‘The White Lotus’ finale: How Billy Preston’s ‘Nothing From Nothing’ fit into the show’s final scene
Warning: This story contains spoilers for The White Lotus Season 3.
When it came to the last moments of Season 3 finale of The White Lotus, having the song “Nothing From Nothing” playing was everything.
As those who survived went their separate ways, Billy Preston’s 1974 hit tune helped draw the HBO episode to a close and played during the credits. The lyrics — “Nothing from nothing leaves nothing/You gotta have something if you wanna be with me” — not only spoke to the fates of the luxury vacationers as they sailed off, as well as their motivations during the season, but it evoked a scene earlier in the season.
Wealth guided many of the characters’ decisions. As the 90-minute episode ended, we saw the Ratliffs depart (all of them, despite it looking dicey for a moment there) to inevitable financial ruin due to Tim’s money-laundering scandal, which the family was about to discover once their phones powered back to life. Would Victoria and the kids stick by him — and live with nothing — if he’s not funding their lifestyles? Then there was Belinda’s decision to leave behind her Thai lover, Pornchai, and their spa dreams after she received a monetary windfall and put herself before him.
Meanwhile, Rick and Chelsea met their fate, driven by his obsession with his past. Preston’s song linked directly back to something he said in the second episode.
During a stress-management therapy session with Amrita, Rick talked about his parents’ deaths and he said he didn’t have an identity. “I’m already nothing,” he told her. “If nobody puts gas in the tank, the tank is empty. That’s not an illusion. The car won’t start. And nothing comes from nothing, right?”
What to know about ‘Nothing From Nothing,’ which turned 50 last year
Preston and Bruce Fisher wrote the song in 1974 and the pop-R&B singer-songwriter-keyboardist recorded it for his album The Kids & Me, which came out that year.
“Nothing From Nothing” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for one week in October 1974. The next year, Saturday Night Live premiere, and Preston was one of the show’s two first musical guests along with Janis Ian. What did he perform? “Nothing From Nothing.”
Preston was a child prodigy and at 11 performed on TV with Nat King Cole. Early on, he was a well-regarded session keyboardist and worked with the Beatles. He was affectionately dubbed the “Fifth Beatle” — well, one of them — playing a key role during their Let It Be sessions and credited on their record “Get Back.” He also toured with the Rolling Stones during the 1970s, before pursuing a solo career.
Preston won two Grammys. He died in 2006 and was posthumously inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, by Ringo Starr, in 2021.
According to American Songwriter, the “Nothing From Nothing” lyrics are “mostly a lark” but send the message from the singer to a relationship partner that substance is required — “You gotta bring me somethin’ girl” — if they’re going to have a future together. The lyrics are described as “playful and unpredictable.”
The song was written about in James Baldwin’s final novel, 1979’s Just Above My Head. In the 2000s it was used in Chevy car commercials. It was on the soundtrack of Jack Black’s 2008 film, Be Kind Rewind.
It’s remained part of pop culture. “Nothing From Nothing” was covered by Mac Miller in a 2018 Spotify session, and his recording was released posthumously. Jon Batiste wrote the score for 2024’s Saturday Night and portrayed Preston in the film, performing “Nothing From Nothing.” The same year, the song was used in Apple TV+ Peanuts special Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin.
Last year, there was the first-ever documentary about Preston titled Billy Preston: That’s the Way God Planned It.
The White Lotus music supervisor Gabe Hilfer talked to the Hollywood Reporter about the show’s music this season, saying his job is always to “help [creator Mike White] make [the show] exactly what he wants it to be.”
“You’re immersed when you enter The White Lotus, and we want music to be a part of that too,” he said.
Hilfer said with the show set in Thailand, authenticity was important, so he licensed Thai artists’ music. He also talked about why it would have been distracting to use the music of cast member Lisa, the global superstar and member of the K-pop group Blackpink, who played Mook.
“It’s just a little meta if you’re hearing their music while you’re seeing them onscreen but they’re not playing themself,” he said.
As for where Season 4 will be set, after Hawaii, Sicily and Thailand, White said on Max’s Unpacking the Episode he wants to get a little bit out of the “‘crashing waves against rocks’ vernacular. But there’s always room for more murders at the White Lotus hotels.”
The White Lotus finale is now streaming on Max.
