Netflix recently announced the list of orchestral covers we’ll hear when Bridgerton season three part two premieres June 13.
The streaming platform’s hit historical romance series gives love (again) to Taylor Swift, this time a Regency era orchestral version of You Belong With Me. Other songs that will be getting the Bridgerton treatment are Ariana Grande’s POV, Coldplay’s Yellow, Demi Lovato’s Confident, Ellie Goulding’s Lights and Imagine Dragons’ Thunder.
Taylor Swift gets the Bridgerton orchestral treatment — again
This isn’t the first time the show has used orchestral covers of pop hits. In season one, the surprising strains (and strings!) of Swift’s Wildest Dreams were heard in the ballroom. So were Maroon 5’s Girls Like You, Shawn Mendes’ In My Blood, Billie Eilish’s bad guy, Ariana Grande’s thank u, next and Sufjan Stevens’ Love Yourself (Short Reprise).
For season two, we heard the Bridgerton version of Nirvana’s Stay Away, Madonna’s Material Girl, Rihanna’s Diamonds, Robyn’s Dancing On My Own, Alanis Morisette’s You Oughta Know, Harry Styles’ Sign of the Times, Kris Bowers’ cover of Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Pink’s What About Us, Calvin Harris & the Disciples’ How Deep Is Your Love and Miley Cyrus’ Wrecking Ball.
For the spinoff Queen Charlotte, an all-Black women musicians called the Global Orchestra featured covers of Beyoncé’s Halo, Déja Vu (feat. Jay-Z) and Run the World (Girls), Alicia Keys’ If I Ain’t Got You, Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You and SZA’s Nobody Gets Me.
And just to recap, the current season’s part one included Vitula’s cover of Gayle’s abcdefu; Vitamin String Quartet’s cover of BTS’ Dynamite, Sia’s Cheap Thrills and Billie Eilish’s Happier Than Ever; Shimmer’s Jealous by Nick Jonas; Atwood Quartet’s cover of Swift’s Snow on the Beach (feat. Lana Del Ray); and the new carriage theme song, Give Me Everything by Pitbull, AFROJACK and Ne-Yo (feat. Nayer).
Play it again, orchestra
Orchestral covers of streaming friendly songs aren’t new at all, however Bridgerton’s use has placed it in the mainstream media’s attention. At this point, it’s probably easy to guess which songs will get the treatment by paying attention to what’s popular on TikTok.
And before you think that it’s just the show’s producers riding the fad (and if that’s the case, nothing wrong with that), it’s not ONLY that. The social media platform’s users usually take a fragment of a popular song — better when it’s slowed down or even better, an orchestral version — and use it as a background to make video edits of their favorite scenes.
With Bridgerton doing half of the work, users have a ready-made video to watch over and over again. And if Netflix posts that video on their accounts, it drives up its engagement and that brings attention to the show — especially to those who are either unfamiliar to the storyline or remain unconvinced that a series based on romance novels is something they would be into.
Did I just stumble on a new (to me) strategy? What do you think?
Follow Us
Subscribe
