My Twilight Era: Music, Memories & Memorabilia

Tonight someone special sent me a Radiohead album video.

At 5:40, a song started playing and my brain immediately went, “That song is in Twilight!”

And suddenly I was down a rabbit hole I hadn’t visited in years.

Because apparently there was a time in my life when simply knowing a song was in Twilight wasn’t enough. I made an entire spreadsheet of the soundtracks, rewatched the movies on my computer, and documented the exact order the songs appeared and what was happening in each scene.

I went looking for that spreadsheet. Then I found the folder.

And wow, the folder!

Old graphics. Wallpapers. Soundtrack artwork. Fanfiction. Website files. Photos. Twilight graphics I had completely forgotten making. Basically a little digital archaeological site of my Twilight era.

Then I found the pictures of my collection.

I had posters, magazines, books, DVDs, shirts, umbrellas, Barbies, brushes, soundtrack stuff and all kinds of random memorabilia. Looking at the photo now, I had basically created my own little Twilight convention booth in my bedroom.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

To explain how all of THAT happened, I have to go back to 2008…

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How I Fell Into Twilight

I didn’t actually discover Twilight on my own.

My sister, who is nine years younger than me, dragged me to see the first movie in the theater in November 2008.

Apparently she had already been telling me I needed to read the books.

I hadn’t listened.

And then I was hooked.

For YEARS afterward, Twilight became her evidence whenever she recommended something to me that I wasn’t immediately grabbed by.

“You didn’t listen to me about Twilight either.”

Which was annoyingly effective, because she had a point. 😂

I borrowed the first couple of books from one of her friends and tore through them. I don’t remember exactly how quickly I read them, but I remember needing to find the rest pretty much immediately.

The funny thing is that by the time I discovered Twilight, all four of the original books were already out. Breaking Dawn had been released just a few months earlier in August 2008.

So I didn’t have to wait for the original four books, just the movies.

And now that I’ve experienced the torture of getting caught up on the Fourth Wing series and having to WAIT for the next book, I appreciate just how lucky I was.

Although… I did eventually get my own version of that torture with Midnight Sun.

A partial draft leaked online in 2008. Stephenie Meyer ultimately put the leaked draft on her own website so fans wouldn’t have to go searching for an unauthorized copy.

But it was only PART of the book.

I needed the rest!

At some point I found a fanfiction writer who had taken on the task of finishing it, and I remember their version actually being pretty damn good. It at least gave me some relief. 😂

Then I waited.

And waited.

The actual completed Midnight Sun didn’t come out until August 2020.

So apparently I didn’t escape the Twilight waiting game entirely.

Twilight Release Timeline

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Apparently, I Wasn’t the Only Grown Woman Who Lost Her Mind

And if you weren’t there at the time, it’s hard to adequately explain just how many grown women got completely sucked into Twilight.

It wasn’t just teenagers.

Women were staying up all night reading the books, dragging their friends to the movies, picking Team Edward or Team Jacob, buying every magazine with the cast on the cover, listening to the soundtracks constantly and generally behaving like we had all collectively been transported back to high school.

Then someone made a song about it.

“Twilight (What Have You Done to My Wife?)” by Shallow Day might still be one of the funniest summaries of the entire phenomenon.

I mean… the song literally jokes about a wife who won’t sleep because she’s reading the books all night, watches the movie repeatedly, buys magazines, plays the soundtrack day and night and then gets sucked right back in when New Moon comes out.

I feel slightly attacked. 😂

But that’s also what makes it so funny to me now. It captured something that really was happening at the time.

There was this whole population of adult women who weren’t casually enjoying Twilight. We were IN IT.

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Listening to the Movies Before I Could See Them

I bought the first Twilight soundtrack and absolutely loved it.

Then New Moon changed the whole thing for me.

The New Moon soundtrack was released on October 16, 2009. The movie didn’t come out until November 20.

And unlike the first Twilight soundtrack, which included several previously released songs, the music for New Moon was created specifically for the soundtrack.

I downloaded it the day it came out.

Then I listened to it.

And listened to it again.

And again.

Multiple times a day for more than a month.

So by the time I walked into the theater to see New Moon, I already knew all the songs.

That completely changed the experience of watching the movie.

Instead of hearing a new song underneath a scene, a song I already knew and had been listening to for weeks would suddenly start playing.

OH! THIS ONE!

And now I was finding out where it belonged.

The music already had an emotional connection for me before the movie gave it a visual one.

I loved that experience so much that I deliberately did it again.

When the Eclipse soundtrack came out before the movie, I listened to it over and over before seeing the film.

Then I did it again with Breaking Dawn – Part 1.

And again with Breaking Dawn – Part 2.

By then it had become part of how I experienced a new Twilight movie. First I learned the music. Then I went to the theater and discovered where every song lived in the story.

Which probably explains why I eventually needed a spreadsheet documenting exactly where all of them played.

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Yes, I Spent 12+ Hours in a Movie Theater Watching Twilight

Speaking of the movies…

I had forgotten just how committed I was.

When Breaking Dawn – Part 2 came out in November 15, 2012, Cinemark did a full Twilight Saga marathon leading up to the release.

And OF COURSE I went.

I got to the theater around 11 AM and proceeded to spend basically the entire day there watching all five Twilight movies back-to-back.

Twilight.

New Moon.

Eclipse.

Breaking Dawn – Part 1.

And finally, at 10 PM, Breaking Dawn – Part 2.

I didn’t leave the theater until around midnight.

TWELVE. HOURS. OF. TWILIGHT.

I did at least have the foresight to bring my Coccyx pillow, which helped.

My butt was still sore the next day. 😂

And I kept the evidence.

I had the marathon lanyard and pass, my ticket stub, promo stuff, and the Edward, Bella and Jacob cups.

But the experience itself was something I’ve never experienced before or since.

By the time we got to Breaking Dawn – Part 2, we’d all been sitting together immersed in this world for HOURS. And more importantly, this theater was packed with Twi-hards who hadn’t seen the final movie yet.

So the reactions were INTENSE.

There’s a moment near the end where… let’s just say someone’s head gets pulled off.

No spoilers.

The entire theater GASPED.

And then people started CRYING.

It was this huge collective WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?! reaction from an entire theater full of people who had just spent the whole day reliving the story together.

It was incredible.

And I know the marathon itself was part of what made it that intense, because the next day the tables turned.

My sister had originally dragged me to see Twilight in 2008.

Four years later, I dragged her to see Breaking Dawn – Part 2.

And the audience reaction wasn’t even CLOSE to the same.

Same movie. Same big moment.

Completely different experience.

There was something about spending that entire day immersed in the story with a theater full of Twi-hards and then experiencing the finale together for the first time that I’ve never been able to replicate.

And honestly?

Worth the sore butt. 😂

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It Wasn’t Really Just About Twilight

Finding the pictures and video of my old bedroom hit me harder than I expected.

Because when I look at that room now, I don’t just see how completely ridiculous my Twilight obsession had become. 😂

I remember exactly how I felt when I made that room.

Before my ex-husband moved out, I had gotten to a point where my hope that things would change or get better was nearly gone.

Then he made his decision.

And everything shifted.

It felt like I could breathe again.

Hope came back. LIFE came back.

And for the first time since I was 14 years old, I had a bedroom that was completely mine.

I didn’t have to compromise with anyone else’s taste. I didn’t have to consider whether someone else liked what I wanted to put on the walls. I could make the space whatever I wanted it to be.

Apparently what I wanted it to be was Twilight.

A LOT of Twilight.

Was it excessive? Absolutely.

Did I have Twilight umbrellas? Yes.

Did I have Edward Cullen staring at me from multiple directions? Also yes. 😂

And I think that’s why seeing it again hits me so hard.

That room wasn’t just evidence of something I was obsessed with.

It was evidence that I was excited about something again.

I was making things. Collecting things. Decorating. Listening to music constantly. Reading. Going to movies. Looking forward to the next soundtrack and the next release.

I had things to look forward to again.

I felt alive again.

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The Soundtrack of That Time

The music is probably the part that transports me back the fastest.

I used to have the Twilight soundtracks playing in my room day and night.

And it wasn’t just the music. There was also Twilight Woods from Bath & Body Works. So apparently this particular period of my life managed to get permanently filed away in my brain with both a soundtrack and a smell.

Listening to it again tonight, I didn’t just remember the music. I remembered what it felt like to be in that room.

I put on my essential oil diffuser with a scent called Chill that reminds me of Twilight Woods, turned on the music, and there it was.

That room.

That time.

That version of me.

Now, of course, I’ve decided I want to figure out how to recreate the original Twilight Woods scent myself.

Because apparently one Twilight rabbit hole wasn’t enough.

My Ridiculously Detailed Spreadsheet

Which brings me back to the spreadsheet that started this whole rabbit hole.

I didn’t just want a list of the songs on each soundtrack. I wanted them in the order they actually appeared in the movies.

Those aren’t necessarily the same thing.

So instead of just making a playlist like a normal person, I rewatched the movies and documented every song, what order it appeared, and what was happening in the movie when it played.

For the first Twilight, that meant things like “Eyes on Fire” while Bella waits by her truck for Edward to show up at school, “Supermassive Black Hole” during vampire baseball, and “Flightless Bird, American Mouth” while Bella and Edward dance in the gazebo at prom.

Then I did New Moon.

Then Eclipse.

Then both Breaking Dawn movies.

I even noted songs that appeared on the official soundtracks but weren’t actually used in the movies.

Looking at it again all these years later, I realized that this thing I made entirely for myself is actually pretty useful. And rather than letting it continue sitting forgotten on my hard drive, I’m putting it here where other Twilight fans can find it.

Twilight Soundtracks in Movie Order Spreadsheet

View In Sheets | Download PDF

My Spotify Playlist

Direct Link

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Then I Started Listening to the Books

At some point, reading the books apparently wasn’t enough either.

I got the audiobooks.

And I didn’t listen to them once.

I listened to them multiple times.

There is something different about spending that many hours inside a story instead of sitting down and reading it. The books became something I could have playing while I was doing other things, much like the soundtracks had been playing in my room.

And these are not short audiobooks.

• Twilight: 12 hours, 51 minutes
• New Moon: 14 hours, 51 minutes
• Eclipse: 16 hours, 26 minutes
• Breaking Dawn: 20 hours, 28 minutes
• The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: 4 hours, 9 minutes
• Midnight Sun: 25 hours, 49 minutes

That’s more than 94 hours of Twilight if you listen to all six once.

And I listened to most of them more than once.

So yes. I spent a LOT of time in Forks.

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The $29.99 Record I Sold for $499

Most of my original Twilight collection is gone now.

Over the years, I sold almost all of it. But there was one thing I held onto for a long time.

The original Twilight soundtrack vinyl LP.

I bought it at Hastings Records in St. Joseph, Missouri for $29.99.

And then I held onto it for more than a decade.

In 2021, I finally decided to sell it.

For $499.

Yes. The $29.99 record sold for $499.

That’s a $469.01 difference.

Apparently holding onto your Twilight memorabilia for more than a decade CAN be a sound investment strategy. 😂

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Okay, I Didn’t Get Rid of ALL the Twilight Stuff

While most of the original collection is gone, apparently I still need a little Twilight in my life.

Just considerably less of it.

Turning the Books Into Jewelry

At Fan Expo Denver in 2025, I found The Artistic Dabbler booth.

Natasha had tiny Twilight book earrings, and immediately I saw something else I could do with them.

I took the book charms and turned them into a custom jewelry set.

I added hematite stones to make the necklace and earrings

At the next convention I had the idea to make a matching bracelet so I bought a set of wolf earrings from her and used one of the wolves alongside the diamond charm I had taken from a manufactured Twilight bracelet.

Over multiple events, I’ve run into Natasha again and continued tweaking and adding to the set.

This is what it looks like now.

And yes, when I wear my Breaking Dawn shirt, I wear the Twilight jewelry with it.

Because subtlety was clearly never the goal here. 😂

It’s still technically not finished, either.

At some point, I need to have Natasha make me a Midnight Sun charm so I can add the fifth book.

And if you want your own Twilight books, Natasha doesn’t list the Twilight designs in her Etsy shop, but she can make any of the books as a custom order. Just message her through The Artistic Dabbler on Etsy!

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Then Emmett Cullen Bought Me an Axolotl

Apparently my Twilight story wasn’t finished yet.

I went to Planet Comicon Kansas City 2026.

On March 28, I went to a Twilight panel with:

• Kellan Lutz – Emmett Cullen
• Jackson Rathbone – Jasper Hale
• Peter Facinelli – Dr. Carlisle Cullen
• Ashley Greene – Alice Cullen
• Maggie Grace – Irina

That alone was pretty damn cool after being a Twilight fan since 2008.

But the next morning got considerably more interesting…

I was walking around early on March 29, before the convention floor officially opened, when I spotted Kellan Lutz.

I waved.

He smiled and waved back.

Cool. Tiny celebrity interaction accomplished.

Except a little while later, I turned a corner and literally almost ran into him.

He was looking around a booth filled with animal puppets, so I said hi again and we ended up talking for a minute.

I told him he actually blends in surprisingly well when you’re not specifically looking for him. I also told him that yes, I’m a Twilight fan, and that back in the day I had even done the full five-movie theater marathon.

Then I found an axolotl puppet that I wanted.

I had already been shopping and needed to transfer some money between accounts, except my phone data was being difficult. Kellan was also buying some things for his kids, so I told him to go ahead of me while I fought with my phone.

Right as he was about to pay, he offered to buy my axolotl too.

So Emmett Cullen bought me an axolotl.

That is now a sentence I get to say for the rest of my life. 😂

And because apparently the Twilight universe was feeling particularly generous that weekend, I also had a little moment with Peter Facinelli.

I happened to be nearby when he was walking up to start his autograph booth before anyone was in line. I smiled and waved, and he looked directly at me, smiled and waved back.

Nothing huge. Just one of those tiny human interactions that makes you grin when you’ve watched someone play Carlisle Cullen approximately a million times.

2008 Twilight-fan me obviously had no idea that 18 years later I’d be wandering around a convention before opening, chatting with Kellan Lutz at an animal puppet booth and leaving with an axolotl he bought me.

Life is weird.

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Keeping the Pieces Without Keeping All the Stuff

It’s strange what can bring an old version of your life back.

This time, it was someone sending me Radiohead.

One song turned into finding my old spreadsheet. That turned into digging through folders full of graphics and photos. Then I had the soundtrack playing again and a Twilight-Woods-ish scent coming out of my diffuser.

And suddenly I remembered not only how much I loved this ridiculous vampire universe, but who I was when I loved it.

More than that, I remembered how it felt to become that version of myself.

To go from feeling like my hope that anything would change was nearly gone, to suddenly being able to breathe again.

To have things I was excited about.

To make a space completely my own.

To look forward to things again.

I don’t want the collection back.

I don’t need the bedroom back.

I’m still apparently collecting a few new stories, though.

And axolotls.

But I’m really glad I still have the pictures, the video, the graphics, the music and all these little digital pieces of that time.

They’re not just pieces of my Twilight era.

They’re pieces of a time when I got my hope back.

And now they have a place to live instead of disappearing into another forgotten folder on my computer.

Especially the spreadsheet.

Because obviously I still think the songs should be in movie order.

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Were you around for the original Twilight insanity?

What song, scene, or piece of memorabilia immediately takes you back?

Tell me in the comments. I’d love to know what brings that era rushing back for you.

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About This Post

Written by Karissa Skirmont with editorial assistance from AI. AI helped me organize and express the story; all memories, experiences, opinions, source materials, and final edits are my own.

A Note About AI

There’s one more piece of this post that feels worth mentioning.

In the past, I would have had the idea for this post. I would have gotten excited, dug through all the old files, found the pictures, started writing…

And then it probably would have sat in my drafts forever.

Not because I didn’t have anything to say. Clearly, I had a lot to say. 😂

Getting everything that’s in my head out of my head and into something finished has always been the hard part.

That’s one of the ways AI has genuinely changed things for me.

I used AI to help me take all these scattered memories, stories, photos, dates, old files and random thoughts and turn them into the post you’re reading now. I went back and forth with it as I remembered more, corrected things, added details and figured out what I was actually trying to say.

The memories are mine. The stories are mine. The weirdly detailed Twilight spreadsheet is VERY much mine.

AI helped me express and finish something that otherwise might never have made it out of my drafts.

And I think that’s pretty damn cool.