Spider-Man: Brand New Day had an amazing run in theaters this summer, breaking box office records and making over $2 billion since its theatrical release. As the fourth movie in Tom Holland’s portrayal of Spider-Man, the movie rode off of the legacy and impact of the previous trilogy and into a new era of a lonely Peter Parker. Since coming to digital on Oct. 6, I’ve rewatched the movie twice already and have been in awe of its soundtrack and songs chosen for the movie. So if you will join me, let’s swing head-on into my thoughts on the music behind Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day
The movie starts off with a simplified version of Spider-Man’s themes from his past three movies. The track, “Web Letter Days,” plays as Peter reads his letter written to MJ after her memories have been altered due to the previous movie. We see Peter in the dark of his apartment engrossed in his work before going to watch social media videos of his previous friends. Right after, we see Peter upside down with New York City in the background, with “Web Letter Days” quieting down as he’s upside down and engrossed in his phone, ignoring the gray background of the city.
Right after, Peter pulls down his mask, putting on his Spider-Man persona before transitioning into the first track of the film, “Wolf Like Me” by TV On The Radio. Spider-Man continues on with his little quips, fighting off villains in the rainy city. However, despite the upbeat instrumental of “Wolf Like Me,” we see Peter reflecting a different feeling, alone visiting Aunt May’s grave on a rainy day, and flashbacks of Peter continuously isolating himself throughout the years.
A bit later in the film, Peter follows his old friend Ned Leeds to his house party after seeing him in the local store. The track, “Loser,” by Tame Impala plays as we see Peter watching Ned from afar. “Loser,” which has remained in the Billboard Hot 100 since the movie’s release, has somewhat become known as “the” song for the movie, representing Peter’s new life alone. However, I think this song only does well in the film due to the inclusion of “Wolf Like Me.”
Both songs mirror Peter’s identity between Peter Parker and Spider-Man and the mental and physical mask he puts on in different ways. “Wolf Like Me” represents Peter’s continuous fight for a safer world for those he cares about, representing the message from Aunt May on how “with great power comes great responsibility,” but “Loser” represents Peter when he gives into his temptations to see the life he once had. “EoO” by Bad Bunny plays after Peter’s mutation, being the last bit of music we hear as a part of Peter’s life before the mutation begins to take over his life in a negative way.
Besides these tracks, the only songs not composed by Michael Giacchino are representative of the environment around Peter, such as “Monopoly” by Monetochka when meeting with Yelena Belenova at her banya office or “Fire for You” by Cannons playing during Ned and MJ’s house party. After seeing MJ with someone new, we see Peter’s world delve into silence with only the score by Giacchino to accompany him. I think this is where the film does best with its soundtrack due to its intentional use of silence.
Giacchino discussed in an interview with Glenn Kiser from Dolby Creator Talks about his intentions behind the score for the film, zeroing in on the fact that Peter is completely alone. Compared to Giacchino’s scores for the previous films, he explains that he went out of his way to “not do anything new but to take away from what there was,” similar to Peter’s journey throughout his time as Spider-Man. The use of synths throughout the movie is different from Holland’s previous Spider-Man iterations, with Giacchino saying that the synths are representative of Peter’s problems creeping into his day-to-day life and the traditional symphony orchestra used in films prior to being the backbone of Peter’s life.
This mix of synths and silence perfectly shows how the memories and burdens Peter carries are his alone throughout the movie. I think this is a wonderful decision instead of constantly playing music throughout the movie, as it requires the viewer to sit with what is happening. Some other standouts within Giacchino’s score are the transition from the hopeful melodies in “Kiss of the Spider-Man” to the eerie shift after Peter realizes Jean had possessed MJ and the dissonance utilized for Jean Grey’s theme, “Big Sister Energy,” showcasing the dangerous and somewhat unknown threat Jean is to Peter.
After following Peter’s journey throughout the movie, the track “Say Hero to My Little Friend” plays near the end. Peter walks out of the hospital, walking into a crowd of Spider-Man supporters as Frank Castle, also known as Punisher, provides him cover. This track is the beginning of Peter finally beginning to let people into his life, paralleling “Web Letter Days,” as he watches the sun set over New York City and visits Aunt May, saying he decided he’s “not going to do this alone anymore.”
The movie ends with Peter walking back into the corner store, finally introducing himself to Ned as the final track of the movie “Better Off Ned,” as the two do their special handshake introduced in Spider-Man: Homecoming and Ned, supposedly, remembering Peter.
Finally, the screen cuts to black as the credits play, featuring “oh yeah?” by Steve Lacy. However, compared to the original song, the credits cut off the intro and outro of the song, leaving the viewer with the silence before and after it starts to take in the story. I will admit, I teared up a little in theaters at this moment. “oh yeah?” is a wonderful song and a perfect ending to this chapter of Peter’s story as he begins to bring down his walls and welcome his friends, allies, and the city back into his life.
The final track of the score, “Suite New Day,” is also a nice song to sit with while waiting for your classic Marvel end credits scene. “Suite New Day” is a wonderful summary of a song for the movie, with the track lasting six minutes and 16 seconds, a callback to the comic book’s mainline universe in Earth-616.
Overall, Spider-Man: Brand New Day has my favorite soundtrack out of all of Holland’s iterations of Peter Parker. Giacchino’s return to the score for the fourth time and utilization of motifs we were already familiar with, but changing it to something different from what we remember, perfectly encapsulates what this movie is about.