Swapped's Composer Built a Score From Instruments Across an Imagined Earth
Composer Siddhartha Khosla wrote the score for Swapped, the animated film from Skydance Animation and Netflix, and he built its sound around an invented planet. Speaking at Deadline's Sound & Screen Film event, he described an alternate Earth with different continents, each with its own musical language tied to its ecosystem, according to Deadline.
The story is simple to explain. A tiny woodland creature and a majestic bird swap bodies and team up to survive. Netflix describes the film as a Freaky Friday-style adventure set in the wild. Michael B. Jordan, Juno Temple and Tracy Morgan voice characters in the film. Nathan Greno directed it, and John Lasseter and Mary Ellen Bauder Andrews produced it.
The music is where the imagined world gets its texture. Khosla said the score uses instruments from real continents, including Indian violins and English violins playing the same themes. A 90-piece orchestra performed the score, and the final mix was done at Abbey Road Studios in London.
Khosla also appeared on stage at the Sound & Screen event, where he played the harmonium. He wore a kurta, a long tunic common across South Asia. Deadline's lineup for the event, published on 6 November 2026, had listed him as the composer for Swapped ahead of the session.
The film has already reached audiences in more than one way. It was released in a limited run in cinemas as well as on Netflix, and the soundtrack came out alongside the debut, Khosla said in a May 2026 post. Netflix has offered its own films through a deal with Skydance Animation since October 2023, when the two companies agreed to a multi-year arrangement to develop and produce animated features for release on the streaming service.
Skydance has also pointed to the film's performance. In an investor document published on 4 August 2026, the company said Swapped was on track to become Netflix's second most viewed original animated film.
For a composer, the job usually starts long before the picture is locked. Khosla's account shows how much of a score can depend on a single decision made early, such as which instruments stand for which place. Anyone who has ever hummed a film theme may find it useful to know that the tune was planned as a map.
