How the horror of The Handmaid’s Tale is told through music

Update: Stream The Handmaid’s Tale S1-4 first on Showmax

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If you thought the modern music sounds out of place in The Handmaid’s Tale (2017-current, Seasons 1 and 2 can be streamed on Showmax), you are so wrong. It’s there for a very good reason.

“It’s absolutely intentional,” explains Bruce Miller, series creator of the bleak dystopian world where women have no rights, men run the government of the Republic of Gilead, and younger women are slaves and breeding machines to their barren masters.

“One reason behind the song choice is to help viewers relate to main character June/Offred. A lot of what we’re trying to do is play music from June’s perspective. What would she be listening to in these moments if she had headphones to listen to music?”

But the music is also so much more. “It provides layers that viewers can peel back to expose the backbone of the episode,” adds music supervisor Maggie Phillips.

“These song choices are as good as companion tests. They don’t sit apart from the narrative, nor do they fade into the background and simply amplify emotion. They give it all an extra level.”

Making things more interesting in Season 2 is that 99% of the artists used are female.

“Season 1 was a mixed bag of male and female artists, but when you’re telling the story about mostly female characters and a story that’s so tragic and traumatic and hard to watch, I feel like you want female voices speaking to that and that is what we did with Season 2.”

Without missing a beat, put on your earphones as we look at the season’s most important songs and the powerful messages they deliver.

The horror: This Woman’s Work by Kate Bush

You don’t have to wait long to hear a well-known female artist adding her voice to the dark story. The opening scene of Season 2, episode 1 is harrowing. Offred and a group of other disobedient handmaids are facing the hangman’s noose and as they wait for death, This Woman’s Work by Kate Bush starts to play.

“This song and artist is so iconic,” says Maggie. “The song is mainly written from the point of view of a manchild who is reflecting on the possible death of his partner. It is understandably difficult to see it flipped into such a drastically different use. The acting is like a bullet to the heart and when This Woman’s Work is playing, there’s a finger poking right into that wound.”

Kate sings, “Pray God you can cope, as I stand outside this woman’s work, this woman’s world,” and it hammers home the point that this women’s world is run by men. Praise be!

Taste of freedom: Tin by Daphni

In a rare moment of freedom in Season 2, episode 3, former handmaid Moira walks into a Canadian bar to check out the scene now that she’s escaped Gilead. The song Tin by Daphni plays softly in the background.

“In Canada, they’re dealing with refugees from Gilead, but that country hasn’t been as affected,” Maggie explains. “So we did think music would still be made.”

Girl power: Hollaback Girl by Gwen Stefani

A glimpse of freedom pre-Gilead is given in Season 2, episode 3, when, in a flashback, Gwen Stefani’s song Hollaback Girl plays while June and her mother Holly drive around on a sunny day, singing along to the funky toe-tapper pop song.

“We tried so many songs in that moment,” says Maggie. “We went through songs that maybe would have been important for the episode, like Joni Mitchell. I sent a huge playlist for this scene and Hollaback Girl was one at the very end that I thought was funny. I think Bruce liked the absurdity of it. It was a song most people could imagine hearing on the radio.”

Pulling the pin: Oh Bondage, Up Yours! by X-Ray Spex

Fast forward to episode 6 and it’s a banger. A muted Ofglen walks into the new Rachel & Leah Center – a place where they will be able to “process, house and train” many more handmaids. She holds a grenade in her hand and pulls the pin while Oh Bondage, Up Yours! by 70s punk band X-Ray Spex booms in the background.

“Some people think that little girls should be seen and not heard. But I say oh bondage, up yours!” roars the lyrics as the explosion happens, capturing every word Ofglen could have said if her tongue wasn’t cut out.

Face the music: Already Gone by Jennifer O’Conner

June’s husband Luke meets her lover Nick in episode 9 when the commander and his wife visit Canada. Luke and Nick end up in a bar where Nick tells Luke that June is alive, and she’s pregnant, but he doesn’t tell Luke that the baby is his own.

“I chose the song Already Gone by Jennifer O’Conner as the lyrics speak volumes about Nick’s dilemma,” explains Maggie. And the lyrics say it all: “I’d like to talk to you, but I’m turning my face away. And every day has its ending, just like every day before. All I want is to stop pretending, I just can’t do it anymore.”

Burn baby burn: Burning Down the House by Talking Heads

The only music not performed by a female in Season 2 is in the finale, episode 13, when the Talking Heads song Burning Down The House blares as part of Gilead goes up in flames in a rebellion by the Marthas (domestic servants), orchestrated to help a certain pregnant Handmaid to escape. This may seem like a fitting end to the season, but it’s not until the very last moment that we realise that Offred’s work in Gilead is far from finished…

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