From time to time I get requests from fans asking me about the song played during the intro or outro of my podcast and vidcast known as The Chillcast with Anji Bee. I must admit I’m always tickled that someone has found these brief musical interludes catchy enough that they want to have a copy of the song in their libraries, so today I searched my archive for the original wav files to share on my Bandcamp page.
Over the course of the series produced between 2005 and 2020, I actually used a few different versions of the theme song. The original song was created by my husband and I much in the style of the our Lovespirals album, Free & Easy, released the year prior. Our band podcast, Chillin’ with Lovespirals, used the album’s title track as our show’s theme song and I was looking for something similar for my music show. Ryan was happy to oblige, whipping up a funky baseline and drums topped with moody electric piano and bluesy guitar leads, to which I added my breathy vocals. “Ooh ooh ooh, uh huh — Chillcast!” became the epic calling card of my show, playing into the sensual and sassy persona I’d created for the network, PodShow, where I was known as “The Sexiest Voice in Podcasting,” according to founder and ex-MTV VJ, Adam Curry. This theme song first debuted on Chillcast Episode 10 posted April 24, 2006.
As I noted in the “info” tab on the Chillcast Themes Bandcamp release, in 2010 Lovespirals created a new recording of The Chillcast Theme. This new version was aired on Chillcast Video #37: Lovespirals World Premier posted January 28, 2010. My show notes say, “Ryan and I recorded a brand new version of The Chillcast theme song — which is now smoother than ever — plus I gave the Chillcast Video a new look and feel, from the intro, to the audio, to the show logo. Basically, I’ve been a very busy bee the past few weeks!” This newer version boasted better audio quality, less brash drums, more serene vocals, and a better overall mix. As this version was used for more than double the episodes of the first recording, it is likely the song that most listeners remember. It’s definitely my favorite!
Finally, in my post-PodShow/Mevio period, I briefly moved away from the show’s retro-70’s theme song in favor of a darker trap-inspired version of the song I created myself. This was due in part to the fact that my new network, Machine.FM, had their own station stinger I was obliged to open my shows with, but also because my musical focus had changed and I felt the vintage sounds no longer fit “the vibe.” Chillcast #430: Renegade [NSFW] was the first to feature my new theme song, which I mention in the show notes “I was anxious to debut.” I believe Chillcast #478: Here We Go Again was the final episode to feature it. Chillcast #479: Eternal Sunshine [K-Pop Spotlight] used a song I had worked on with fellow podcaster, Fave Nitemare, called “Connected,” as the opening and closing music, while Chillcast #480 – Emotions and Chillcast #481 – Rushing Back both closed with “Connected” and used no opening theme song.
Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed this little trip down memory lane. To tell the truth, I have been feeling a bit disappointed in myself for having dropped out of podcasting once I got wrapped up in YouTube vlogging, and now that I’ve just spent the afternoon perusing my archives, I’ve grown quite sentimental for those early days of experimentation with what has become a huge moneymaking industry all these years later. I may just have to get back into making my early library of The Chillcast available on the Internet Archive for posterity. The first year or so were still pretty rough, nothing at all to compare to my later library of The Chillcast on Mixcloud, which began with Chillcast 203: Cupid’s Hunt V3 Valentine’s Day Mix.
As for Chillcast Video, most episodes are archived on YouTube: