Hayley Williams and David Byrne Team Up For ‘Open The Door’

Paramore’s Hayley Williams and Talking Heads icon David Byrne have released their new collab, ‘Open The Door’, written for Netflix’s animated take on Roald Dahl’s The Twits and set to roll over the end credits. The track is out now via Netflix Music, ahead of the film’s Friday, October 17 premiere.

This isn’t a random pairing, over the last 18 months the two have become frequent creative foils: Paramore cut ‘Burning Down the House’ for A24’s Stop Making Sense tribute, and Byrne returned serve with a ‘Hard Times’ cover, then doubled down by bringing the song to Radio City last week. Williams also guests on Byrne’s new album Who Is the Sky? on ‘What Is the Reason For It?’, a left of centre pop shuffle that previewed their chemistry.

On The Twits, Byrne didn’t stop at one song, he wrote three originals performed by the film’s voice cast – ‘We’re Not Like Ev’ryone Else’, ‘Lullaby’ and ‘The Problem Is You’, with ‘Open The Door’ co-written and performed with Williams for the credits. Consider it the softer landing after Mr and Mrs Twit’s gleeful nastiness.

On The Twits

Byrne explained the brief clearly: “This was a fun project… When I was approached to write some songs for this movie, I immediately said, ‘Let me give it a try and see if you like what I come up with.’ Phil [Johnston, writer, producer and director] was wonderfully clear [about] what each song needed to express and what the character was feeling at that moment.” He added: “I reached out to Hayley Williams… Hayley was inspired by Beesha’s story and came up with some lyric ideas, and I set them to tune and boom.”

Williams echoed the sentiment: “Being a part of this movie is like one pinch-me moment after another… My favourite Roald Dahl book growing up was The Twits… It feels like a cautionary tale – and also a really lovely depiction of chosen family and community… I owe David Byrne for pulling me into the music for this.”

If ‘Open The Door’ feels like a bridge between generations, that’s the point, Byrne’s whimsy and Williams’ melodic clarity meet in a tune designed to send you out smiling, after all that muck and mischief in Twitlandia. And with The Twits landing this week, there’s just enough time to get it stuck in your head.