Dust off your Victrolas. Both Part 1 and Part 2 of Wednesday Season 2 are upon us, and it’s a safe bet that the many needle drops from the first four episodes have already wormed their way into your ear canals. While our brooding titular hero (Jenna Ortega) may prefer moodier classical tunes — and there are plenty of those on the list — music supervisors Jen Malone and Nicole Weisberg have put together a sweeping soundtrack that captures the multitudinous tastes and energies of the Nevermore outcasts and extended Addams family. “We took the energy of what we did for Season 1 and opened another door,” Weisberg says. “So now Season 2 feels more expansive, musically.”
Season 2 doubles up on everything: more character development, higher stakes — and, yes, a deeper, darker, and more surprising soundtrack. From cello solos that showcase Wednesday’s virtuosity with the bow, to ’90s throwbacks, K-pop bops and an original track by Mother Monster herself, Lady Gaga, every song was selected with purpose. “Sometimes songs can really function as score,” Malone explains. “It’s always about finding the right moment — and letting it happen naturally.”
Let’s break down all the macabre musical moments.
Season 2 opens with a haunting, atmospheric version of the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein showtune as Wednesday’s tied to a chair, crying black tears, and surrounded by a serial killer’s creepy doll collection. “This was a collaborative pick with the producers,” says Weisberg. “They really wanted the Lennon Sisters version, which I think has a more unique spin than the original would.” Raindrops and roses and whiskers on kittens have taken on a whole new meaning, which makes pitch-perfect sense for this sinister cold open.
Last season, the beloved Mexican singer’s “La Llorona” was featured in the series premiere, and the icon’s voice sets the tone once again as Wednesday hides her psychic activities from her mother Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) — an important theme that will continue to resonate throughout the episodes. “It’s an homage to Jenna, Catherine, and Luis [Guzmán’s] Latin heritage, for sure,” says Malone.
On a Vermont country road en route to Nevermore, the Addams’ limo passes a minivan that’s playing this strange little ditty. The ominous sound is perfect considering the fiery wreck Pugsley Addams (Isaac Ordonez) causes moments later.
One example of many this season in which happy-go-lucky music juxtaposes ironically with nefarious activities. Greg (Andrew Macklin) and Debbie (Monica McCarthy) are meeting up for a romantic tryst when this iconic late-90s hit plays, just as the ill-fated investigator Carl Bradbury (James Payton) gets pecked to death by evil crows under the control of a mysterious Avian outcast. “We played around with some other ideas in that world," says Weisberg of the song choice, “but Tim [Burton] really liked this from the start, so it stuck around.”
This fizzy banger by K-pop girl group MAMAMOO is all Enid. “It’s one of those things when we’re putting together a playlist for the show, you hear a song and you immediately know, ‘OK, this is an Enid song, or this is a Wednesday song, or this is a Fester song,’ ” explains Malone. “The characters’ playlists are really interesting and clear in this show, [in terms] of what each character sounds like on a musical level.”
The cello, with its moody and emotionally complex sound, is the perfect instrumental match for Wednesday, and Ortega has worked painstakingly to perform it right. “She learns [the pieces] so she can accurately perform them in the right spots on the instrument,” says Weisberg. While the cello community gave their thumbs-up to Ortega’s portrayal starting in Season 1, the new Nevermore music teacher Isadora Capri (Billie Piper) doesn’t quite give her full approval of Wednesday’s rendition of Prokofiev’s ballet score — which you know doesn’t sit well with our pallid perfectionist.
This song, which plays as Wednesday and Enid rush to recover the only manuscript of the Viper de la Muerta novel before the Founder’s Pyre is lit, is one that Malone has been dying to use. “I love my goth music, and Sisters of Mercy are definitely one of the most important, influential goth bands,” she says.
Led by Bianca Barclay (Joy Sunday), the Nevermore glee club harmonizes on the Nevermore school song. The lyrics, written in the episode’s script, were arranged for the onscreen Pitch Slaps by music producer Alana Da Fonseca.
Principal Dort (Steve Buscemi) uses this classic rock track as his walk-on music, but the crowd seems more enthusiastic about Springsteen than Nevermore’s new leader. “We're just so grateful that Bruce Springsteen was amenable to letting us use the song in the show, and was just super cool about it,” says Malone. Dort quotes one of the most iconic lines in music — “You can’t start a fire without a spark” — just before setting the pyre ablaze.
We start Episode 2 with a shot of energy as the Nevermore Outcasts get into all sorts of supernatural hijinks on Prank Day. “We tend to use classic songs for these bigger moments, which is very true to Tim Burton’s world,” says Weisberg.
Morticia kicks off her new fundraising campaign at Nevemore with tea and insect-ridden cookies in her cottage as Bianca pays her a visit. This classic opera aria sets up Morticia’s motif of elegance and refinement — with a delicious hint of rot.
Another classical piece, from Verdi’s orchestral setting of the Catholic funeral mass, accompanies Wednesday’s wicked scheme to hijack Enid’s driving lesson. Although this piece is not from one of Verdi’s famous operas, it’s certainly operatic in feeling, and the genre is, perhaps surprisingly, a perfect match for the Addams family, timeless characters who’ve endured changing trends over decades. “Opera signifies that storytelling,” says Weisberg. “It pairs well with the Addams Family characters that you picture throughout time.”
Morticia and Gomez further prove that their love is for the ages with this tango. “What would they be dancing to?” poses Weisberg. “Getting something that felt right for them was the priority, and something in line with the history of their characters throughout the Addams family variations.”
Sometimes a moment calls for lyrics that eschew subtlety and hit the subtext right on the nose. Malone puts it quite simply: “It’s zombie season.” The Nevermore students are descending upon Camp Jericho, and Pugsley has packed some contraband in a coffin: his pet zombie Slurp (Owen Painter). “The perfect song always kind of finds its perfect home,” says Malone, “and this one for Season 2 … This was it.”
A fierce, epic battle against a troop of normies unfolds to a thunderous classic made iconic in war films.
Not that you’ve forgotten, but Catherine Zeta-Jones can sing — she won an Oscar for her iconic role as Velma Kelly in the 2002 movie musical Chicago. The Wednesday creative team knew they wanted to find a moment for Zeta-Jones to sing in Season 2, and this duet alongside Billie Piper, as Morticia and Isadora Capri perch around the campfire, was the perfectly poignant song.
“I was in Ireland with Catherine, and we were in a really small studio, but she was so incredibly lovely and warm,” recalls Malone of helping to record the track. “And when she would do a take, she would ask, ‘Is this what you want?’ She was open to notes, and just there to do the job with such beauty and class.”
And Piper is a legend herself — especially in the UK, where she began her career as a pop singer. “Their two voices just work so well together,” says Malone. “Props to Alana Da Fonseca as well, for putting the vocals together. Because we had the music recorded in one place, Catherine’s in one place, and Billie’s in another.”
Gomez is singing his heart out in a camp shower when he’s visited by a certain undead stowaway named Slurp. “It was pretty fun to get to play with the Gomez character, having that classic romantic moment that he tends to have, but also playing up the comedy of the scene,” says Weisberg. “He is a romantic guy, so it would make sense that he's singing a song like this — but he’s also oblivious to what's going on.”
The mother-daughter tension between Morticia and Wednesday reaches a literal crescendo in this episode, culminating in a nighttime duel. For the music, the supervisors picked an intense contemporary classical cover of R.E.M.’s enduring alt-rock hit . “This is a huge Morticia-Wednesday episode, building the tension between the mother-daughter relationship,” says Weisberg. “While the story is unfolding, and getting more complicated for both characters, this song definitely holds the emotionality of what they’re both dealing with.”
Two episodes of shower songs in a row! Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen) belts this power rock ballad, kicking off a mini love story driven by a killer soundtrack. According to Weisberg, this is a comic way of “setting the table” — no pun intended — for Fester’s brief but memorable romance with the lunch lady Louise (Eugenia Caruso).
Another unapologetically on-the-nose selection as Fester undergoes electroshock therapy at Willow Hill. “Whenever Fester’s onscreen, you know it’s going to be playful,” says Weisberg.
Some more refined music accompanies Fester’s participation in a group art class.
This plays over the romantic lightning-strike moment where Fester reads “Lois” on the lunch lady Louise’s sauce-splattered nametag. “We’re building this goofy, oddball relationship between Fester and the lunch lady,” says Weisberg. “It’s slowing down the moment with a mix of comedy and romance.” Malone adds, “It’s like a throwback to a lot of the ’80s and ’90s shows that use this song for that very moment, when you see the love of your life. The world gets sparkly around you, and you’re in the close-up.”
Capri sings along to the radio as she drives alone to Willow Hill at night. “She’s having a solo journey,” says Malone. “We don’t really know what she's thinking a lot of the time, but we’re getting to know her character more — playing with the ups and the downs she’s going through.”
Capri plays this ‘90s classic, which has had a recent resurgence among the kids on social media. While it might seem like an on-the-nose narrative selection — the mournful tune plays over Slurp the zombie’s escape — there’s a certain dark resonance that leaves Part 1 of Season 2 on an unresolved note. “The piano cover is a nice way to recontextualize the song, it makes it feel more score-like and emotional,” says Weisberg.
Finally, Fester and the lunch lady’s twisted little love story comes to a wistful and funny close. “This is a Bernard Hermann piece from Vertigo, which is probably recognizable to classic film fans,” says Weisberg. “Tim chose this to really heighten the drama of their romance and the breakout from the asylum.”
Pilgrim World dressed up in tone-deaf Day of the Dead garb may be some people’s vision of hell, so this 1996 hit by the swing-inspired band that plays as Mistress Arlene (Lisa O’Hare) welcomes Gomez and Pugsley was an inspired choice — and it actually came from the series’ editor, Ana Yavari. “When she brought it up, we thought it was a great throwback! It worked perfectly and everyone was immediately on board,” says Weisberg.
A mariachi band performs a festive corrido while Slurp is wreaking havoc in the haunted house. “La Adelita” is one of the most famous traditional songs from Mexico, so it’s likely that if you’re hearing a mariachi band, this ballad is in the repertoire — even in Jericho, Vermont.
What a way to start the wildest of episodes. There’s instant shock value in seeing Wednesday dressed in bright colors, bouncing down the Nevermore courtyard stairs to this absolute banger of a K-pop classic. This number was specifically written into the script — there were no other contenders. We later learn that the dancing Blackpink stan isn’t truly Wednesday — it’s Enid, trapped in Wednesday’s body.
“The producers had their eye on this song, and props to them for knowing the significance of Blackpink and what that would mean to the viewers,” says Weisberg. “They’re one of the biggest touring acts, one of the biggest girl pop groups. Something that definitely is in line with what Enid would be listening to on one of her playlists, and the opposite of what Wednesday would listen to. It really sells the body-switching of it all.”
Capri is shocked and confused to see a girl who appears to be Enid playing Wednesday’s black cello. Like “Bad Moon Rising,” “Don’t Fear the Reaper” had been on the music supervisors’ potential Wednesday playlist for ages. “We’ve just been waiting for the right moment,” says Malone. “With the body switch, such iconic songs — whether it's Blackpink for Enid or Blue Oyster Cult for Wednesday — were very natural choices, to the point where if it was a different scene and these characters were actually playing themselves. Both of those songs would be perfect on their own.”
The mellow, faraway vibes of surf rock provide the hazy soundtrack to the tiki bar where Dort first met Bianca’s mom, Gabrielle (Gracy Goldman), and cult leader in the making Gideon Sterling (Casper van Dien). “We dove deep into what this tiki bar would sound like to help create a surreal out of place and time feel — similar to when we used ‘Kiss Me’ in the first episode of the season,” says Weisberg.
The gala in Episode 7 isn’t just a lavish set piece — it’s a showdown and manifestation of Morticia’s elegantly morbid taste, and the soundscape had to match. “Last season’s school dance episode leaned more toward modern, fresh needle drops,” says Weisberg, “but the gala — with Morticia throwing it, and her mother swindled into hosting — it had to feel 10 times bigger. The stakes are higher.”
To evoke the elegance and unease of the evening, Malone and Weisberg worked closely with producers, editors, and Da Fonseca to select an array of classical pieces that could underscore everything from epic entrances (hello, Weems!) to shocking deaths. “The musical direction of the gala was ‘haunted Venice,’ ” says Malone. “That’s what we were chasing.”
Rather than score individual beats, the music flows through the gala like the light of a candelabra over canal water — eerie, stunning, cursed. “It wasn’t so much about matching each cue to an action,” says Weisberg. “It was more, ‘What would be playing throughout this night? What feels right for this world?’ ”
Now for the most lethal musical mic-drop of the season. In a move that makes a gloriously unholy union between fandom and show canon, Season 2 delivers a virulent meta twist: a brand-new original song by Lady Gaga, written specifically for the series. Titled “The Dead Dance,” it scores Enid and Agnes’ gala performance — a scene that calls to mind the mega-viral moment of Wednesday’s infamous “Goo Goo Muck”/“Bloody Mary” dance from Season 1 — and wraps the evening up in an appropriately theatrical package.
Following Season 1, the team behind Wednesday connected with Gaga's team and were excited to discuss possibilities for Season 2. As the storyline for the new dance scene evolved and was shared with Gaga, she came back to the team with the perfect song for the scene.
Gaga delivered “The Dead Dance” through her label, Interscope, in a highly secretive, time-locked file. “We had a 24-hour window to listen,” Malone recalls. “And the second we did listen, it was a no-brainer,” says Malone. “This was the only song for this moment.”
The dance was filmed using a placeholder track with the same BPM (beats-per-minute) to maintain secrecy, and the sequence was kept under wraps for over a year. “We hadn’t even seen a cut with the actual song in it until very close to launch,” says Weisberg. “It’s been that protected.”
As for the dance itself? “Artistic,” Weisberg says. “Modern, but rooted in the Nevermore world — it felt true to the characters, and the costumes, and the setting.”
For Malone, the moment carries a special weight: “It’s not ‘Bloody Mary,’ and it’s not a remix. It’s a brand-new Gaga song, and she’s an icon, a once-in-a-lifetime artist who we got to work with. And it’s perfect in every way. This is exactly what the fans want.”
Isaac — not Slurp anymore — ambushes Eugene in the bee shed while this post-punk track is playing in the background. “This was a Tim pick,” says Weisberg. “When he’s directing, he often has something specific in mind. It just made sense for the Eugene–Isaac moment, scary and surprising.”
A very different kind of sonic mood — and one that’s diegetic (i.e., actually heard by the characters). This ambient track is playing during a werewolf ritual meant to keep bodies calm, minds clear, and transformations at bay. “It was scripted that the werewolves listen to meditation music which we loved the playfulness of,” says Weisberg. Malone adds with a laugh, “Even werewolves need mindfulness practice.” It also works for humans trying to practice good sleep hygiene.
Isaac plays this gothic staple as he works frantically to restore his machine, his full Da Vinci powers finally on display. “It’s a classic,” says Weisberg. “One of the most recognizable pieces of all time — and it’s instantly like, ‘Okay, shit's going down.’ ” Though the mood is sinister, there’s something almost cathartic about the intense runs and scales. “You’ve probably heard this piece since you were a kid without knowing the name,” Weisberg says. “It’s built into cultural memory. So using it here ties together the full arc of the season — we wanted something epic, something everyone would recognize as the moment we’ve all been waiting for.”
Fester strikes again — with a little off-kilter swagger. “This was another Tim [Burton] pick,” says Malone. “When Fester and Wednesday team up, there’s this playful, surfy thread we like to lean into. It’s serious, but there’s always a wink — and this kind of music gives us that.”
The final montage of Season 2 lands with a familiar echo — but through an eerie new lens. This haunting string cover of the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” closes out the season with a sense of haunting finality.
“It’s a dream song we’ve always wanted to use,” says Malone. “But Annie Lennox is very protective of it. It had to be used with total integrity.” Burton personally wrote to Lennox explaining the full context, and she approved the use — along with the version. “She loved the cover,” Malone says. “It was all handled with such care and respect. We’re so lucky she allowed it.” Weisberg calls it “a dream landing spot” for the song. “It’s the perfect song to end such a big season. It gives everything space to breathe and build up for the next chapter to come.”
