Scandal's 10 Best Music Moments
Some classic material plays in the house that Pope built.
1 / 11
Scandalous Tunes - With Scandal returning from its winter hiatus, it's the perfect time to look at the 10 best music placements. Over the past four and a half seasons, music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas and show creator Shonda Rhimes have created brilliant TV moments because, let's face it, music is just as important as a good storyline. —Jon Reyes(Photo: Bob D'Amico/ABC)
2 / 11
Marvin Gaye, 'You're All I Need'Season 2, 'A Woman Scorned' - When it comes to Liv and Fitz, sweet moments are hard to come by, but in this scene where the president affirms to Liv: "Watch me choose you," this sweet Marvin Gaye tune plays over this very short-lived moment of nausea.(Photo: Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images)
3 / 11
Stevie Wonder, 'Higher Ground' (1973)Season 2, 'White Hat's Back On' - After an already tumultuous season of finally putting "Defiance" to rest and Olivia and Fitz surviving months of a relationship freeze out, things were better. Olivia could finally wear her white hat again.When the opening chords to "Higher Ground" kick in, we get a total set-up for Season 3: Fitz kneeling before Meliie, Jake getting thrown into a hole, and Liv going out for a morning run only to be swarmed by reporters, and a revelation of Liv's past. Perfection.(Photo: Graham Wood/Evening Standard/Getty Images)
4 / 11
Michael Jackson, 'Ben' (1972)Season 3, 'YOLO' - When we finally meet Liv's mother we get a glimpse into a powerful woman's past and her vulnerability. When Liv bids farewell to her mother while this sweet song about a rat play's in the background, we figure out later that it was a swift tool of foreshadowing.(Photo: WENN)
5 / 11
The Temptations, 'Papa Was a Rolling Stone' (1972)Season 3, 'The Price of a Free Election' - After a season of watching Papa Pope on a rampage that culminated in offing the President's son, one of his daughter's friends, and imprisoning his wife yet again, there couldn't be a better musical closer to this one. (Photo: David Redfern/Redferns)
ADVERTISEMENT
6 / 11
Marvin Gaye, 'Sunny' (1966)Season 4, 'Randy, Red, Superfreak, and Julia' - In one of the only momens of the entire series where we see Oliva Pope content and well-rested, this diddy plays while we get a glimpse of her island life and Jake's willingness to tend to business on a beach chair.(Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
7 / 11
Stevie Wonder, 'Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing' (1973)Season 4, 'Where the Sun Don't Shine' - Over Stevie's bouncy staccato we get Liv's attempt at carefree living in her apartment dancing with Jake, the dreamboat spy, until she disappears into thin air.(Photo: RB/Redferns)
8 / 11
Marvin Gaye, 'Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)' (1973)Season 4, 'The Lawn Chair' - One of the most real-life politically charged episodes in the series' history dealt with the shooting of a Black teen in the streets of Washington, D.C. While "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" deals with the destruction of the environment, music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas places it at the moment where a protest is beginning to build with a shot of the Capitol building just a mile away.(Photo: Evening Standard/Getty Images)
9 / 11
Nina Simone, 'I Shall Be Released' (1969)Season 4, 'The Lawn Chair' - In the same episode, this powerful Nina Simone vocal plays as we watch the teen's murderer arrested, the father being delivered the news, and his breakdown in the oval office in the arms of the president.(Photo: Getty Images)
10 / 11
Stevie Wonder, 'All Is Fair in Love'Season 4, 'Put a Ring on It' - Liv and Fitz aren't the only characters that get the good songs. In "Put a Ring on It," through a series of unfortunate circumstances, Cyrus Beene gets straddled into marrying an ex-prostitute. At the moment where he realizes he can give the former prostitute a stable home, we get this classic Stevie Wonder tune.(Photo: Evening Standard/Getty Images)