Paul Anthony Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon in the 'Love Story' finale.

Eric Liebowitz/FX

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[This story contains spoilers from the Love Story finale, “Search and Recovery.”]

Since Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette debuted on FX last month — just ahead of Valentine’s Day — the show has become a pop culture phenomenon. It’s boosted attendance at New York City filming locations like Panna II Garden Indian Restaurant and Bubby’s, sparked fans to replicate the couple’s signature style and even inspired JFK Jr. lookalike contests.

The same frenzy has taken hold online. Scroll through social media — especially TikTok — and Love Story content is likely dominating your feed. Songs from the show has also become a consistent part of those posts.

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Featuring artists ranging from Radiohead, Björk and Lenny Kravitz to Stereolab, the Velvet Underground and Dido, the music helps transport audiences back to the era. The anthology series, which follows the romance and tragedy of JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette, was created by Connor Hines and executive produced by Ryan Murphy — and its impact extends to the charts. The show holds four of the top 10 spots on Billboard’s Top TV Songs chart for February, including the entire top three.

The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Love Story music supervisor Jen Malone about how she curated the series’ tracks, stayed authentic to the time period, secured key artists and crafted the emotional soundscape behind that heartbreaking finale.

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Fans love the ’90s fashion in the series, and the music is also so beloved. What have you made of the reaction to the soundtrack. Did it exceed your expectations?

It’s definitely exceeded my expectations. This show is such a joy to work on. I grew up in the ’90s. I lived it. So being able to put some of my favorite and iconic ’90s songs in the show was so exciting. But the reaction has been amazing. I’m so happy because everybody who worked on the show made it with so much love and to feel that back from the audience, especially for the music and have people really connecting with all of the songs has been really special. The music is hitting core memories for a lot of people. People have been reaching out to me, saying, “Oh my God, I remember the first time I heard this song,” and then they share that story with me. The music is definitely hitting people’s hearts. And then the younger kids on TikTok, jamming out to some of these songs, whether it’s Lenny Kravitz or Cocktail Twins. Gen X has the best generation for music. (Laughs.)

Where did you start in your process of finding the sound of the show? Was there a certain source of inspiration?

I went through my personal playlist of favorite ’90s songs and organized them by year. We 100 percent wanted to be period-authentic. So there had been times where there’s a song that came out in 1996, but we were in the 1994 episode and we didn’t use it because we wanted to be really accurate with the year that we were in John and Carolyn’s lives. We really wanted to make it a universal type of soundtrack. So being able to put in some of the non-iconic songs — whether it’s Slowdive or Cocktail Twins or Low — but also have everything like iconic songs from Goo Goo Dolls to The Cranberries. Everybody was really open and supportive to give this show a very wide breadth of what the ’90s were.

Paul Anthony Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon in Love Story.

How do you think that helped create a more authentic feel?

It’s a journey of the music that came out as it evolved, and those new records kept coming out. This was pre 9/11 and the world was very, very, very different — not only before the internet, but before 9/11. It was such a special time, especially in New York, and I think the show really captured it. Using ’90s music and period-authentic music helped support that story and the journey of John and Carolyn through their relationship. Music can be very, very powerful in that way of transporting you to a moment in time.

Were you able to discover what music/songs John and Carolyn actually liked in real life, and did any of them make it into the show?

I know that John loved classic rock. So one of the scenes where he’s listening to his Walkman — we used a Tom Petty song. That was a nod to his personal tastes. But Carolyn, as everybody knows, there’s not a lot of really personal information about her. So it was just taking a little leap. I think, of course, they would be dancing around the house to Common People. I think everybody dances around th

Love Story Soundtrack: Inside the Viral '90s Music Taking Over TikTok