No matter how much you hated the film adaptations of Stephanie Myer’s Twilight saga there is no denying it: the soundtracks were packed with absolute bangers.
Which, mind you, was not a random occurrence.
Alexandra Patsavas was the film’s music supervisor. As it turns out she also worked on hit TV series The O.C, Grey’s Anatomy and Gossip Girl. Clearly she had experience and after a brief visit down childhood nostalgia lane (I recently listened to every soundtrack start to finish) something stirred within me…
The Twilight soundtracks did not get the credit they deserved and neither did Patsavas. She masterfully paired a tune to a scene.
The Cullen’s Baseball Game scene accompanied by Muse’s ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ was literally what made it cool. It would have never reached iconic status without it.
Perhaps I’m going too far here, but I just don’t know if the saga would have reached the same level of success if it wasn’t for these soundtracks. The film itself undoubtedly had problematic elements, Stephenie Myer even shut down attempts to make the movies less white. But the soundtracks were a clever power move.
Think about it: Twilight was released in 2008, a year when emo music was at its absolute peak. Patsavas rode the HELL out of that wave. She weaved in Paramore’s ‘Decode’, ‘Leave Out All The Rest’ by Linkin Park and a more left of field, yet effortlessly cool track called ‘Eyes On Fire’ by Blue Foundation. This woman knew her sh*t, not just about the demographic but about good freakin’ music.
It was unsurprising to learn that the soundtrack for the first film became the best-selling theatrical movie soundtrack in the US since Chicago, a soundtrack that was released a full six years earlier.
Let’s not forget that the Twilight soundtrack also debuted as #1 on the US Billboards 200.
Paramore’s song ‘Decode’ was even nominated for a Grammy Award in 2010 for Best Song Written for a Movie.
All of this proof points towards one indisputable fact: the Twilight soundtracks were bomb.
And they only got better. ‘Meet Me On The Equinox’ by Death Cab For Cutie took the cake for best song in the New Moon‘s soundtrack.
The rest of the films’ soundtracks were peppered with talented, alternative artists such as Bon Iver, Lykke Li and Florence and The Machine.
Perhaps it’s only those of us who went through an emo phase who can truly appreciate the genius of the Twilight soundtracks. If there’s one thing for sure, however, it’s that the lack of talent present on the screen was seriously saved by the talent behind these tracks.