Riverdale KJ Apa On the Role Of Archie's Music in the Show

01/17/2017 12:00 pm EST

Shortly after the premiere of The CW's Riverdale, a dark and moody exploration of the idyllic small town that's home to Archie Andrews and Jughead Jones, Archie Comics will release a one-shot featuring The Archies, a pop band fronted by Andrews.

That's likely a calculated move: while music has certainly played a role in Mark Waid and Fiona Staples' Archie reboot over the last year or two, The Archies haven't been as front-and-center as they once were. Music, though, is arugably the major thing driving Archie when he comes to live action next week.

Part of that boils down to one of the most controversial plot points that has already been released: Archie has an affair with Miss Grundy, his music teacher (who, played by Sarah Habel, is not the elderly woman fans might recognize from the comics but a stunning young teacher who picks up Archie seemingly innocently enough in the pilot).

"A lot of songs are about what he's experiencing, either with Grundy or the battle between Betty and Veronica," said KJ Apa, the actor who plays Archie, during a set visit in November. "You hear it in the lyrics, what it's about. He writes these songs, each song has a different story and whatever episode it's in, it plays in a moment where it can relate to what's happening in the scene."

Like many of the actors on the show, Apa is himself a musician, and so when you hear Archie sing and play on the show, that's the New Zealand-born actor's actual skills on display.

"I play a lot of guitar; I was on a scholarship at school," said Apa. "I love the musical stuff, and I have a lot of fun. We're also doing a lot of recording so every couple of weeks we go into a studio and we start recording, which is awesome because I've never really had a chance to do that."

Episode 6 features a variety show, which he said will be a good showcase for some of the show's musical talent. Besides Archie's own, that will include Josie and the Pussycats.

"Archie really admires the Pussycats and Josie and her musical talent because he's an aspiring musician and he wants to get better as well," Apa asid. "He tries to hang out with him and she doesn't want a part of it. She gets a little bit warmer to Archie. We don't have too many scenes with each other, but the few we do, it's been really great. I've got a feeling we'll be working a lot together with the music side of the show."

Getting her "warmer" might be an uphill struggle, though; Josie herself, Ashleigh Murray, told ComicBook.com not long ago that her character views Archie as a threat.

"We don't have time for Archie, especially me," Murray told us during a conversation at Comic Con International: San Diego. "Archie's a threat. Josie and her Pussycats are A-list in Riverdale. We're where it's at. Everybody knows if they want to have a good time, if they want their party to be poppin' with live music, it's got to be the Pussycats. So when this hot, good-looking guy shows up who happens to be talented and wants my guidance, it creates this dynamic of where I start to get nervous. There's also that issue with my Pussycats thinking he's cute, so there's some defiance going on and a crumbling in the empire."

MORE: Ashleigh Murray Compares Her Archie to Rachael Leigh Cook's / New Riverdale Photo Showcases Famous Love Triangle / Molly Ringwald is Archie's Mom! / First Riverdale Footage Released / Kevin Smith Wants to Direct An Episode of Riverdale / Riverdale Tie-In Coming From Archie Comics / Supergirl's Melissa Benoist Visits Riverdale, Hangs Out With Archie and Jughead / Ashleigh Murray Shows Off Riverdale's Josie and the Pussycats on Twitter / Riverdale Resumes Production, Showrunner Shares Class Photo / Robin Givens Cast As Riverdale's Mayor -- And It's Josie McCoy's Mom / Stranger Things' Shannon Purser Joins CW's Riverdale | Sabrina the Teenage Witch Could Come to Riverdale

Riverdale stars KJ Apa as Archie, Cole Sprouse as Jughead, Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper, Camilla Mendes as Veronica Lodge, and Luke Perry as Archie's father Fred Andrews, among others. The series' showrunner is Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Archie Entertainment's Chief Creative Officer and the writer of Afterlife With Archie, the publisher's wildly popular zombie series.

Riverdale will debut on January 27, 2016, on The CW. You can check out our review of the pilot here.

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