JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
The recently released adaptation of "Wuthering Heights," directed by Emerald Fennell, is already a certified box office hit, but the gothic romance was also an event in the music world too, featuring a contemporary original companion album by the pop star Charli XCX.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CHAINS OF LOVE")
CHARLI XCX: (Singing) Shattering like glass, it's the breaking of my heart. The chains of love are cruel. I shouldn't feel like a prisoner.
SUMMERS: It's not the first time that the world of romantic literature and music has collided. For years, fans of romance novels have used pop music to enhance their own reading experiences, creating a new kind of community that unites pop music fandom and book lovers. Here to talk to us about this trend is NPR music critic and correspondent Ann Powers. Hi.
ANN POWERS, BYLINE: Hey. Thanks for having me.
SUMMERS: Thanks for being here. So let me start with this. When did you start to notice that the boom in romance reading that we've all been seeing has a musical component?
POWERS: Well, it really clicked for me with the release of Charli XCX's album and the promotional campaign attached to it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CHAINS OF LOVE")
CHARLI XCX: (Singing) I know the chains of love won't break.
POWERS: She and Emerald Fennell had created this playlist of all the songs that inspired both of them in making the film and the album. And I went searching for it, and when I did, I discovered there were all these other "Wuthering Heights" playlists that predated the movie, some of them by a long time. I poked around and I found more and more playlists that were grounded in romance reading, either about specific novels or genres or characters. It was an explosion.
SUMMERS: Oh, yeah, I love the idea of readers just creating playlists to go along with what they're reading.
POWERS: Oh, absolutely. I mean, you can find playlists for all the big ones - the "Heated Rivalry," of course (laughter), you know, "A Court Of Thorns And Roses." Also, though, you can go all the way back to something like "Twilight," I mean, really, the beginning of the current romance style, and also, you know, people who are into particular subgenres. Like, are you into romance at all?
SUMMERS: I am very into romance as people who listen to this show probably know from the books I select to talk to authors about (laughter).
POWERS: And I think I heard you like sports romance.
SUMMERS: This is accurate.
POWERS: And you're going to find playlists and discussions of music that go best with reading sports romance novels. I will find ones that, you know, represent fairies and werewolves 'cause that's more interesting to me.
SUMMERS: All right let's dig in a little bit here. What artists are you seeing that are particularly big among readers?
POWERS: Well, OK, this is where I tell you I really first started tracking this trend when the English band, Sleep Token, hit the charts back in early 2025 here in the U.S.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EMERGENCE")
SLEEP TOKEN: (Singing) Are you carbide on my nano, red glass on my lightbulb, dark light on my culture, sapphire on my white gold? Burst out of my chest...
POWERS: So this is, like, a progressive rock band with a masked singer that makes these epic fantasy concept albums - I mean, the kind of thing I would have thought, like, dudes were into, like Pink Floyd or something like that. But I was surprised to find they were gaining a lot of commercial success, and I realized that a lot of their fans were women and discovered that romantasy readers love Sleep Token. That genre features fairies, dragons, werewolves, you know, all of that, and it really synced with the music the band was making.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EMERGENCE")
SLEEP TOKEN: (Singing) You might be the one to take away the pain and let my mind go quiet.
POWERS: Then I explored a little more, and I found that other theatrical rockers, like Florence Welch of Florence & The Machine or the ultimate, Hozier, had huge followings among romantasy readers. I mean, Hozier looks like a romantasy hero.
SUMMERS: For sure.
POWERS: So it totally makes sense.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WORK SONG")
HOZIER: (Singing) When my time comes around, lay me gently in the cold dark earth. No grave can hold my body down. I'll crawl home to her.
SUMMERS: I'm so curious. Why do you think there is such a strong connection between romance novels and music? Because I have to say this feels something that's very singular about romance, like, you don't see this in a lot of other genres.
POWERS: It's because the fandoms are literally connected to each other, and they're kind of modeled after each other. It's really the 21st century way of being a pop fan. These communities are largely young women who forge connections online and then grow real-world communities, like, you know, Taylor Swift fans go to concerts together. In the case of readers, they're flocking to romance-themed bookstores or conventions, and what they read is often connected to other aspects of their lives, like how they dress, what movies or TV they watch - you know, we mentioned "Heated Rivalry" - and also the musicians they love. It's just a prime example of how being a fan now is never confined to one pursuit. Music, reading, fashion, they're all connected.
SUMMERS: NPR's Ann Powers, thanks so much.
POWERS: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MY REMINDER")
CHARLI XCX: (Singing) I'm not gonna be your bitter rival. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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