The orchestral covers in Bridgerton Season 3 start off with a big “abcdefu” to the haters as Miss Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) begins her transformation from wallflower to talk of the ton. Making their grand returns are Misses Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift, plus newcomer Gayle and other contemporary hitmakers whose work flows seamlessly into the Bridgerton universe. 

Season 3 also debuts Bridgerton’s first original song, “All I Want,” in the second batch of episodes. The cover of the Tori Kelly tune was arranged by Bridgerton’s own Kris Bowers and will be heard in the second half of the season, along with new covers including Ariana Grande’s “POV,” Imagine Dragons’ “Thunder,” Demi Lovato’s “Confident,” Coldplay’s “Yellow,” Swift’s “You Belong with Me,” and Ellie Goulding’s “Lights.” 

The new tunes follow the major musical cue that has had the ton abuzz in the first half of the season: the orchestral cover of Pitbull’s “Give Me Everything,” which scores the long-awaited “carriage scene” from the books — when Penelope and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) get intimate for the first time.

“I think everyone was a little bit shocked that they were so in love with this Pitbull song cover for this sequence, of all things,” music supervisor Justin Kamps tells Tudum. “But the song is amazing, and it has this great build to it, and that’s what the scene really needed. It needed this anticipation and then an explosion into the main chorus of the song as we see what’s happening on-screen.”

All of this season’s music embraces Penelope and Colin’s blossoming from friends to lovers. 

“It’s a much more lighthearted feeling, I think, overall,” composer Bowers tells Tudum. “There’s obviously the ups and downs that we always have in this show. But with Colin and Pen being friends, with a lot of their interactions having a bit of awkwardness to them — and within this season there are so many stories that we dip into — there’s a lot of fun and lightness that we experience with the music and comedic moments.”

At the very least, the journey is much happier and more fun than that of Kate and Anthony in Season 2. “I remember writing their theme only having read the first handful of episodes,” says Bowers. “And I told myself, ‘There’s no way this won’t have a moment of tragedy at some point.’ So the theme I wrote in its first iteration carried that potential tragedy to it. But each time it’s used, it’s reacting to whatever scene it’s being used in. So it becomes malleable, and it feels positive. It feels uplifting or emotional in different ways.”

Penelope and Colin’s ups and downs are chronicled in Bowers’ new themes for the characters, both separately and together, which “infused a new feeling into the sound and score for this season,” he says. “My thinking behind Colin and Pen was how much of it was this timidity and this two-steps-forward, one-step-back kind of thing. The theme that I wrote melodically has this shape to it that’s meant to evoke [that] feeling.”

Bowers also composed an orchestral version of the original song “All I Want,” which was written by nine-time Grammy nominee Rogét Chahayed (Doja Cat’s “Kiss Me More”), Wesley Singerman (Jennifer Lopez’s “Butterfly”), Taylor Dexter (Joji’s “Die for You”), and Nicole Cohen (Meghan Trainor’s “Sensitive”). Singer Kelly performed the new tune live at the Bridgerton wedding and the May 13 world premiere.

And then, of course, there are the instrumental covers for which Bridgerton is known. Kamps tells Tudum that his first step in selecting the right songs is to read the script and glean the themes of each episode. 

“Sometimes initially it’s about what matches the choreography, and then later it’s about what matches the scene and the emotion,” Kamps says. “We have a lot of covers that aren’t necessarily part of ball sequences this year, and it’s because we found some cute places to insert something that can play as a fun cover [but] doesn’t necessarily have to be attached to a dance sequence.”

Spotify listeners have embraced Season 3’s string covers, boosting the listenership of some songs exponentially. Vitamin String Quartet’s “Cheap Thrills,” for example, was up 9,500% after the release of Season 3, Part 1 — and Sia’s original version of the song spiked as well. Try listening to your own, personalized Bridgerton soundtrack with Spotify’s Dearest Gentle Listener playlist, which will create a unique playlist for each user with songs of “passion and romance” inspired by the music of the show.

Read on to find out more about the pop covers you hear in Bridgerton Season 3, streaming now on Netflix.

Episode 1

“abcdefu” 

“What a way to kick off the covers for the season,” Kamps tells Tudum. “I think Gayle herself is such a badass. And if you’ve ever seen Gayle perform when that song comes on, everyone is shouting it, and it’s a big energy. The attitude of that song really reflects what Penelope is feeling in that moment and her being strong –– being out there as she wants to be represented and that energy drawing the attention and eyes of everyone in the room.”

Episode 2

“Dynamite”

“We’re hearing it during one of the ball sequences,” Kamps says. “That’s a perfect, light, dancy song for our dancers to have been choreographed to.”

“Jealous”

“It is literally playing when Penelope finally finds that she’s enjoying talking to one of the suitors and having a good time, and Colin clocks this from across the room and, yeah, maybe he starts to feel a little jealous,” Kamps says. “It is one of my wife’s favorite songs, and it’s a great melody.”

Episode 3

“Cheap Thrills”

“This is the one that brings us into the Innovation Ball, I believe it’s called, where you have all these futuristic technologies on display,” says Kamps. “Another amazing track. It’s a great entrance to the ball.”

“Happier Than Ever”

“This was a song that actually was used on set for the choreography for this, which doesn’t always happen,” Kamps says. “This is another special moment where that song was just the right song for that dance and also made sense thematically. Colin watches Penelope dance with Lord Debling as he had almost gathered the courage to say something to her about his feelings, and then he has to stand there and watch as Penelope dances with Lord Debling instead of himself.”

Fun fact: Spotify streams of this cover spiked a whopping 11,000% after the release of Season 3, Part 1.

Episode 4

“Snow on the Beach”

“Every year is Taylor’s year, as we know, and she’s just bigger than ever,” Kamps says. “I’m very excited that they gave us permission to use the song because I think it’s a beautiful moment. It’s Colin finally making a decision to do something with these feelings he’s been starting to feel throughout these first four episodes and doing the shocking thing of interrupting the dance to speak with Penelope. Penelope’s shocked at what’s even happening — she can’t believe this is happening to her, which is what the song lyrics are about.”

“Give Me Everything - Stripped Down”

“It’s a little bit outside of the sound of the covers we normally hear,” Kamps teases. “It almost leans further into a pop sound, slightly, just because the original song is such a banger pop track. It’s an explosion of emotions for these two characters that has finally boiled over into this moment, and I feel like the song really reflects that. It’s just like, ‘This is it. Give me everything. Here we go. Let’s do this.’ And I feel like it’s going to give fans and everyone who’s been waiting for this such a cathartic release.”

Episode 5

“POV”

Yes, like Taylor, you’ve heard Ari on the show before. But, says Kamps, “We’ve got some returning artists this season because they’re still out there making huge hits.” Can’t argue with that! 

“POV” scores Penelope and Colin’s first time making love, “a very sensual and delicate scene” that “needed the right song to thread the needle of emotions and everything that’s happening,” Kamps explains. The song ended up being “pretty and emotional and heartfelt and really expresses the love that is literally on display in that sequence.”

Episode 6

“Thunder”

Kamps’ process for choosing the string covers starts from reading through the scripts and figuring out each season’s themes. “So I start to try to think of songs from the past that could maybe work for this, and then also current hits that could possibly make sense,” he says.

“Confident”

The same artist behind the Pitbull cue also arranged this cover of Lovato’s boss bitch anthem — and one other song this season. 

Episode 7

“Yellow”

Kamps’ search for the perfect string cover lasts “throughout the entire season,” he says. “I’m just constantly looking for new covers!” But “Yellow” is one championed by Mr. Colin Bridgerton himself. When Tudum caught up with Newton shortly after it was revealed that Colin and Penelope would be the focus of Season 3, he said he was hoping for the Coldplay hit “because of Penelope’s dresses.” But once Pen has her glow-up, the song is the only “Yellow” she endures this year.

“You Belong with Me”

“It was a joy to get to use another Taylor Swift track, and this is just a classic one,” Kamps says. The Swiftie classic plays during Polin’s wedding breakfast, when the newlywed couple decide to embrace the spotlight and share a romantic, celebratory dance. “It’s such a cute moment to see everyone looking at them like, ‘What are you guys doing?’ And then slowly, everyone’s like, ‘You know what? No, let’s join.’ It’s very sweet and heartfelt, and I feel like the song reflects that.”
 

Episode 8

“Lights (Stripped Down)”

Marsh’s third cover this season scores the Featherington sisters’ joint ball, secretly paid for by their youngest sister. “Right before it plays, we see everyone coming in and seeing [everything], like, ‘Wow, this ball, it’s incredible. Oh my gosh, it’s amazing,’ ” Kamps says. “Then we jump straight into the middle of the ball and everyone’s having fun, and this song plays. It’s almost like a DJ pressed play on this really fun, hipper sound to a string quartet than we’ve had in some of the previous seasons. I really like the light and bouncy feeling of the song.”

“All I Want”

Bowers tells Tudum that he always wants his covers to feel “so palpable” that they trigger your “emotional memories” of listening to a song’s original version. “There’s a lot of study for me of listening to all of those production elements, all of those vocal elements, and figuring out how I can transpose those into the orchestral arrangement.”