“Yellow” is perhaps Bridgerton’s best song choice yet

*SPOILERS FOR BRIDGERTON SEASON 3 PART 1 AND PART 2*

Bridgerton The final episodes of the third season were recently released, with part 2 coming to Netflix on June 13. It’s no spoiler to say that the season, which focused on the story of Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington going from friends to lovers, ended with a happy ending for the couple, affectionately called “Polin” by fans.

As with every season of Shondaland’s Regency romance series (based on the book series by Julia Quinn), fans were curious to see if the third season would continue the series’ trend of creatively incorporating string quartet covers of modern pop songs.

In Part 1, released on May 16, the song that became undeniably synonymous with Polin’s love story thanks to its skillful use in a key Polin moment at the end of Episode 4 was Pitbull’s “Give Me Everything.” This song appears in the now-famous “carriage scene” as a stripped-down cover by musician Archer Marsh, and went extremely viral in the month between the release of Part 1 and the arrival of Part 2 in June.

In this second half of season three, six more string covers are added to the track list (along with original score tracks from composer Kris Bowers, of course, as well as several other signature classical pieces). Of these six new songs – Ariana Grande’s “pov,” Imagine Dragons’ “Thunder,” Demi Lovato’s “Confident,” Coldplay’s “Yellow,” Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me,” and Ellie Goulding’s “Lights” – it’s “Yellow” that I personally like the most.

The Vitamin String Quartet (VSQ) cover of the song plays halfway through episode seven, as Penelope walks down the aisle to marry Colin, the boy she’s loved since childhood. The song is beautifully arranged, the church is a beautiful setting, Penelope is a beautiful bride, she and Colin have a beautiful moment in the middle of the song – you know what I mean. When this scene first came on screen, I mean it when I say it was the most surreal moment I’ve ever experienced as a fan of this show – and I’ll explain why.

First, a little background story: For years, fans of Polin had hoped that “Yellow” would somehow find its way into Bridgerton. The song was a popular choice due to the obvious connection to Pen’s infamous color palette from seasons past, but fans also felt that the lyrics had significant meaning to Pen’s love story and the idea of ​​Colin finally seeing Pen in a new light after all these years (for example, the line “And your skin, oh yeah, your skin and bones/Turn into something beautiful/And you know, you know I love you so”).

That “Yellow” is Polin’s unofficial anthem feels so ubiquitous that I really have no idea when this suggestion first came up and ignited in the fandom. It might have been when Luke Newton, who plays Colin, mentioned it in an interview at some point, or it might have been when fans discovered that Newton had performed a cover of this song on his YouTube channel years earlier. Or it might have been in fans’ minds long before Newton ever mentioned it, long before I myself joined the fandom in early 2022. However, I know exactly when it first entered the fandom. My Consciousness.

It was less than a month since Season 2 premiered in March 2022, and fans had already started to speculate on which Bridgerton sibling would lead the next season. Would it be Benedict, as Quinn’s book order suggests? Or was Colin next in line, whose budding relationship with Pen had just hit a major obstacle—namely, Colin’s loud declaration to a group of lords that he would “never dream of courting Penelope Featherington. Not even in (his) wildest fantasies”? (Famous last words, eh, mate?)

Amid all this speculation, fans were also busy compiling playlists for their favorite couples, and that’s how I came across a seemingly innocuous tweet from Twitter/X user @westallenslife, who suggested using the then 22-year-old Coldplay song for Polin: “If we don’t get an orchestral cover of Coldplay’s ‘Yellow’ on Penelope and Colin’s season, then what was literally the point of it all?”

I remember reading that tweet and immediately looking up the original version of the song and its lyrics. Then I checked to see if there was already a string quartet cover version. That’s how I came across the same VSQ version of “Yellow” that became the soundtrack to the Polish wedding this season.

When I heard this cover, I knew immediately that it was the perfect choice for Polin. It was one of those rare, tantalizing moments that creatives can only dream of, where everything fits together and everything just makes sense. I immediately texted my close friend saying “Nothing has ever made as much sense as this” in all caps and then sent her voice messages expressing probably overly dramatic views like “If this doesn’t happen, I will will be devastated.”, and “Such a missed opportunity if they don’t.”, and “Never has there been a song so perfect in every element – ​​the sound, the lyrics, the title.”

Needless to say, I fell in love instantly.

So fast forward two years, and you can probably imagine my great joy when I learned that not only would we be getting this song on Polin’s season (which was a huge win in itself), but that it would be the same string quartet cover that I first fell in love with back in April 2022.

And then when I sat down to watch Episode 7 on June 13, the icing on the figurative (and literal) wedding cake was that this song was used in the aforementioned Polish wedding scene, the first happy (on-screen) marriage for a main character. Bridgerton Couple.

As a fan, I really wasn’t used to having my way with things like that, having my interests aligned so directly with those of the show’s creators. It really didn’t feel real.

This is still not the case.

Never before has a song been included in Bridgerton with as much passionate and long-standing fan support as “Yellow,” with the string quartet cover used in the show being the version that is nearest and dearest to me, and with the song being heard in all its glory in a scene – the wedding – that is arguably one of the most important moments for a couple in any love story. In a way, the use of this song represents all the love that the fans feel for this couple and this show, and in turn, all the love Bridgerton for his fans.

So yes, “Yellow” might just be the best song Bridgerton ever contained, for Polish fans everywhere, absolutely, but also for the one particular fan writing this article.

Not unlike the stars Chris Martin sings about, it really feels like Bridgerton shone just for me with this song selection.

(Though I guess it’s too much to say that all I need now is for the show to include Joseph William Morgan’s orchestral cover of Taylor Swift’s “Enchanted” in Benedict’s final season? Or should I just quit while I still have the chance?)

All episodes of Bridgerton Seasons 1, 2 and 3 are currently streaming on Netflix.