David Byrne has teamed up with Hayley Williams for a new song written for the latest adaptation of The Twits.
The musician, writer and founding member of new wave band Talking Heads has written and produced three original songs for the upcoming animated film. It will be the latest adaptation of the Roald Dahl book, which has been translated into 41 languages and sold 16million copies worldwide.
For the soundtrack, Byrne has written songs called ‘We’re Not Like Ev’ryone Else’, ‘Lullaby’, and ‘The Problem Is You’, which will all be performed by the cast.
He has also been joined by singer, songwriter and Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams for a song called ‘Open The Door’, which they are both credited as co-writers and performers.
“This was a fun project. Like other Roald Dahl books, this one has its share of dreadful characters,” Byrne said. “When I was approached to write some songs for this movie, I immediately said ‘Let me give it a try and see if you like what I come up with’. Phil [Johnston, writer, producer and director] was wonderfully clear what each song needed to express and what the character was feeling at that moment.
“I reached out to Hayley Williams to collaborate on the end credits song and we both agreed that it should serve to remind us that there is heart and connection in the story after all the unpleasantness depicted by Mr. and Mrs. Twit. Hayley was inspired by Beesha’s story and came up with some lyric ideas, and I set them to tune and boom.”
Williams added, “Being a part of this movie is like one pinch-me moment after another. My favourite Roald Dahl book growing up was The Twits. I’m drawn to learning about twisted characters like Mr. and Mrs. Twit and The Wormwoods from Matilda.
“It feels like a cautionary tale – and also a really lovely depiction of chosen family and community, which is one of my favourite topics. I owe David Byrne for pulling me into the music for this. It was so fun and so surreal starting a song from scratch with him.”
Mr and Mrs Twits will be voiced by Johnny Vegas and Margo Martindale, and others in the cast include Emilia Clarke (Pippa), Natalie Portman (Mary Muggle Wump), Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (Beesha), Ryan Lopez (Bubsy), and Timothy Simons (Marty Muggle-Wump).
Phil Johnston shared: “I still can’t quite believe that I spent the last few years collaborating with David Byrne, a musical hero of mine since I was 13. From the first demo he sent me, on which the featured instrument was a 100-year-old banjolele, I knew I was going to love the songs he wrote.”
“Throughout the process, my collaboration with David has been incredibly fun and surprisingly easy, probably because I’ve been stealing from him for so long,” he added.
“When David and I started talking about an end credit song, the first potential collaborator David brought up was Hayley Williams. The first word I said was ‘yes.’ Followed by ‘please.’ I still can’t quite believe that two of my favourite songwriters wrote a song together for The Twits. The saying, ‘never meet your heroes’ simply does not apply here. I met two of them, and boy howdy, it’s been a dream come true.”
The Twits will debut on Netflix on October 17.
This is far from the first time that Byrne and Williams have joined forces. Back at the start of the year, the Talking Heads icon announced his new album ‘Who Is The Sky?’, which featured Williams, alongside other collaborations from St. Vincent, and more.
Before then, Byrne covered Paramore’s ‘Hard Times’ for Record Store Day last year, while Williams covered ‘Burning Down The House’ on the recent tribute album for ‘Stop Making Sense’ and its anniversary. Back in 2023, Paramore also teased more work with Byrne, telling fans that they had worked on a remix of a ‘This Is Why‘ track.
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