Author Wilshire is not afraid of faeries. She’s grown up fae-blessed with a gift that lets her narrate true stories of the world around her and a seal of protection from a member of the High Court. The forest of Fairy Hill is her home just as much as the town is. That’s why she’s able to befriend the foreign fae boy she called Nuisance, who tells her stories of a very different forest and their Spider Prince.
But it’s been three years since she last saw Nuisance and there’s something dangerous lurking in the forest. When her oldest friend, Eddie, is transformed into a spider, Author struggles to find a way to reverse it. Not even the local witches have any ideas. Maybe the Spider Prince from Nuisance’s stories could help...
If he wasn’t cursed too.
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I’ve had a few people who are curious about this, and I put a lot of thought into it, so I thought it would be fun to go through the playlist for my book, Chaos and the Spider Prince, and explain why I choose the songs I did & what they mean with regards to the book!
You can find The Spider Prince trilogy here.
You can listen to the playlist on Spotify here.
Find the playlists for the other books here.
Without further ado, the breakdown! This is long and there will be spoilers.
1. We’re Going To Be Friends - The White Stripes
Although Author & Eddie were already friends before they started school, this song still very much reminiscent of their childhood. Author started school a year late, which means that Eddie was in first grade when she went into Kindergarten. I have a very clear image in my head of Eddie, sensible and responsible even then, walking with her to her first day of school and confidently showing her the classrooms.
Numbers letters learn to spell
Nouns and books and show and tell
Play time we will throw the ball
Then back to class through the hall
It’s also definitely got some Author & Nuisance in it! They didn’t met until Author was older than the characters in this song, but the energy is still there; finding someone that you immediately click with and have shared interests with is impactful no matter your age. Author and Nuisance playing together in the forest, going on silly adventures, and falling into a rhythm with each other is something that’s vital to the plot (obviously) and communicated well through this song I think!
Through the park and by the tree
We can rest upon the ground
And look at all the bugs we've found
2. Could Have Been Me - The Struts
This song was the first one that I put on the playlist! As soon as I heard it, I knew it was a song for Author. She’s definitely an adventurous spirit who wants to experience life to the fullest, and this song is about wanting to live a life with no regrets. That’s something that’s important to Author as, until Eddie’s curse and the events thereafter, she doesn’t regret much of anything. She doesn’t regret spending her time in the forest, befriend fae, or being strange. At least, until it affects her friends and the established pattern of her town.
Don't wanna live as an untold story
Rather go out in a blaze of glory
I can't hear you, I don't fear you
Also just the vibes of ‘don’t wanna live as an untold story’ coming from someone who literally tells stories of the world around her and the people in her life are so good! She wants to be a protagonist and that’s what makes her so willing to do the crazy, potentially foolish, things she does.
3. Party Tattoos - dodie
This song isn’t very lyrics-specific and is much more about the general feeling that in evokes. The idea that bruises aren’t a bad thing and are instead a memory of parties/adventures//time spent with friends is a very Author way of looking at the world.
And we're not bruised, they're just party tattoos
I can picture her coming out of the forest after a day with Nuisance, to see Eddie sitting on her back porch, worrying. Author’s response would be something about how her scrapes and bruises were just a part of the adventure.
4. Everybody Wants To Rule The World - Tears For Fears
Honestly I don’t know if I can explain this one. It gives me ‘opening to a movie’ vibes, i can picture it playing over an introductory shot of Fairy Hill as Author roller-skates through the town to drop of cheese at the grocers and the post office and then heading home. The first three songs on this playlist are mostly pre-book, so this song is kind of a reset to the actual start of everything; Author’s birthday, Eddie’s return to Fairy Hill, Edna baking, the three of them having a picnic in the forest because they’re all a little bit dumb, even when they’re pretending not to be.
The lyrics don’t really come into this at all.
5. Forest - Twenty One Pilots
Maybe a bit on the nose to put a song called forest on the playlist for a book that takes place largely in a forest or two, but this song was added for a few reasons. First of all, the idea of being terrified in the forest. It’s a new experience for Author, who’s spent her whole life in the Fairy Hill forest (relatively) safely. The fact that there’s something happening to it, and that her narration is making her nervous, is something new and startling.
The stomach in my brain
Throws up on to the page
Does it bother anyone else
That someone else has your name?
The first two lines of the above - Author’s narration coming out faster and less controlled, because there’s several dangerous and important things happening and her gift is trying to warn her of that.
The second two line of the above - tying into the idea that giving a faerie your name is a dangerous, risky thing. Highlighted by the fact that Natalie knows all of their names and they may be underestimating her.
6. Ribs - Lorde
The sort of melancholy that comes with growing up and losing contact with the friends you thought you’d have forever is translated, here, to be more about Author dealing with Eddie’s curse. She’s struggling with the fact that she can’t speak to Eddie and is, for the first time, leaving Fairy Hill and feeling alone and isolated in a way that she never has before.
This dream isn't feeling sweet
We're reeling through the midnight streets
And I've never felt more alone
It feels so scary getting old
This also feeds into, a little bit, her reunion with Nuisance. Reconnecting with him brings a sort of relief that lets her, for only a split second, forget about her worries and laugh. But the danger hasn’t passed and a solution hasn’t been found, so the repetition towards the end of the song leans into a certain desperation.
And laughing 'til our ribs get tough
(Laughing 'til our ribs get tough)
But that will never be enough
(But that will never be enough)
7. Sweet Tangerine - The Hush Sound
This is another one that’s more about the vibes and sound of the song then the actual lyrics. Again, I’m not a music person, but there’s something about the music/instrumentation mixed with the singers voice that just sounds like Lockswood to me. A sort of summery drawl, the way sunlight looks coming through bright green leaves when you tilt your head back.
Rain falls, quickly wetting my hair and clothes
^ Pan vibes, being as he’s a creature of rain and lightning.
A shred of hope, a little bit of sweetness
Anything please, except for defeat
^ A little bit about Author’s upset over the Spider Prince’s curse for purely selfish reasons, and also the way Pan offers to continue to help despite it.
This is not at all what the song is about but I’m allowed to re-contextualise random lyrics to suit my purposes if the vibes are good.
8. Talk Too Much - Coin
This one was added for a few reasons. Firstly, the idea of someone knowing that they talk too much and being unable to stop themselves is kind of how Author feels about her gift at times, as much as she also loves it.
Better to leave it unsaid
Why can’t I leave it unsaid?
There’s also the fact that, although there aren’t any romantic relationships within this first book, there are a few people who Author is attracted to and would be alright flirting with. This song is literally saying ‘I talk a lot, kiss me to shut me up’. The characters are all pretty busy with other things and romance is far from their priority, but there is a certain potential to some of their interactions. For example, Author and Eddie enjoying the ‘view’ while Nuisance plays with the pixies at the beginning of chapter eleven.
Also just the general unbeat vibes of the song. It feels like something that Author would have on her own Spotify playlist, if the internet worked in Fairy Hill well enough for her to have a Spotify playlist.
9. Happy Together - Gerard Way feat. Ray Toro
Happy Together might be about a romantic love, but I also think that it’s fitting for friendships! Author, at this point, has just been betrayed by Nuisance, at least from her perspective, so the darker, more sombre take on the song that Gerard way and Ray Toro bring to it is fitting as a mark of the loss.
If I should call you up, invest a dime
And you say you belong to me and ease my mind
Imagine how the world could be, so very fine
^ Author wondering how Nuisance could go from telling her that everything would be fine to telling her that he wishes they’d never met. The idea that if she could get him to reassure her, the world would be better.
10. Boys Will Be Bugs - Cavetown
I’ll be honest, I added this song to the playlist back when there was some very different things in the outline and it doesn’t fit as well anymore. But the sound of it and the vibes are still good, so it gets to stay on the playlist.
I'm a dumb teen boy
I eat sticks and rocks and mud
I don't care about the government
And I really need a hug
I feel stupid (stupid)
Ugly (ugly)
Pretend it doesn't bother me
I'm not very strong but
I'll fuck you up if you're mean to bugs
^ This whole verse is Nuisance’s POV kind of; he doesn’t know why Author is mad at him but figures that he must’ve done something. Also his love of bees, something that he and Author share, being where he lands on because it’s a constant within his confusion.
I have friends who understand me
Their names are spider, beetle, bee
^ I actually initially added this song because of these lines. Author’s friends being spider (Eddie), beetle (Edna - though this concept/metaphor has since been scrapped), and bee (Nuisance).
11. Going Nowhere - Frank Turner
An Edna & Author song!! Edna coming to Lockswood despite her own curse and her own fears to help Author (& also get her help, this is a give and take relationship) is captured in this song about quiet support.
When you're just a stone's throw from where you started
and you're going nowhere
...
I’ll be there
^ Edna to Author, or at least it would be if she could say these words. Anyway, it’s about how Author is still no closer to breaking the curse and Edna is there to support her and Eddie.
The empires may fall, and the seas may rise but I'll be at your side by and by
I'm like an armchair
I'm going nowhere
^ Author making the deal even though Edna thinks it’s a very dumb idea, the Spider Prince waking up, and their conversation about how Author is struggling to cope with the fact that Nuisance hurt her. Edna is there no matter what insane things happen with regards to the fae monarchy.
Now the tune may falter and the words may slide
but here's hoping that the sentiment survives
^ Edna standing up to the Spider Prince on Author’s behalf despite her inability to speak “normally” and her own nervous fear of spiders.
All in all just a good song about a supportive friendship, which is what Author and Edna have!!
12. House of Wolves - My Chemical Romance
Added solely for the vibes. I wanted something fast-paced and dramatic sounding for the journey to Fairy Hill and the revelation that Natalie was smarter than they thought and manipulating them pretty effectively by stealing Nuisance’s face.
None of the lyrics fit but the energy is top tier
13. Poet - Bastille
Another song I added when CATSP was still very different but the vibes are good so it stays. Author now knows that Nuisance hasn’t betrayed her and is reconnected with the idea of thir friendship being something that lasts forever. Also a bit of a play on her gift being about storytelling vs the idea of writing someone down in order to keep them forever. It doesn’t translate perfectly, but I like the general feeling!
14. Don’t Stop Me Now - Queen
Author. On roller-skates. Fighting a battle against the fae.
This song in the background.
Enough said.
15. Start a Riot - BANNERS
The way the battle slows following Fen’s death. The way Author cries and fights and has to be held back while her Fairy Godmother (maybe Fairy Step-Mother, since her mother just kissed her eyes and Fen’s true name has Wilshire in it) dies. The way she picks up the sword and races towards the forest despite knowing that she can’t get in.
I will march down an empty street like a ship into the storm
No surrender, no retreat
I will tear down every wall
The way Author crumples and lets Natalie get away. The way Nuisance and Eddie come to her and they realise together that the forest is suffering. They way the try to recapture some of the energy from before.
The way they come up with a plan. They way Author is offered knighthood. The way she swears her oath on things that connect her to the people around her. On evergreens, on spiders, on bees.
In the dark, when you sound the alarm
We'll find each other's arms
For your love, all you are
I'd start a riot
Fen is dead--maybe not completely, as technically the tree is still a living thing, but in a way that means Author will never see her again. But Fen still sends Author the bees. She still keeps her last promise. She’s a faerie; she’s bound by her word. Of course she’d keep her promise.
16. In The Middle - dodie
It could be weird, but I think I'm into it
You know I'm one for the overly passionate
I like you, and I loved him
We could all be the best kind of friends
I...am not going to explain this one.
(The Author, Eddie, Nuisance dynamic - Author wanting her ‘worlds to collide’ in the way that she loves them both so much and wants them experience that for each other.)
17. You’re My Best Friend - Queen
Friendships are just so important to this world and this story. For a faerie, their connection to their friends is the biggest determiner of how they age and grow. Without meeting Author, Nuisance wouldn’t be nineteen and he wouldn’t have matured and grown in the ways that he has in a very literal way. And if Author hadn’t met Nuisance, she wouldn’t have grown and matured as she did in a more metaphorical way. Connection means everything in this world. And that’s what they have.
Ooh, you make me live
Ooh, I've been wandering 'round
Still come back to you (still come back to you)
In rain or shine, you've stood by me girl
I'm happy at home (happy at home)
You're my best friend
Nuisance gives up his knighthood, his home forest, to an extend his friendship with the Spider Prince, all because he is given the chance to live in Fairy Hill with Author and Eddie, his best and truest friends.
I'm happy, happy at home
You're my best friend
18. I’m Only Me When I’m With You - Taylor Swift
This is just good vibes and there’s a lot of little one-off lines that stand out to me as fitting the story and if I tried to list them all I’d be here all day. So instead. I will leave you with just this:
You and I are painting pictures in the sky
Sometimes we don't say a thing
Just listen to the crickets sing
Everything I need is right here by my side
