The 10 Best Music Moments On The Handmaid’s Tale

Hulu’s standout smash hit series The Handmaid’s Tale is really top-notch in every single way. The acting, writing, direction, set design, and cinematography are just as good as any feature film in theaters, and it’s clear that the show likes to use every tool in its arsenal to ensure that they’re making the highest quality content they possibly can.

There’s one tool the shows tend to use particularly well, and that’s music. The soundtrack of The Handmaid’s Tale is absolutely all over the place in the best way possible, and they habitually use iconic tunes to heighten the intensity of the emotions in that particular scene.

Pretty much every song is meaningful, but some uses of music are just a cut above the rest. If you’re looking for the ten best music moments in The Handmaid’s Tale, then look no further.

10 Nick Lowe – Cruel To Be Kind

All of the characters on The Handmaid’s Tale are layered and duplicitous in their own way, but Commander Joseph Lawrence is probably the most difficult person to get a read on. He sometimes seems incredibly kind and daring; other times, Lawrence comes across as completely heartless. However, the love shared between him and his wife makes it seem like there must be something good left in Lawrence.

In one episode, Eleanor Lawrence explains to June that Joseph used to make mixed tapes to woo her. Later on, June spots them sitting together, gently nodding their heads to the Nick Lowe bop “Cruel To Be Kind.”

9 Jefferson Airplane – White Rabbit

As a handmaid within the governing system of Gilead, June is nothing more than an isolated slave. When Fred Waterford decides to take her out of the very restricted spaces that she’s allowed to be in, June has no clue what is awaiting her on the other side.

Fred dolls up June and takes her far beyond anywhere she’s been since the fall of the United States. When they finally arrive at their destination, June has absolutely no idea what she’s walking into. The bizarre and surreal experience is augmented by the addition of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” to the soundtrack.

8 Bruce Springsteen – Hungry Heart

To be honest, they could have inserted absolutely any song into this particular scene and it would have been extraordinarily meaningful, but it can’t be a mistake that it’s Bruce Springsteen. When a terrified June going through labor finds herself abandoned in a vacation home in the rural north, she attempts an escape with one of the sports cars that have been left behind.

Of course, June doesn’t wind up making this great escape; however, she hears the actual radio, more importantly, she hears American radio. The sudden reminder that the United States still exists outside of Gilead was a momentous occasion for June, and “Hungry Heart” made for a great addition to the scene.

7 Doris Day – Que Sera, Sera

Gilead isn’t a place where sane people can survive. It literally turns people crazy. Unsurprisingly, handmaids seem prone to snapping the hardest out of anyone. June is none too pleased with her overly pious new walking partner, Ofmatthew, but after a good stretch of time together, she realizes that Ofmatthew’s cracks are starting to show.

While normal June might try to comfort or help a fellow handmaid, June is right on the edge of crazy herself. So when Ofmatthew literally goes postal and starts shooting up Loaves and Fishes, June just offers her an encouraging smile. It’s an absolutely deranged scene, so blaring Doris Day’s “Que Sera Sera” was the icing on the cake.

6 Simple Minds – Don’t You (Forget About Me)

The Handmaid’s Tale has a habit of using iconic American tunes as their soundtrack for particularly intense scenes, but the use of “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” by Simple Minds was the first major introduction to this overall theme. Earlier in the episode, June suspects that she’s in serious danger, only to realize that Fred Waterford asked to meet with her alone so they could play Scrabble together.

The relief June feels is palpable, and she can hardly contain her bemused glee at the situation. Obviously, she can’t show it outwardly, but June leaves the house that morning feeling like Bender at the end of The Breakfast Club.

5 Mazzy Star – Into Dust

In a show that is almost exclusively harrowing and joyless, it was wonderful to get a huge win in the Season 3 finale. June’s plan to help dozens of Gilead’s children escape was a success, even though June had to stay behind and wound up being shot.

Initially, June stayed on her own, but many of the Marthas and handmaids came back to help her. It was a moving enough moment on its own, but the wounded June is lost in the woods for hours before the other handmaids find and carry her back to safety. Meanwhile, the Mazzy Star track plays in the background.

4 Roy Harper – How Does It Feel

There are many adjectives that could be used to describe Serena Joy Waterford, but “sympathetic” is not one of them. However, after Serena lets Nichole leave for Canada, she’s absolutely devastated and seems to be going through a legitimate existential crisis.

After an awful few days with her mother, Serena comes to a few different realizations. As the episode ends, Serena walks into the bitterly cold New England ocean as Roy Harper’s “How Does It Feel” plays. The moment feels almost like a baptismal rebirth, and while we wouldn’t go so far as to call Serena sympathetic, it’s definitely a powerful and moving scene.

3 Kate Bush – This Woman’s Work

The Handmaid’s Tale excels at a great many things, but one particular strong suit for the show is its ability to create scenes that are so intensely, abjectly terrifying that the audience is afraid to watch. In a scene ripped straight out of a horror movie, all of the handmaids who refused to kill Janine are sent to their punishment.

They’re ushered into a dark Fenway Park and lined up at nooses, presumably about to be executed. Kate Bush’s song “This Woman’s Work” plays as the camera shows the sobbing and terrified handmaids. Obviously, the irony is lost on no one.

2 Nina Simone – Feeling Good

One of the most heartfelt and moving moments in The Handmaid’s Tale has to be when the handmaids refuse their order to stone Janine for trying to flee with baby Charlotte. Ofglen 2 is the first to break rank and is violently punished for it, but once June makes her refusal clear, the rest of the handmaids follow suit.

They all know that severe punishment awaits them, but they all appear to walk out feeling like the baddest girls on the block. Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good” tells you everything you need to know about this moment.

1 America The Beautiful

The Handmaid’s Tale‘s soundtrack can be moving, humorous, or completely unexpected. That said, the best use of music has got to be when the refugees in Little America break out into a spontaneous chorus of “America The Beautiful” that sounds more like a dirge than an anthem.

The refugees are understandably thrilled to see the Waterfords be forced out of Canada, but knowing the horrors that Gilead is still doling out to the Americans trapped there, as well as understanding that the country they knew has been utterly destroyed, is devastating.