Twilight x The Disco. The crossover you've been waiting for.
A few weekends ago, my dear friend, Khalil, and I co-hosted our second Twilight Saga watch party, with New Moon (2009) as the headliner. While it was less curated than the Twilight (2008) watch party that we hosted last November (on the 17th anniversary of its theatrical release and with 17 attendees in commemoration of Bella being 17 at the beginning of the film), it was no less a well-attended, joy-filled evening of cinema and community.
But while we omitted the four-course menu this time, I did go about the task of creating a 2-hour playlist for the potluck portion of the evening. To create this playlist, I decided to sit in Jacob's seat and consider what I'd be listening to if I were him, jogging home from Bella’s house, heartbroken yet filled with determination. For other songs, they felt more relevant to the larger conundrum of one of modern cinema's most infamous and supernatural love triangles.
There are 32 songs on the playlist. Here, I'd like to discuss 5.
I feel guilty, but as not as much as I should.
I tried to have that self-control but not as much as I could.
This was the first song I added to the playlist. And if you’ve listened to Tyler, the Creator…ever, then you’d know he’s quite obsessed with love triangles, an early (and likely fictional) example being “PartyIsntOver/Campfire/Bimmer” off of Wolf (2012). But as his discography continued, so did the number of romantic tragedies embedded in his albums.
“WILSHIRE” is just one of the more tragic of his songs. And tragic is truly the best word I can use to describe Jacob’s experience in New Moon and throughout the rest of the Saga.
The raw emotions Tyler uses to tell his (losing and latecomer) side of the love triangle feels intimately reflective of Jacob’s similar loss. This shared perspective of loving one who already loves another more than they love you. The grief, the pain, the brittle coldness that isn’t as sharp as it could be because you’re still in love. It’s a song about a commitment to loving someone who didn’t choose you even while you’re still grieving the relationship you wanted to have. A commitment Jacob will pursue for the rest of his relationship with Bella, Edward, and their entire family.
I hope that you’re the one
If not, you are the prototype
In Breaking Dawn, we’ll see just how much Bella becomes the prototype for Jacob (LOL), but as for New Moon, there’s a clarity with which Jacob and Edward, towards the end of the film, are first faced and then completely consumed by. Bella simply by existing in both of these men’s lives becomes not only the prototype for the woman they want to love, but becomes the only woman either of them can love. She becomes their literal reason for living (yikes, I know, but walk with me).
But perhaps this song is primarily from Edward’s perspective. Especially on the line “I want to say stank you very much for picking me up and bringing me back to this world.” Prototype is about loving someone who brings you back to earth and about acknowledging their impact on your life, even if they’re not a part of it anymore. Both Edward and Jacob tried (and failed) to get Bella out of their lives in this film for her safety. They’re tethered to her and will live with the impact of her being in their lives….forever!
I don’t want no one
If I can’t have you to myself
I don’t need nobody else
So if I can’t have you to myself
Set me free
This is the song I WISH Jacob had been playing while he jogged home. I wish he’d been able to at least recognize her grip over his heart and mind. But brother was in chains he wasn’t even able to see. At least Edward was self-aware enough to recognize how bound he was to Bella’s existence but Jacob allowed it to overwhelm him without being able to see it for what it was, let alone set healthy boundaries around it. And to his credit, Bella is highkey the villain is his story and likely wouldn’t have set him free at all, but at least being willing to ask would’ve put him on the right track.
Come to my window
I’ll leave it open
Sometimes a girl just needs fresh air
Bella NEVER locked her windows. That’s really the most relevance here. That girl’s window was open ALL the time.
She chose him (but she chose him)
over me (over me)
I'm not tripping,
right now (I'm ain't tweaking at all)
She chose him
You're not gonna back out,
homie I really need ya' (never)
And I'm gon' blow her back out,
homie right after I delete ya'
We got so much ammo,
it is over if we see ya' (end em', right, now)
I mean the lyrics speak for themselves.
On the second song of his 2016 record, SHE, Trapo tells a story from the same perspective of Tyler in “WILSHIRE” and Jacob in this saga: the one of the losing side. While Tyler wasn’t chosen because his crush was literally in a whole relationship with his friend and Jacob wasn’t chosen because his crush was in love with his literal mortal enemy, Trapo feels he wasn’t chosen because he didn’t have enough money or just didn’t live the right kind of life for the woman he wanted.
While his perspective here is much less romantic than the others, it’s probably the most pained and vengeful. Tyler, Jacob, and Trapo all made threats against their adversaries. Trapo was the one with the clearest plan of revenge and the strongest grip on reality. And perhaps that’s what Jacob needed the most: a solid sense of the truth. And the truth was simple through this whole movie: It was Edward. It was always Edward.
Justice for Jacob, fr. Stay tuned for Eclipse (2010).
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