If you listened to the Vitamin String Quartet’s instrumental cover of “thank u, next” by Ariana Grande from season one of Bridgerton on repeat, you’re not alone. The six pop covers in the first season of the Regency romance were such a hit that there was no question there would be a new line-up of incredible instrumental covers in season two.
“I chose all of these songs for very specific reasons. Each one is incredibly powerful and deeply emotional in its own special way,” Bridgerton showrunner Chris Van Dusen told Netflix’s Tudum publication. “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.”
The soundtrack spans music from different decades, with one episode alone featuring a 1984 Madonna hit, a Rihanna single from 2012, and a Nirvana song from 1991.
“Pop is where we start,” Bridgerton music supervisor Justin Kamps told Tudum, “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.”
Here are the 10 pop songs that appear in Bridgerton season two—and the time-stamped moments you can hear them.
The Vitamin String Quartet’s cover of Nirvana’s “Stay Away” plays during a montage of Anthony going on dates with various women, managing Bridgerton household work, and sleeping with a woman who appears to be a sex worker. The fast tempo of the song, from Nirvana’s famous 1991 album Nevermind, fits the pace of Anthony’s urgency to find a wife.
Cover by: Vitamin String Quartet
When you can hear it: Starts around 11:45 of episode 1.
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2
“Material Girl” by Madonna
Madonna’s hit 1984 single provides the soundtrack for the first ball in season two of Bridgerton, hosted by Lady Danbury. As the doors open and the Sharma sisters walk in, they take in the ton dancing. The song plays in the background as Lady Danbury narrates eligible bachelors for the Sharmas.
The chorus— ‘cause we are living in a material world / And I am a material girl / You know that we are living in a material world / And I am a material girl—swells as Queen Charlotte makes her entrance to the ball.
Cover by: Kris Bowers
When it plays: At Lady Danbury’s ball in episode 1, starting around minute 27:15.
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In this ball scene, Queen Charlotte scans the young women in the room, she tries to decide who to name her diamond. The instrumental cover becomes almost haunting as Lady Danbury schemes to get Edwina named. The Queen ultimately heeds her friend’s advice and names Edwina as her diamond of the season—so the choice of “Diamonds” by Rihanna is a perfect choice.
Cover by: Hannah V & Joe Rodwell
When it plays: At Queen Charlotte’s ball naming the diamond of the season, starting around minute 54:21 in episode 1.
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4
“Dancing On My Own” by Robyn
Kate and Anthony dance for the first time, to the instrumental cover of Robyn’s electropop hit from 2010. The message of the song—which Robyn described as “the god-awful feeling of a woman who is watching her ex get with someone new at a club”—is apt for Kate, as she struggles to navigate her feelings for Anthony as he courts her sister. And the sexual tension in the scene is so thick you could cut it with a knife.
Cover by: Vitamin String Quartet
When it plays: When Kate and Anthony dance at a ball in episode 4, staring around minute 38.
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5
“You Oughta Know” by Alanis Morissette
After a disastrous dinner at Lady Danbury’s with Lady Mary’s parents, Anthony and Kate share a moment where he tells her, “Do you think there is a corner of this Earth that you could travel to far away enough to free me from this torment? I am a gentleman. My father raised me to act with honor, but that honor is hanging by a thread that grows more precarious with every moment I spend in your presence. You are the bane of my existence. And the object of all my desires. Night and day, I dream of you.”
The next morning, the angst of these two, and their desire for each other, is clear—Kate goes for a horseback ride, and Anthony sits in a bathtub, thinking. Lady Whistledown narrates, “Is it already too late to turn back to duty and away from desire?” What better soundtrack than the queen of ’90s angst herself: Alanis Morisette.
Cover by: Duomo
When it plays: The shot of Anthony in the bathtub is the first moment you can hear the song very clearly in Bridgerton—around minute 51:45 of episode 5.
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6
“Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham”
In a moving scene on the eve of Edwina’s wedding to Anthony, the Sharma sisters and their mother participate in a haldi ceremony, the traditional beginning of Hindu wedding rituals. The song, the title track of the Bollywood blockbuster Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, was released in 2001, is a poignant soundtrack to the most visible Indian representation in the season.
Cover by: Kris Bowers
When it plays: The haldi scene starting at 2:48 in episode 6.
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7
“Sign of the Times” by Harry Styles
According to Bridgerton‘s music supervisor, this was the hardest cover to get this season, calling it “a pretty difficult clearance.” But the effort paid off: the Harry Styles song makes perfect sense as Edwina and Anthony walk down the aisle on what is supposed to be their magical wedding day. It’s a song that speaks more to the romance of Kate and Anthony—Harry sings Just stop your crying / It’s a sign of the times / We gotta get away from here—and the (failed) wedding obviously becomes a big moment in their story.
Cover by: Steve Horner
When it plays: Edwina and Anthony’s wedding ceremony, beginning at 17:45 in episode 6.
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8
“What About Us” by P!nk
After Edwina leaves Anthony at the altar, various plotlines in Bridgerton move rapidly along. As all the members of the ton leave Queen Charlotte’s home, Lady Whistledown narrates, “Indeed, some may call a wedding the ultimate act of faith. While others would venture that it is the ultimate act of fools.” Eloise leaves her brother’s wedding and goes to see Theo at the printmaking shop, telling him that he often crosses her mind as she reads. Then the scene switches to the Queen sitting at her husband the King’s bedside, deep in thought, until she learns her servants may have found Lady Whistledown. The music cuts out just as Anthony and Kate share a moment in the chapel where Edwina has left them.
Cover by: Duomo
When it plays: Starts at 59:27 in episode 6.
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9
“How Deep Is Your Love” by Calvin Harris & Disciples
The closed captions as the music begins read Anthony [exhales deeply]. Soon, Anthony and Kate can’t keep their hands off each other and they are making love outdoors, finally consummating their slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance. It only took them until the end of the penultimate episode! This Calvin Harris song is really a deep house song, but the instrumental cover fits wonderfully in the moment: It’s all about intimacy and love.
Cover by: Kiris
When it plays: The sex scene between Anthony & Kate outdoors that begins at 49:41 in episode 7 of Bridgerton season two. (Netflix did not provide any stills of the moment, so this photo is from earlier in the season.)
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10
“Wrecking Ball” by Miley Cyrus
“Are you going to ask me to dance?” Kate asks Anthony. “One last time?”
“Are you going to say yes?” Anthony whispers back.
He takes her hand, and they walk onto the dance floor, as the instrumental cover of “Wrecking Ball” begins. The lyrics of the hit Miley Cyrus song make perfect sense for the duo: Don’t you ever say I just walked away / I will always want you / I can’t live a lie, running for my life / I will always want you. They have some very intense eye contact on the dance floor, which then leads to their declaration of love in the garden as fireworks explode around them.
Cover by: Midnight String Quartet
When it plays: When Anthony and Kate agree to “one last dance” at the Featherington ball in episode 8, staring around minute 48:57.
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