Who died, and who did the killing?

That’s the central mystery of “Big Little Lies,” HBO’s limited series based on Liane Moriarty’s novel of the same name. But like the book, the show does not bask in that single question. It asks so, so many. Like, why does Madeline (Reese Witherspoon) drive a Buick? How much does it cost for Renata (Laura Dern) to clean the windows of her glass house, from which she’s always throwing stones? Is there a cannibal at the Otter Bay School? And if so, is it Perry (Alexander Skarsgård), secretly reprising his “True Blood” role for that maximum HBO synergy? There is, however, one question that trumps them all: How does six-year-old Chloe (Darby Camp) have such deep, varied taste in music? And what does it mean?

Chloe’s taste in music is not a minor aspect of her character—it defines her. We’re supposed to recognize that early on in the show, when she says to classmate Ziggy (Iain Armitage), “When I grow up, I want to run a massive label.” This girl is a mogul in the making. She’s not thinking of limited runs of hissing cassettes—she’s dreaming of Grammys. Hell, she’s wearing Apple earbuds around her neck in numerous scenes, including the opening credits.

In both the book and the series, Chloe is first introduced via musical circumstances. In the book, she puts her mother in her place for bad taste, after Madeline starts ad-lib mom-rapping on the way to school orientation. Meanwhile, the show introduces Chloe by way of her car-stereo domination, blasting PJ Harvey’s “The Wind” on the way to that same orientation. Basic NorCal mom Madeline—whose Fleetwood Mac knowledge extends to Rumours and whose favorite Neil Young song, we’re safe to assume based on the show’s syncs, is “Harvest Moon”—is obviously not the hip influencer responsible for her first-grader’s exquisite taste, and so she asks Chloe to turn Polly Jean down. For what?

It can’t be a fluke on the part of the show’s creators that Chloe’s soundtrack picks are so spot-on. When she listens to Charles Bradley’s “Heartaches & Pain” before school, she’s steeling herself for the day ahead. Her choice of Janis Joplin’s version of “Ball and Chain,” a song that tells of a woman staring out a window while bummed out about love, is basically the arc of Madeline’s romantic life. She knows how to comfort her mother, too, which we see when she uploads Alabama Shakes’ “This Feeling” onto Madeline’s phone after Abigail (Kathryn Newton), Madeline’s oldest daughter and Chloe’s step-sister, decides to move in with her father, Nathan (James Tupper). And the folksy yearning of Villagers’ “Nothing Arrived” is certainly suited for consoling her mother after she gets into a car accident, then has to lie about why she was in the car in the first place.

“Big Little Lies” music supervisor Sue Jacobs has done some press since the show began airing last month, and she commented on Chloe’s taste—but only in a way that justifies it as an emotional signifier. “It’s all about tension, the whole push and pull of all of the music as a counterpoint,” she told Vulture. “That’s why Chloe is always carrying an iPod.”