Ah, the twilight hours. The sun is gently descending
below the hills, the air is getting crisp, and the call of the
woodcock can be heard echoing across the glades.
It’s one of the most beautiful times of the day. As the
daylight diminishes, the sky turns from harsh glare to moody
purple and orange, the sun sinks lower and lower, and it’s possible
to lose yourself in a good book or an engrossing film.
For fans of The Twilight Saga, this is very much a season
of the year. You’ll be bombarded on social media platforms such
as Twitter with endless streams of jokes and memes about the
books and films. It’s natural to want to join in the fun, especially
now that the series is turning 10 this year. It’s been an
incredibly successful book series and, despite recent controversies,
still continues to inspire debate and lively discussion. Let’s
take a look at the best twilight song and how you can sing it
correctly.
The Best Twilight Song
When we think of Twilight songs, the first song that probably
comes to mind is ‘Beautiful Day’ by Joss Stone. Released in
2004, it was the lead single from Stone’s eponymous debut album
and was used in the movie adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s
novel. The song has been covered by various artists, most notably
Usher, who released his own version in 2010. It continues to
be covered today because it’s such an iconic song. Even if you
don’t usually listen to rock music, you probably know the
song.
‘Only Gold’ by Rihanna is often considered the
antithesis to ‘Beautiful Day’. First released in 2010, it’s
an upbeat song with a heavy dance-rock influence. It was also used
in the film adaptation of Breaking Dawn – Part 2 and,
indeed, its name is a reference to the series’ most notorious
monster, Dr. Jacob, who turns out to be a vampire.
Like ‘Beautiful Day’, the song is memorable
because it was first showcased in a major movie adaptation. It
was also covered by various artists and continues to be covered
today because it’s such a unique, anthemic song.
How to Sing It
In the books, Stephenie Meyer never specifies how many syllables
‘Beautiful Day’ and ‘Only Gold’ should
contain, but anyone who’s ever taken an English Literature
course knows that they’re both four-syllable songs. When you
hear them in the movies, however, they seem to contain five
and six syllables, respectively. This is because the songs were
lyrically edited to fit the screen and the addition of background
noises and instrumental music added to the overall impact. In
reality, there are only four syllables in ‘Beautiful Day’
and five in ‘Only Gold’, which makes them seem like
much longer songs.
There are a number of techniques you can use to ensure that
you
sing these songs correctly. It’s essential to study the notes
directly from the source material and not rely on memory, especially
in the case of ‘Beautiful Day’. If you want to get the
full feel for these songs, you should download the demo versions
from the internet. They contain no overdubs and showcase how
the songs would sound in a live setting. This will help you
identify the exact pitches of the instruments and give the songs
their full impact. If you aren’t comfortable with downloading
songs, you can always find sheet music of the songs in question
online. This will also help you identify the correct notes and
pitch.
The Best Books of The Twilight Saga
If you’re not familiar with the Twilight
Saga, here’s a short primer. It’s an adult fantasy series that
combines elements of classical mythology with modern day issues
such as social media and user-generated content.
The books were published between 2007 and 2012 and, despite
not being as popular as they once were, have continued to draw
significant attention since then. The story follows the
romantic tribulations of Bella (played by Kristen Stewart) and
Edward (played by Robert Pattinson), a vampire and a
werewolf respectively who fall in love despite their species
differences. The series is credited with giving rise to the
‘Twilight’ genre and, in particular, the ‘Youth
Revolution’ wave of paranormal romances that followed.
Like many successful series, the Twilight Saga has
inspired a range of merchandise and, indeed, several theme
parks, including Disney’s California Adventure and Universal
Studios’ Islands of Adventure. In 2021 alone, a range of goods
related to the series sold for a total of over £114 million
worldwide.
Why Singles Instead of Albums?
One of the reasons why ‘Beautiful Day’ and
‘Only
Gold’ are so memorable is because they’re
such stand-out tracks. In terms of the former, it’s quite
rare for an album to contain a single that stands out
this much, but when you think about it, it makes sense. The
album is supposed to be a collection of songs that you, the
listener, can remember and enjoy. ‘Beautiful Day’ certainly
sounds like a song you’d want to remember and, quite
frankly, it’s one of the few tracks that the majority of
people can still hum. The other big single from Stone’s debut
album is ‘Every Little Word’, which is also
featured in another of the series’ movies – namely, The
Outsiders. However, this song doesn’t seem to hold up nearly
as well as ‘Beautiful Day’ and hasn’t
been covered as much, either.
Even more impressively, ‘Only Gold’ has
only been covered by one artist – namely, Rihanna. She
reinited with her mate, French record producer, DJ and
composer, Claude “Savage” Lemoine, to give us
another “Diamonds” – this
time an upbeat song with a heavy dance-rock influence and featuring
the legendary Nigerian rapper, Bunji Garza. The song was
first released in 2010 as the lead single from Rihanna’s
“Rated R” album. It continues to be covered
today due to its unique sound, as it’s a song you wouldn’t
usually hear a pop star cover.
The Best Music Video of The Twilight Saga
When it comes to music videos,
it’s impossible to judge a book by its cover and, in this
case, quite literally. Just like the songs, the music videos
for ‘Beautiful Day’ and ‘Only Gold’
are iconic. Directed by award-winning filmmaker, Marc Webb,
the videos showcase the gorgeous desert landscapes and crisp
wind-blown hair of the American southwest, which was the location
of the films’ main shooting scenes. The desert seems to be a
feature of all of Webb’s work and it’s certainly evocative
of the area of the country the stories are set in. As with
the songs, the videos for ‘Beautiful Day’ and
‘Only Gold’ are
available to stream from the internet and, in some cases, can
be downloaded for free. Like the songs, the videos have been
covered by musicians and continue to be covered today because
they’re such an important part of both the books and films’
soundtracks.
The Best Actor Of The Twilight Saga
For the best actor
of the Twilight Saga, it’s somewhat of a
toss-up between Pattinson and Stewart. On one hand, you have
a relatively unknown British actor named Rory Stewart. On
the other, you have a two-time Academy Award winner, Robert
Pattinson. Stewart was nominated for his role in the dark comedy,
Where the Life Begins, which was based on the
Twilight Saga. The film was adapted from the French
movie, Les Moutons (“The Sheep”). The
main role was originally meant for Charlie Hunnam, but
he had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. In the role of
Edward, a werewolf who falls in love with a human, Stewart
exhibited a unique combination of humor and dramatic intensity.