Music, Determination, and Asking for Help with Segun Akinola

Segun Akinola is a British-Nigerian composer for film and television. He is most known for his music in the three series of Doctor Who starring the first female Doctor, Jodie Whittaker. A BAFTA Breakthrough Brit 2017, Segun’s other work includes scoring Sundance 2019 favorite and World Soundtrack Award nominee The Last Tree, Apple TV+ feature 9/11: Inside The President's War Room, and the BBC's landmark series Black and British: A Forgotten History. His recent projects include Origin: The Story of the Basketball Africa League, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, and the  BBC series Kingdom, narrated by Sir David Attenborough. Segun talks with me about music as storytelling, the importance of determination and how we undervalue asking for help, the power of curiosity to drive learning, creative growth through collaboration, and a lot more. Episode breakdown: 00:00 Introduction 04:04 Discovering music as a child. 08:37 Transformers film sparked deep interest in movie music. 12:11 Access to YouTube helped him learn about modern composers. 16:39 More composers today due to online resources and courses. 20:19 Networking and persistence led to first professional composing gig. 24:07 Collaboration and peer learning valued as much as formal education. 28:04 Focuses on music as essential part of storytelling. 32:07 Creative growth comes from tackling difficult, unexpected musical challenges. 36:37 Film scores' emotional impact, balancing craft and artistry. 41:08 Fans and social media now deeply engage with film music. 45:27 Composing for Doctor Who brought excitement and creative freedom. 50:52 Always trying new styles, learning, and refining unique sound.     Want more? Here are handy playlists with all my previous interviews with guests in music and Doctor Who.   Check out the full show notes (now including transcripts!) at fycuriosity.com, and join us for the Follow Your Curiosity Creativity Circle. Please leave a review for this episode—it’s really easy and will only take a minute, and it really helps me reach new listeners. Thanks! If you enjoyed our conversation, I hope you’ll share it with a friend.