For years, Robert Pattinson didn’t want to discuss the franchise that made him famous, ‘Twilight’. But now that over ten years have passed since the release of the first film, and the “mania is not so intense,” Pattinson is able to focus on the “warm memories,” and he looks back more fondly on the 2000s craze.
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While ‘Twilight’ had its legion of ravenous fans, it seemed to be the whipping boy for mainstream audiences who mocked its goopy romantic tone, while horror fans snickered at the sparkling day-walking vampires. Fittingly, ‘Twilight’ based on the books by Stephanie Meyer, begat E.L. James’ ’50 Shades of Grey’, which originated as a ‘Twilight’ fanfic. Like ‘Twilight’, ’50 Shades’ became a literary/film phenomenon but was the butt of jokes for many.
But now that the heat has died down, Pattinson states (in an interview with USA Today) that he is amazed that a new generation is discovering the books and movies for the first time.
“It seems like with younger people in their late teens, early 20s, it’s sort of become quite a hip thing to like. It’s a fascinating second wave of people appreciating it, which is kind of cool. I think when anything becomes a massive phenomenon, there’s always people who get annoyed because it’s just everywhere. But now it seems like a retro thing: the soundtrack, the fashion. It’s like, ‘Oh, that’s so late 2000s.'”
And there is one area in which Pattinson says ‘Twilight’ was ahead of its time.
“[I watched part of The Twilight Saga: New Moon] just the other day, and it genuinely does have an incredibly good soundtrack. I completely forgot, but the soundtracks were quite ahead of their time.“
Indeed, the soundtracks are packed with ’00s-era emo and alt-rock. Paramour had TWO songs on the soundtrack for the first movie, including the hit ‘Decode’.
But perhaps the ‘Twilight’ soundtracks were a good predictor of future successes. Mainstream pop giant Bruno Mars, who has performed at the Super Bowl Halftime Show TWICE, had one of his earliest hits from the soundtrack for ‘Breaking Dawn – Part 1’, with the soulful ballad ‘It Will Rain’. Two pop hit-makers, Ellie Goulding and Sia, also had songs featured on these soundtracks before exploding into the mainstream.
Other big names featured on the five compilations include Bat for Lashes, Beck, The Black Keys, Bon Iver, The Bravery, Death Cab for Cutie, Florence + the Machine, Cee Lo Green, Green Day, Iron & Wine, The Killers, Linkin Park, Muse, OkGo, Christina Perri, St. Vincent, and Vampire Weekend. Some were already well-known, like Green Day and Linkin Park. Others would go on to greater success.
So, whether you were a fan of the movies or not, the soundtracks are definitely packed with some great artists and capture a very distinct moment in time.
Were you a fan of ‘Twilight’? Do you think it still holds up?
