Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, the prequel to the classic musical Grease, premiered on Paramount+ in 2023. Unfortunately, Paramount+ seemingly couldn’t handle its success for more than a few weeks, and removed all ten episodes on June 26, less than a month after the season (and series) finale. But we won’t let that stop us from celebrating the show.
Like the movie before it, Rise of the Pink Ladies is a musical, with an entire soundtrack of new songs.
Where Grease portrayed the ‘50s through a ‘70s perspective, Rise of the Pink Ladies throws 2020s pop into the mix. I’ll admit, I was skeptical at first, but the Pink Ladies songs slap. And they’re made even better by the choreography and direction choices that constantly pay homage to the original without feeling stale.
There are 31 new songs on the show’s soundtrack (including an updated “Grease is the Word” and a “Hand Jive” origin story), but we’ve narrowed the list down to our top five favorite songs.
5. “Brutal Honesty”
A lot of the musical numbers in this show include direct references to Grease and Grease 2. This one’s pretty obvious; the fashion-forward Nancy is this show’s Frenchie, and her “Beauty School Dropout” takes the form of “Brutal Honesty.”
Fun fact about this one: Nancy’s Guardian Angel of Fashion is played by Justin Tranter, the Executive Music Producer who co-wrote the show’s soundtrack. They based their angel partly off of Billy Porter’s character in the ‘90s Broadway revival of Grease.
4. “Pointing Fingers”
High School Musical and Descendants walked so Rise of the Pink Ladies could run. In this song, Olivia and the Pink Ladies are tired of being blamed for the adults’ bad choices. The T-Birds take the Pink Ladies’ side, and together the two gangs unite the school against Rydell’s administration.
You try keeping your cool when 50 teenagers start aggressively dancing towards you.
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3. “Take The Wheel”
The first half of Rise of the Pink Ladies’ first season focuses on the race for Rydell High student body president between Jane Facciano and Buddy Aldridge. Pink Ladies isn’t the first musical to see the potential of a student council debate, but it is the best execution we’ve seen by far.
Like every song in this show, “Take the Wheel” makes full use of the set and props. Our favorite detail is the way ice cream scoops become microphones during Jane’s rebellious press conference.
Protip: For a limited time, you can get a 30-day free trial (four times the normal trial length!) of Paramount+ with the code PINKLADIES.
2. “Good Girl Act”
This song from the pilot feels like an answer to “Look At Me, I’m Sandra Dee” from the original. Instead of mocking Jane, the future Pink Ladies come together to trick the socs into thinking she’s a good, celibate, Christian girl and save her reputation.
It’s an addicting song, and it’s one of the first times we see the Pink Ladies really having fun. Try it, Susan.
1. “New Cool”
We’re not saying Rise of the Pink Ladies peaked in the first episode—every episode feels more impressive than the last—but they certainly started strong with “New Cool” in the pilot.
“New Cool” is our introduction to Cynthia, the “tomboy” of the Pink Ladies, who inspires the T-Birds to take control of the school from the phony socs. Of course, in this Greased Lightnin’ dream sequence, Cynthia’s a T-Bird too, but the boys are less eager to give her a jacket. Maybe they’re just jealous that she has the best song in the whole show.
The best Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies songs
- “New Cool”
- “Good Girl Act”
- “Take the Wheel”
- “Pointing Fingers”
- “Brutal Honesty”
- “Different This Year (Reprise)”
- “Crushing Me”
- “Sorry to Distract”
- “Pulling Strings”
- “The Boom”
Olivia Bono loves entertainment, and she’s never going to shut up about it. Here at CableTV.com, you’ll find her writing about the wild world of streaming. Her specialty is animation—you can find much of her work at our anime hub page. Olivia previously wrote for the Cornell Daily Sun, where in addition to television, she reviewed movies, albums, and video games. Outside of work, she loves to listen to audiobooks and go on hikes at local parks.
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