''The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) '' is the official soundtrack to '' The Twilight Saga: New Moon''. The score for ''The Twilight Saga: New Moon'' was composed by

Alexandre Desplat Alexandre Michel Gérard Desplat (; born 23 August 1961) is a French film composer and conductor. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and two Grammy Awards. Desplat was m ...

while the rest of the soundtrack was chosen by music supervisor

Alexandra Patsavas Alexandra Patsavas (born 1968) is a Grammy and Emmy nominated American music supervision, music supervisor, film producer, producer, & executive producer, executive who has worked on over 100 films and television series, most notably ''The Twilig ...

, who also produced the ''Twilight'' soundtrack. The ''New Moon – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'' album was released on October 16, 2009 by Patsavas'

Chop Shop A chop shop is a business, often mimicking a body shop, that illicitly disassembles stolen motor vehicles and sells their parts. Chop shops are often linked to car-theft rings as part of a broader organized crime enterprise. In the United Stat ...

label, in conjunction with

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

''New Moon: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack''

''New Moon'''s soundtrack comprises songs that are all original and exclusive to the soundtrack and are performed by various

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

and

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

artists. ''New Moon'' director

Chris Weitz Christopher John Weitz (; born November 30, 1969) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. He is best known for his work with his brother Paul on the comedy films '' American Pie'' and '' About a Boy''; the latter earned ...

stated that the soundtrack would feature songs from

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...

Muse In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

, and

Band of Skulls Band of Skulls are an English rock band from Southampton, fronted by Russell Marsden (guitar, vocals). Emma Richardson ( bass, vocals; 2002–2021) and Matt Hayward (drums; 2002–2016) were previously members. The group formed after meeting i ...

Death Cab for Cutie Death Cab for Cutie (commonly abbreviated to DCFC or Death Cab) is an American rock music, rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington, in 1997. Death Cab for Cutie's music has been classified as indie rock, indie pop, and alternative rock. The ...

contributed the soundtrack's lead single, a song written specifically for the film called " Meet Me on the Equinox", which debuted September 13 during the

MTV Video Music Awards The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category ...

. Bassist

Nick Harmer Death Cab for Cutie (commonly abbreviated to DCFC or Death Cab) is an American rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington, in 1997. Death Cab for Cutie's music has been classified as indie rock, indie pop, and alternative rock. The band is curr ...

says, "We wrote 'Meet Me On the Equinox' to reflect the celestial themes and motifs that run throughout the ''Twilight'' series and we wanted to capture that desperate feeling of endings and beginnings that so strongly affect the main characters." The music video for "Meet Me on the Equinox" premiered on October 7, 2009, and includes clips from the movie. The English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

contributed a remix of their song " I Belong to You", which appears in its original form on their 2009 album '' The Resistance''.

St. Vincent Saint Vincent may refer to: People Saints * Vincent of Saragossa (died 304), a.k.a. Vincent the Deacon, deacon and martyr * Saint Vincenca, 3rd century Roman martyress, whose relics are in Blato, Croatia * Vincent, Orontius, and Victor (died 305 ...

collaborated with

Bon Iver Bon Iver ( ) is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Vernon had originally formed Bon Iver as a solo project, but it eventually became a band consisting of Vernon (vocals, guit ...

's Justin Vernon to create a song called "Rosyln". When describing the song, she said, " ustinsings in his beautiful falsetto and I'm actually singing very, very low... I think there's something vampirey and creepy about the two of us singing together. It's a simple, stripped-down kind of song." The soundtrack originally had a release date of October 20, 2009, but the date was moved up four days to October 16 due to "overwhelming and unprecedented demand".

Track listing

Marketing

Hot Topic Hot Topic, Inc. is an American fast-fashion company specializing in counterculture-related clothing and accessories, as well as licensed music. The stores are aimed towards an audience interested in rock music and video gaming, and most of the ...

locations across the United States hosted ''New Moon'' soundtrack listening parties on the release date, October 16, where fans were able to listen to the entire soundtrack and hear special messages from the featured bands. The album's CD booklet folds out into a ''New Moon'' poster. International versions of the soundtrack are available in certain countries, featuring bonus tracks from "local" artists. For example,

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

and

Latin Grammy The Latin Grammy Awards (stylized as Latin GRAMMYs) are awards presented by the Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish or Portuguese from any ...

nominee

Ximena Sariñana Ximena Sariñana Rivera (; born October 29, 1985) is a Mexican singer-songwriter and actress. In 2009, she received critical acclaim and a Grammy nomination for her debut album, '' Mediocre''. Early life Ximena Sariñana was born in Guadalajar ...

is featured on

Spanish language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...

versions of the soundtrack, with the song "Frente al Mar" ("''In front of the Sea''").

Reception

Initial critical response to the ''New Moon'' soundtrack was generally favorable. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a

normalized Normalization or normalisation refers to a process that makes something more normal or regular. Science * Normalization process theory, a sociological theory of the implementation of new technologies or innovations * Normalization model, used in ...

rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 70, based on 11 reviews.

Chart performance

The soundtrack debuted at number two on the ''Billboard'' 200 albums chart, and climbed to number one a week later after selling 153,000 copies in its first full week of release. It made history as the first time ever a soundtrack and its sequel have both reached the #1 spot on the chart. The album was certified Platinum by

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

, and has sold 1,305,000 copies in the US as of August 2013. In New Zealand, it was certified Gold on October 18, 2009, selling over 7,500 copies in its first two days of release. The album debuted at number two and was certified Platinum after its first week of release, selling over 15,000 copies. In Australia, the soundtrack rose to number one on the iTunes Store and has largely stayed in the top five since its release. It debuted at number two on the

ARIA Albums Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

in the week beginning October 26, 2009, and was certified Platinum in its first week. In Mexico, the album is jumped to No. 1 on the international album charts and No. 4 on the main chart after five weeks inside the chart, caused by the success of the film.Todo un éxito el soundtrack de 'Luna Nueva'
In the UK, the album debuted at number one on the compilations chart.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

''The Twilight Saga: New Moon (The Score)''

''The Twilight Saga: New Moon (The Score)'' was composed by

and performed by the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

. He replaced

Carter Burwell Carter Benedict Burwell (born November 18, 1954) is an American film composer. He has frequently collaborated with the Coen brothers, having scored most of their films. He has also scored films by other directors such as Bill Condon, Todd Haynes ...

, who wrote the score for the previous film, ''

Twilight Twilight is daylight illumination produced by diffuse sky radiation when the Sun is below the horizon as sunlight from the upper atmosphere is scattered in a way that illuminates both the Earth's lower atmosphere and also the Earth's surf ...

'' (2008). Weitz has a working relationship with Desplat, who scored one of his previous films, ''

The Golden Compass ''Northern Lights'' (titled ''The Golden Compass'' in North America and some other countries) is a young-adult fantasy novel by Philip Pullman, published in 1995 by Scholastic UK. Set in a parallel universe, it follows the journey of Lyra Bel ...

'' (2007).

Track listing

Reception

The score has received critical acclaim from many film music critics.

Chart performance

References

External links

Official ''New Moon'' soundtrack website
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Twilight Saga 2009 soundtrack albums 2000s film soundtrack albums Atlantic Records soundtracks Film scores The Twilight Saga (film series) soundtracks Chop Shop Records soundtracks Romance film soundtracks Fantasy film soundtracks Alexandre Desplat soundtracks