alongside devastatingly beautiful tracks reflects the film’s ability to hold joy and sorrow in the same breath, giving the story a tone that is genuinely difficult to pull off. The playlist functions almost as a second narrator throughout the runtime.

The response from audiences so far suggests the music is landing exactly as intended, with fans across social platforms sharing which specific tracks broke them open. Whether it was the Robyn opening or the Swift mid-film gut punch that got you first, the question now is which song from ‘Voicemails for Isabelle’ you are currently playing on repeat and whether you think McKendrick was right to fight for “Marjorie” above everything else on the list.