Queen Charlotte soundtrack: every orchestral cover in the Bridgerton story Netflix show

10 May 2023, 17:27 | Updated: 31 May 2023, 17:43

Watch the trailer for Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story

By Maddy Shaw Roberts

Here’s every pop song, from Beyoncé to Alicia Keys, that gets a classical cover in Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.

Bridgerton. It’s Netflix’s historical fiction-romance universe, that has managed to convince us all that ‘Halo’ might work better as a harpsichord hit (really – take a listen here).

Its ever-growing soundtrack of expertly crafted orchestral pop covers is every bit a mirror of the franchise’s wonderfully contorted and genre-bending aesthetic.

And in Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, the new spin-off prequel, all the covers have one thing in common: from Beyoncé to Alicia Keys, they are in homage to a song by a Black artist.

Composer Kris Bowers and the Vitamin String Quartet are once again central to the score, weaving well-known pop melodies into a sumptuous orchestral bed of sound for this origin story, which delves into the love story of King George and Queen Charlotte, played by Golda Roushevel with her younger self played by India Amarteifio.

India Amarteifio plays the young Queen Charlotte in the new Bridgerton prequel. Picture: Alamy

Queen Charlotte also features a recording from a 70-plus piece orchestra made up entirely of women of colour, including 37 Chineke! Orchestra members. The Global Orchestra, created by Netflix, Shondaland and Alicia Keys, recorded Keys’ ‘If I Ain’t Got You’ on the 20th anniversary of the song.

Arsema Thomas, who plays, the young Lady Danbury, is quoted as saying: “The music in this season is amazing.”

We explore the score, composed once again by Kris Bowers, and the new orchestral pop covers making waves in the new Netflix series.

"If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys ft. Queen Charlotte's Global Orchestra | Netflix

What are all the pop covers in Queen Charlotte?

Here are all the classical pop covers on the new Queen Charlotte soundtrack, from Beyoncé and Whitney Houston to a new classical piece from composer Kris Bowers, ‘A Feeling I’ve Never Been’.

A Feeling I’ve Never Been – Kris Bowers, Tayla Parx
Halo (Beyoncé) – Brian Chan and Caleb Chan
If I Ain’t Got You (Alicia Keys) – Vitamin String Quartet
Déjà Vu (Beyoncé) – Alexander Leeming Froudakis and Mike Froudarakis
Run the World (Beyoncé) – Brian Chan and Caleb Chan
Nobody Gets Me (SZA) – Brian Chan and Caleb Chan
I Will Always Love You (Whitney Houston) – Vitamin String Quartet
If I Ain’t Got You (Alicia Keys) – Alicia Keys, Queen Charlotte’s Global Orchestra

What other tracks feature in the Queen Charlotte score?

There are 18 other pieces in the main Queen Charlotte score, including the Main Title.

It’s a little more paired back than the scores for Bridgerton seasons one and two, confirmed by composer Kris Bowers who said he wanted it to have a simpler, less opulent feel than the main series.

“Tonally, I wanted the score to feel a bit more grounded,” he told goldderby.com. “The instrumentation was intentionally much smaller in moments where we are with the young Charlotte.

Hugh Sachs as King George, Golda Rosheuvel as Queen Charlotte. Picture: Alamy

“And then we go to the present-day Queen Charlotte that we know from ‘Bridgerton,’ the palette is a little closer to the ‘Bridgerton’ sound,” the composer added.

See the full tracklist for the Queen Charlotte score below.