Each new season of “Bridgerton” brings a host of revelations: passionate romances. Prepared balls. Complaint dispatches. And string quartet versions of pop hits to accompany it all.
“We're always looking for covers that are fairly recognizable and also enhance the story we're telling,” said music supervisor Justin Kamps. “Sometimes we like simpler versions with a consistent tempo that's perfect for dance sequences, and other times we like ones that have a little more creativity in the arrangement, so they're a little more emotional.”
Choosing and placing orchestral covers for the Netflix series is a complex process, which begins with what YesJess Brownell, season 3 showrunner It's estimated to be “a playlist of maybe 100 or 200 orchestral versions of pop songs” that, with input from directors, producers and Netflix, is whittled down to about a dozen standout songs.
According to the economist, has given rise to a wave of classical musicians recording pop covers, booking string quartets for weddings and live events that fuse classical and pop music. After the release of the first batch of season three episodes last month, searches on Spotify for “Bridgerton” content increased by 1,700%, while the creation of “Bridgerton”-related playlists on Spotify skyrocketed almost a 400% in the US
“Bridgerton” features orchestral covers of pop music, but the show finally debuted its first original song.
(Liam Daniel/Netflix)
“It's been very exciting to see the sound of 'Bridgerton' solidify and become so popular,” said series composer Kris Bowers. “At first, it was really an experiment, but now that we've been at it for a few years, there's this huge ocean of classic covers of pop songs, whether it's the amount of people who were inspired by 'Bridgerton' or the people. “They make one in the hope of getting into the program.”
After performances of hits like “Dynamite” by BTS, “pov” by Ariana Grande and “You Belong With Me” by Taylor Swift, season 3 ends with an orchestral version of “All I Want,” the first original song from the series. franchise. The cover evokes the series' now signature sound (this one performed by a string quintet rather than a quartet, Bowers noted) and echoes the pop sensibility of the songs regularly covered for “Bridgerton,” which is coincidental. because the composers of “All I Want” didn't even know they were writing for the hit show.
“The goal was to write a love song for a Netflix project that could be the first dance at a wedding,” said Rogét Chahayed, who wrote “All I Want” with friends and fellow songwriters Wesley Singerman, Taylor Dexter and Nicole Cohen in the span of one day. “It can be a lot of pressure to write a song, but in the middle of the session, we all looked at each other and agreed that it sounded like a song you would want to hear at a memorable event that you share with your friends. family and friends.”
According to Bowers, an original “Bridgerton” song has been in the works for years; She was part of an attempt to create one for last year's spin-off series “Queen Charlotte,” but it didn't come to fruition. For “Bridgerton” fans, “All I Want” is worth the wait: The entire song features Tori Kelly's intricate vocals; Her lyrics are a litany of similes of perfect coincidences and lasting love.
“Many people [writing music today] Try to stay on top of TikTok and trends and things like that,” Chahayed added. “But we really wanted this song to almost survive social media and feel timeless, sound beautiful and say something really sincere.”
So, with all the work put into “All I Want,” why does the orchestral cover play during the closing credits of the final episode, a section that is regularly interrupted by Netflix trailers, instead of during a key scene from “ “Bridgerton”? It's a matter of time. According to Kamps, the initiative was “primarily spearheaded by the Netflix music team and the Netflix marketing team” for the “Bridgerton” wedding event earlier this year (Kelly premiered the first dance song between two newlywed superfans).
“Everyone loved the song so much that they wanted to try to find a way to incorporate it into the show as well,” he explained. “Kris then did an amazing job with the cover and we were looking for something [in the show] That made sense, but we had already found all these other places for the music we love. So now it's a lovely way to cap off the season.”
Fortunately, fans who want to hear “All I Want” in full, both the Kelly version and the orchestral version, can hear it on the season's soundtrack, which is now streaming on all digital platforms.
