YouTube, France Télévisions link for animated pop music anthology series

Behind the Beats looks at the origins of different musical styles

An animated pop music anthology series produced by TeamTO and 22D Music Group in partnership with France Télévisions is set to premiere on YouTube next month.

YouTube Originals Kids & Family is on board Behind the Beats (26×5′) and will launch the first four episodes on November 18 on the YouTube Originals channel and YouTube Kids app.

The show will also launch on france.tv on November 19 and on France Télévisions by the end of the year.

The series tells the stories of how talented musicians with different styles came together, revealing the often-unexpected origins of new musical genres, such as new wave, rock ‘n’ roll, G-funk, reggae, electro pop and trap.

Episodes, which feature three songs each, include Punk Meets Disco (how Blondie paved the way to the new wave) and Gangsta Rap Meets P-Funk (how Snoop Dogg paved the way to G-funk).

Previously known as We Are Family, the series was pitched by French animation studio TeamTO at Cartoon Forum in 2019.

Created by Baptiste Jaquemet, it is produced by Corinne Kouper at TeamTO and Emmanuel Deletang at 22D Music Group. Securing the musical content, including clearance of artist rights, was led by 22D Music Group.

Craig Hunter, global head of kids’ and family originals for YouTube, is creative lead for the Google-owned platform on the series, with Zoë Di Stefano as creative executive. The creative lead at France Télévisions is Pierre Siracusa, director of youth programming and animation.