Kendall Roy’s Succession cover of Billy Joel’s ‘Honesty’ has been given an official release as part of the season three soundtrack.
The character – played by Jeremy Strong – sang a clip of the 1978 track, released on Joel’s ‘52nd Street’ album, during an episode of the HBO hit series.
The full season three soundtrack of Succession was released today, featuring 21 tracks from the latest instalment of the show. Among the 21-track score by composer Nicholas Britell is a full-length version of Strong performing ‘Honesty’.
“Season three gave me such an exciting opportunity to explore new musical directions for the sound of Succession,” Britell explained in a press release. “From the FBI raid on Waystar Royco to the wedding in Tuscany, this soundtrack album showcases the wide scope of this season’s music. And as a very special bonus, we are pleased to include a full recording of Kendall Roy’s rendition of the Billy Joel classic, ‘Honesty.’”
It’s not the first time the fictional Roy has made his mark on the music world. In 2020, Britell gave an official release to the character’s rap track ‘L To The OG’, which fans saw him perform in season two.
Earlier this year, a writer on Succession revealed that a member of the Roy family was almost written as a gay character. “It’s interesting how characters take on a life of their own,” Georgia Pritchett said in an interview on the Homo Sapiens podcast.
“I had sort of advocated for Greg to be gay – until last season he hadn’t really done anything with anyone.”
In a four-star review of Succession season three, NME said: “Succession can risk feeling like a drama too obviously helmed by comedy writers, with its characters sitting in a circle firing off zingers. There is a reason it is particularly beloved in the media landscape. Where it has soared, over its 27 sublime episodes, has been when it has allowed its characters’ masks to slip and for dramatic change to actually occur.”
