There’s a lot you won’t recognize about Netflix’s One Day at a Time, which reimagines the classic Norman Lear sitcom with a Cuban-American family in Apartment 402. The iconic theme song, “This Is It!,” however, remains the same — with one crucial difference: The new version has been reworked by powerhouse couple Gloria and Emilio Estefan, and is now performed by Gloria, who was in her senior year of high school when the original CBS comedy premiered in 1975. “I was instantly hooked,” she told Vulture in an email. “Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that one day I’d have the pleasure and honor to record a new take on that classic theme song that was etched in my brain since I became one of the show’s biggest fans! And to know that one of our Latina icons and good friend, Rita Moreno, is starring in this fantastic reboot, and the legendary Norman Lear is still at the helm, makes this one of my favorite experiences in my career.”
Lear serves as an executive producer on the project, along with co-showrunners Gloria Calderon Kellett (How I Met Your Mother) and Mike Royce (Everybody Loves Raymond), who developed it together. The video features old cast photographs as well as Calderon Kellett’s family, who is Cuban-American, and the song includes a couple of mentions of the show’s title in Spanish, Un Día a la Vez.
“When we decided to keep the original theme song because we all loved it so much and discussed updating it with the Latin rhythms, it was a no-brainer that it would have to be Gloria and Emilio Estefan,” Calderon Kellett said. “I often joke they are the king and queen of American Cubans. So it is a great privilege and honor that Gloria agreed to do it.”
One Day at a Time premieres on Netflix on January 6.
