Mr. Worldwide has nothing on this Midnite String Quartet cover.
The Big Picture
- Bridgerton Season 3 uses modern pop covers to enhance key romantic scenes, with violin renditions adding depth and meaning to love stories.
- The orchestra’s interpretation of Pitbull’s “Give Me Everything” in a steamy carriage scene adds humor and emotional resonance to Colin and Penelope’s relationship.
- Kate and Anthony’s relationship in Season 2 is beautifully highlighted by orchestral covers of songs like Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball,” reflecting their evolving love story.
Netflix’s hit regency drama Bridgerton, which just returned for its third season, has never been interested in hiding its many anachronisms, but embraces them, especially in its incorporation of classical covers of modern pop songs. Throughout the first two and half seasons of Bridgerton (and its 2023 prequel series, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story), viewers have been treated to a number of orchestral covers of songs from artists like Taylor Swift, Madonna, and, most recently, Mr. Worldwide himself, Pitbull. Fans of Colin (Luke Newton) and Penelope’s (Nicola Coughlan) slow friends-to-lovers relationship watched with bated breath during the carriage scene in the mid-season finale, which reaches a steamy crescendo to the tune of a violin cover of Pitbull’s “Give Me Everything.”
It’s become the defining scene of Season 3 so far, but this needledrop, which walks the line between sexy and unintentionally hilarious, still isn’t on the same level as one of the best from Season 2. Midnite String Quartet’s rendition of Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball,” which Kate (Simone Ashley) and Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) dance to in the Season 2 finale, is still Bridgerton’s best, reflecting the evolution of their relationship and making for an incredibly romantic scene to finish the season.
Bridgerton
The eight close-knit siblings of the Bridgerton family look for love and happiness in London high society.
- Release Date
- December 25, 2020
- Creator
- Chris Van Dusen
- Seasons
- 3
- Cast
- Rege-Jean Page , Julie Andrews , Jonathan Bailey , Ruth Gemmell , Polly Walker , Golda Rosheuvel , Phoebe Dynevor , Simone Ashley , Luke Newton , Nicola Coughlan
‘Bridgerton’s String Covers Work Best When They Have Real Meaning
The mid-season finale of Bridgerton Season 3 left viewers with a titillating Polin scene to mull over until the last four episodes drop on June 13th. This moment was highly anticipated ever since it was announced that their relationship would be the focus of Season 3, but the excitement of watching these two finally hook up is interrupted as you’re forced to ask yourself, “Is that really a violin cover of Pitbull’s 2011 smash hit ‘Give Me Everything ft. Ne-Yo’ playing in the background?” It sure is.
Bridgerton‘s showrunner Jess Brownell admitted it was she who picked the song, telling Vanity Fair, “I never thought I would pick a Pitbull song for a sexy moment, but the build of it just works perfectly.” And Brownell is right, it is a sexy rendition of “Give Me Everything” that works surprisingly well for the scene, and the original lyrics give a pretty clear indication of what we can expect from Colin and Penelope’s burgeoning relationship in Part 2. Even the inherent humor of a Pitbull needledrop in a regency drama ends up working to the scene’s benefit, which gets progressively steamier but ends with Colin and Penelope breaking into flustered laughter as the carriage comes to an abrupt stop at the Bridgerton house.
Season 3’s Pitbull needledrop, which he recently shouted out on his Instagram, proves Bridgerton‘s classical pop covers are best used when the song in question is relevant and meaningful to the scene. They can be a bit gimmicky at times, but at their best, these song choices add a new layer of meaning to a scene, particularly when it applies to the dynamic of the central love story, whether it’s Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) and Simon (Regé-Jean Page), Kate and Anthony, or Penelope and Colin.
‘Bridgerton’ Saved Its Best Needledrop for Season 2’s Kate and Anthony
In Bridgerton Season 2, Simone Ashley and Jonathan Bailey lit up the screen as Kate Sharma and Anthony Bridgerton, giving us an enemies-to-lovers romance for the ages. As the centerpiece of Season 2, Kate and Anthony’s relationship also gets some of the best needledrops of the series so far, culminating with their final dance to an orchestral cover of “Wrecking Ball.” Before Penelope and Colin’s steamy tryst set to Archer Marsh’s rendition of “Give Me Everything”, Kate and Anthony’s first sex scene in Season 2 featured an equally sexy adaptation of Calvin Harris’ “How Deep Is Your Love” by Kiris Houston. No song, however, defines Kanthony’s relationship better than “Wrecking Ball.”
Miley Cyrus’ 2013 hit “Wrecking Ball” still has a bit of an odd reputation due to its then-controversial music video, but the song itself is a beautiful power ballad about intense love and heartbreak. Anthony and Kate dance to an orchestral version of the song in the Season 2 finale, after Edwina (Charithra Chandran) has called off her wedding to Anthony upon discovering his feelings for her sister. At this point, Kate and Anthony’s relationship had essentially been exposed to the public, even though their unspoken connection was obvious to pretty much everyone but Edwina until her aha moment at their wedding. Despite the taboo image of Kate and Anthony dancing together after his almost-wedding to Edwina, they take to the floor together, and all eyes are quite literally on them. The dance floor clears as the chorus kicks in and Anthony tells her, “Just keep looking at me. No one else matters.”
The lyrics of “Wrecking Ball,” which explore themes of heartbreak and emotional vulnerability, are emblematic of Kate and Anthony’s tumultuous relationship and how quickly and intensely they fell for each other in spite of it all. Though they ultimately get their happy ending, the evolution of Kate and Anthony’s relationship throughout Season 2 was defined by heartbreak and longing, with their love being the metaphorical wrecking ball that upended both of their lives. In the original song, Cyrus sings about “a love no one could deny,” which describes Kate and Anthony’s undeniable chemistry and overwhelming feelings to a tee, and in the pre-chorus, she sings “I can’t live a lie, running for my life, I will always want you.” Yet again, another perfect descriptor of Kanthony’s relationship, who both tried to distance themselves from each other to overcome their feelings, which proved to be impossible.
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Kate and Anthony’s Final Dance Parallels Their First Dance of the Season
This final dance, which ends with Kate and Anthony doing what they do best – staring deeply into each other’s eyes – is also a full circle moment from their first dance together early in the season, to Vitamin String Quartet’s cover of Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own,” during which they’re actively (and unsuccessfully) trying to suppress their feelings for each other. Their first dance to “Dancing On My Own” reflects their sense of loneliness as they’re stuck with unwelcome feelings for someone they couldn’t possibly end up with, while their final dance to “Wrecking Ball,” shows them unencumbered by the opinions of others and ready to proclaim their love. Whether they’re being used in a cheeky way or to add more depth to the central love story, Bridgerton‘s orchestral pop covers are something to look forward to every season, and the remaining episodes of Season 3, which hit Netflix on June 13, are sure to bring even more bangers disguised as string quartet cover songs.
Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1 is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.
This article was originally published on collider.com