As a little girl, Lisa Hanawalt obsessively drew horses. In 2010, her old high school friend, writer-producer Raphael Bob-Waksberg, used some of those illustrations to pitch a show about a depressed, talking horse. Now, as the production designer and producer for Netflix’s hit series BoJack Horseman, Hanawalt’s clever touch runs throughout the cartoon’s absurd world, from characters like an ambitious mouse-girl who wears a necklace with a block-of-cheese pendant to playful background details like a poster for the rabbit boy band Bun Direction.

Earlier this year, Hanawalt created another animated show, Tuca & Bertie, about two vibrant, anthropomorphic bird ladies. Tuca, a loud and freewheeling toucan (voiced by Tiffany Haddish), and Bertie, an anxious data processor at “Condé Nest” media (Ali Wong), live in a surreal realm where household objects are sentient. Still, they deal with relatable issues like addiction and workplace harassment. While writing Tuca & Bertie, Hanawalt made individual playlists for her bird heroines to help define them in her mind. “Bertie had a lot of really earnest, horny music, like Carly Rae Jepsen,” she says over the phone. “‘Make It Bun Dem’ by Skrillex and Damian Marley was such a Tuca song. That’s the number one song that I listen to if I want to dance.”

Hanawalt’s own musical taste is as colorful as the characters she creates. Raised in Palo Alto, California on a steady diet of “Weird Al” and Paul Simon, she gravitated to hip-hop as a teenager, favoring Sir Mix-a-Lot, the Notorious B.I.G., and Digital Underground. She also counts Depeche Mode as one of her all-time favorite bands; as she recalls, “I used to play [the computer game] Civilization for hours while blasting Music for the Masses.”

These days, Hanawalt favors bright, upbeat dance tunes, often while walking her dog or driving around Los Angeles. “I get a lot of ideas for animations when I’m listening to music,” she explains. With BoJack Horseman’s sixth and final season kicking off this month, Hanawalt shared her favorite music of the moment.

Lisa Hanawalt: I love everything Hot Chip’s ever done. I like how emotional and playful and silly their music is. It feels good in my body. A lot of my favorite music is like that: pop music that could just go on for an eternity. I’d love to do an album cover for them—just putting that out there. I’m shooting my shot.

I could listen to “Sunset People” for 20 hours and not get sick of it. It’s laid-back and exciting at the same time; it’s just mesmerizing. Donna Summer had the voice of an angel. One of my favorite things to do is drive around L.A. at night and listen to music, and you can’t do better for that than “Sunset People.” Coincidentally, Hot Chip have remixed “Sunset People” a few times. I really like what I like, I guess.

Listening to this gives you Big Dick Energy, but it’s dangerous, because you have to remember you don’t actually look cool doing it. Nobody’s going to see you driving by and think, “Oh my God, that person’s so cool.” It’s just a complete fantasy in your head. This song really gets you into that mode.

I saw Chanel Tres open for Robyn, and he was so sexy and cool, but I really don’t go to live shows that much because I find them uncomfortable. I don’t like being jostled and I’m short, so I always have my view blocked. But when it comes down to it, I do like jumping around with a sweaty mass of people—as soon as I’m not scared of being trampled, it’s so ecstatic.