Season 2 of Bridgerton is upon us, dear readers, and the latest post from Lady Whistledown is music to our ears — literally.
As you may recall, the string quartets of Bridgerton Season 1 delighted the ton with renditions of Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy,” Ariana Grande’s “Thank U, Next,” Shawn Mendes’ “In My Blood,” and, lest we forget, the Duke of Hastings and Daphne Bridgerton’s honeymoon montage set to the sounds of Taylor Swift’s “Wildest Dreams.”
So it is with great pleasure that Tudum can reveal the official list of instrumental pop covers of your favorite songs that will be featured in the upcoming season of Bridgerton, which premieres March 25 on Netflix.
As Bridgerton showrunner Chris Van Dusen tells Tudum, “I chose all of these songs for very specific reasons. Each one is incredibly powerful and deeply emotional in its own special way. I always try many different songs for any one scene before landing on the perfect one to use. This season, I couldn’t be more thrilled about our musical playlist.”
Please grab your dance cards and prepare your playlists:
These pop covers are as integral to Bridgerton as the members of the Bridgerton family, and Tudum spoke with the series’ music supervisor, Justin Kamps, who makes sure these special tracks find their place in the season. He broke down why pop covers are key to telling Bridgerton’s sonic story, what songs were left on the cutting room floor and which songs the cast actually dances to when filming those iconic ball scenes.
Where do you begin when deciding what pop songs to include? Well, a lot of it has to do with the kind of music that Chris Van Dusen gravitates to. And he really loves big pop songs. So we start there and see what covers exist, and what we might be interested in based on the show as the episodes are coming together. And then we sometimes branch outside of pop for some specific moments, based on what comes up throughout the season. But pop is where we start, because it fits the style of the show, and it’s often using these super-recognizable songs that just add a lot of joy, which is what pop does in general.
It’s such a great way to ground the viewer with a modern lens into the Regency period. Exactly. The covers give it that little twist that connects the two eras.
To that end, why do you think these instrumental versions of pop songs strike the right chord — literally — for Bridgerton’s sonic story? It’s a good link for everyone to instantly recognize their own feelings in these characters that are in a very different environment than they are. But these songs that people know immediately help connect you even more to these characters. And, obviously, they’re all dealing with feelings that everyone still deals with now. But I feel like that added level of the covers just helps bring people in even more and just gives it such a unique style for these dance sequences.
Were there any artists who reached out and specifically said, “Please include my music in the next season?” It was just people all over the place. Of course, we’ve got Duomo coming back and Vitamin String Quartet coming back this season as well. And this season, there are a few songs that are currently unreleased, and you’ll hear them in the show first. We have a couple new covers from our amazing composer, Kris Bowers. He did the cover of “Material Girl,” and — a first for Bridgerton — a cover of a Bollywood song called “Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham,” which I’m really excited about. It’s a very beautiful cover. You’ll be hearing a cover of “How Deep Is Your Love,” the Calvin Harris x Disciples track, and a cover of P!nk’s song, “What About Us” from Duomo, who did the Taylor Swift track [“Wildest Dreams”] last year that everyone was obsessed with. And we’ll also have a cover of “Diamonds” by Rihanna, which worked out beautifully.
We see the cast dancing in many balls throughout the series. Does the cast know what songs are going to be playing during their pivotal dance moments? Do they ever suggest any songs for you to take a look at? I don’t think we’ve gotten any suggestions from the cast as far as songs to dance to, but a lot of times there’s a lot that we do working with the choreographer on the project and beforehand — before we even shoot — finding the right song with the right tempo, and the right time signature and everything. And oftentimes, the songs that they end up dancing to on set are not the songs that we end up using in the final cut. So sometimes they’ll dance to something completely different and have this whole thing in mind, and the cast might not even see what the final thing is until they are watching the premiere. There are lots of changes that we go through and also sometimes it might be just a straight up pop song that they’re dancing to and then we change it into a string cover later on.
Was there a song in this season you were adamant about being included and fought for, or one that you’re proudest of getting into the season? I am excited about the Harry Styles cover, “Sign of the Times,” because that one was a pretty difficult clearance. That one took the longest to get everyone to sign off on. I think everyone will really love it, but, yeah, there are honestly so many songs that I’m just like, “These covers are so beautiful. I hope people like them!” Even for these songs that are just huge songs that everyone knows, [an instrumental version] still breathes new life and brings them to a new audience, and in a different way.
What is something you think fans would be surprised to know about integrating these pop covers into the show? I feel like people think that all the covers are custom-made for the show, but some of them, like I mentioned, are already existing covers that we are editing and getting to fit in the show. So they can go out and listen, search up covers on Spotify or online at Apple Music or whatever and try to figure out what might make it into Bridgerton Season 3 or make their own soundtrack based on the books or something.
Speaking of Season 3, are there any songs that you’re just dying to use on future seasons of Bridgerton? I was a big fan of the Olivia Rodrigo album [Sour] this past year. And there are some songs on there that I would just love to get in there. I really love the song “Happier.” I thought that was such a beautiful and sad song. I don’t know if the right situation would come up for that, but I think that would be great, or “Traitor.” We did get some Olivia Rodrigo string covers this season, but just didn’t find the right place for them. So, that’s something I would like to include because I just think her songwriting is great and it makes for some beautiful string quartet versions. And there were also some great covers of Doja Cat and Dua Lipa that we got that we just didn’t quite find the right spot for that I thought were really fun, too.
What were the Dua Lipa songs? We got some of “Levitating” and “Don’t Start Now.” There were some really cool covers of “Levitating” that were kind of different sounding and so that would be cool to get some of those in. There’s a constant refreshing of fun, new options available because people like the Vitamin String Quartet are constantly putting out new [recordings] of covers of all the hits every few months. And then, we have all these other producers and songwriters that are interested in writing things. So, there’s always a refresh of like, “Oh my gosh, now this one came in and it’s the most beautiful song. We need to find a spot for it.” The goal posts change a lot.
Has anyone already pitched songs to you for Season 3? Season 3 is a fresh start, so we’ll be looking for and looking at a brand new round of songs and covers for that soon enough here. And, yeah, I’m always like, “We can’t fit everybody in, but I’m always open to anyone who’s interested.” It could be the most beautiful cover in the world, and I’ll think, “I really want to use this,” but if we just can’t find the right spot, we can’t find the right spot. And the great thing about the show is that, as you can see from the songs featured this season, we’re not always necessarily having to use the latest and greatest pop. We can go back and have a cover of “Material Girl,” or we can go all over the place. So, even if it doesn’t make it in Season 2, there’s still room for it to come back around. You never know.
What’s the best feedback you’ve gotten from an artist after featuring one of their songs? When Harry Styles’ team signed off, I was very excited about that because I was just like, “This is just a beautiful use.” So even though it wasn’t a direct, “We love this,” it felt like, “Ah, yes, they approved this, they’re giving their approval. They enjoy the sequence. And now, I can’t wait for all the fans to see it.” We’ll see, maybe I’ll hear from some artists this season, but that would be crazy. If someone reached out to me, I would be very, very shocked and impressed.
I would keep your eyes peeled on Twitter, Justin. I will! If Alanis Morissette was like, “I love the use of ‘You Oughta Know’ on Bridgerton,” I think my mind would be blown. And I would be like, “Oh my God, I can’t believe this.”
Is there anything else that you would want the fans to know? I am very excited for everyone to hear these songs. I really hope that they enjoy them. Reach out to me and let me know what’s been your favorite. I honestly just can’t wait to see the fan reaction.
Just wait till someone makes a poll for Season 3 trying to decide which Olivia Rodrigo song off “Sour” should be used. Yeah! Which one is your favorite?
You know where to find him, Bridgerton fans. Y’all let him know.
Watch Season 2 of Bridgerton on Netflix March 25, and make sure to check back with Tudum after the premiere for more stories from the ton.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
