The Story Behind That Song From the ‘I Saw the TV Glow’ Trailer
I Saw the TV Glow might be the most talked about horror movie of the year so far. Trailers for I Saw the TV Glow include a haunting song about adolescence. Interestingly, the tune was not written for the film. Here’s a look at what the writers of the track were trying to say and why the song appears on the soundtrack of I Saw the TV Glow.
Trailers for ‘I Saw the TV Glow’ include a cult classic song
The track from the trailers for I Saw the TV Glow is called “Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl.” The tune was initially performed by the rock band Broken Social Scene. During a 2023 interview with Billboard, Broken Social Scene’s Emily Haines’ discussed her interpretation of the track.
“[It was] this tale of a lost kid, or someone who was about to go off to LA, maybe. I was definitely aware of the fact that something was ending,” she said. “If you’re gonna be a super stubborn independent person like myself and want to change the industry at the same time as you’re trying to launch your band, you’re gonna have a bit of an uphill grind. So it’s not a sad thing, it was just the sense of ‘Oh man yeah, things are gonna change.'”
Broken Social Scene’s John Crossingham elaborated on the track. “It taps into that mysterious quality of being young and at odds with things,” he explained. “It’s opaque enough that you can put anything you want on it, but it’s specific enough in its emotion that you recognize what’s being intimated.”
Why ‘Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl’ is part of ‘I Saw the TV Glow’
“Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl” became a cult favorite. It appeared in the trailers for I Saw the TV Glow. The version of the track that appears in the trailer is not the original but a cover by singer Yeule. IndieWire reports that, during a 2024 interview with the Filmmaker Toolkit, director Jane Schoenbrun explained that they wanted the soundtrack of the film to feel like the best 1990s mixtape ever (in spite of the fact that “Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl” came out in 2002).
Schoenbrun originally wanted Yeule to write a new tune for I Saw the TV Glow. Ultimately, the director decided to ask Yeule to record “Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl” out of a longtime fondness for it. Schoenbrun said the original version of the track was a predecessor to hyperpop, a trendy subgenre of pop music known for distorted vocals and instrumentation.
Why the song is perfect for the movie
It’s nice that “Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl” is featured in a teen film. With a title like that, it should have been in a teen film when it first came out! Considering I Saw the TV Glow is an homage to the popular culture of the 1990s and 2000s, the tune fits perfectly into the movie and its marketing. While I Saw the TV Glow is a disturbing, otherwordly take on nostalgia, Yeule’s “Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl” is a respite from the onslaught of horror.
Love or loath I Saw the TV Glow, it has a glorious soundtrack.
