The Soundtrack Track List is Unveiled
Fans were especially excited about the official track listing for the “Breaking Dawn - Part 2” soundtrack, which have always sold very well and often include a collection of soon-to-be-famous, up-and-coming bands. The final soundtrack boasted both big names and small like Green Day, Passion Pit, Ellie Goulding, a song by star Nikki Reed and hubby Paul McDonald and repeat contributors St. Vincent and Christina Perri.

Nothing is sure for now.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences‘ Music Branch members will vote for no more than five of the 104 eligible movies announced today, with the five receiving the most votes becoming the nominations for final voting for the 85th Oscars. To be eligible, the original score must be a substantial body of music that serves as original dramatic underscoring, and must be written specifically for the motion picture by the submitting composer. Scores diluted by the use of tracked themes or other preexisting music, diminished in impact by the predominant use of songs, or assembled from the music of more than one composer shall not be eligible, the Academy said today. Here’s the long list in alphabetical order by title:

The whole list is at the source.

10. “I Caught Myself” and “Decoded,” by Paramore

As far as we can remember, “Decoded” was only featured in the credits and promos for Twilight, but it was nominated for a Grammy and Robert Pattinson himself has called it his favorite song from the series. We would be remiss to leave it off the list. Paramore’s “I Caught Myself,” on the other hand, soundtracks the scene in the first movie where Bella, Jessica and Angela go shopping for prom dresses together.

9. “A Thousand Years,” Christina Perri

Again, this song doesn’t play an integral part in the movies themselves, but has been closely related to the movies in our minds because its so sweeping and strong like Bella, and because of the way it’s been used in the credits and promo for Breaking Dawn — Part 1. Perri has re-recorded the song as “A Thousand Years, Pt 2″ for Breaking Dawn — Part 2, and she was even so kind to entertain the Tent City dwellers with a concert ahead of the premier.

8. “Supermassive Black Hole,” by Muse

This song plays during the epic Cullen family field day, while they play a super-charged game of baseball. And together with Bella we realize that the Cullens aren’t exactly just the family next-door, though they enjoy each others’ company just the same.

7. “It Will Rain,” by Bruno Mars

We would probably listen to this on our honeymoon, too.

6. “Eclipse (All Yours),” by Metric

Emily Haine’s angelic but still sort of edgy voice is the only that could do this s0-sweet cuddly field scene justice.

5. “Slow Life,” by Grizzly Bear

Just a small band from Brooklyn Grizzly Bear were no more, after their song was chosen to soundtrack Bella’s near-death cliff jumping exercise at the end of New Moon.

4. “My Love,” by Sia

This is what’s playing when Edward gets down on one knee. Well, that’s not exactly how it happened. Bella’s looking to seal the deal and says she doesn’t care if she’s  “changed” — Twi-talk for “bitten” — and that she’ll marry him if need be.

3. “Let Me Sign,” by Robert Pattinson

Only Rob’s own voice would do to comfort Bella in her time of need, and so while Edward sucked the venom from Bella’s body, we heard this. This may not have been the most important moment in the series, but — hey? We had no idea Rob was such a rockstar! And bonus points because we would actually and absolutely listen to this song. No that the vampire-ing is through, we hope for more like this from him.

2. “Flightless Bird, American Mouth,” by Iron and Wine

Iron and Wine sets the mood for Edward and Bella’s first dance at prom, which takes place in a twinkly-lit gazebo somewhere, and then is reprised as the soundtrack to their wedding kiss in Breaking Dawn Pt 1. Rumor has it that Kristen “Bella Swan” Stewart picked the song herself, and we love that.

1. “Possibility,” by Lykke Li

In New Moon, Bella wallows away Edward’s disappearance — which, she says, felt like “a huge hole had been punched in my chest” — in her bedroom window, just watching the months pass by and feeling sad while Lykke Li’s haunting “Possibility” plays. This, to us, is the musical Twilight moment that is all Twilight moments.

On NME is a list of ‘50 Beautiful Sad Songs’, here is only a fragment related to the Saga.

Photo: David Ellis/NME

Flaming Lips – ‘Do You Realize?’, “That everyone you know will someday die?” asks Wayne Coyne. It’s not the sort of fact of life you want to tackle at a festival but hearing this with all your friends under the stars rocks. It’s sad but also uplifting, particularly the shamelessly manipulative key changes.

Photo: Tom Oxley/NME

Grizzly Bear – ‘Slow Life’. It’s always a pleasant surprise how good the Twilight soundtracks are. The ‘New Moon’ included this track by the Brooklyn four-piece featuring Victoria Legrand on vocals. The song plays during a scene where Bella drowns. So that’s cheery then!

 1. THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN – PART 1, composed by Carter Burwell (Atlantic)

Go ahead, call me a sellout. But I don’t think Carter Burwell has ever been given his due for his enormous contributions to film music. And the man continues to plow forward as one of the most creative minds in compositional minimalism as well as full-bodied orchestration. While he was probably disqualified for nomination at this year’s Academy Awards for Breaking Dawn – Part 1 because it was anchored heavily to the original Twilight score, his work was no less remarkable. I would go so far as to say that it was actually better than the original, given that, although he laid the original template for the Twilight sound, he was coming back into the fold on the heels of critical heavyweights Alexandre Desplat (with whom the Academy also bears an unspoken beef) and Howard Shore. Burwell fearlessly picked up the baton and ran with it, giving us a romantic score easily on par with Nino Rota’s Romeo & Juliet (which was also unceremoniously snubbed by the Academy in 1969). [Read more of my thoughts on Carter Burwell’s Twilight contribution here.]