Tuesday Tune Two-Fer: Happier Together

Apparently there’s been some controversy around the movie Together, with some filmmakers accusing the movie of plagiarizing their script with a similar premise. One of the main sticking points¹Pun intended, this time was that both include the Spice Girls song “2 Become 1”.

Far be it from me to tell anybody how to do their business, but if I were a screenwriter, that’s not the detail that I would stress. “Your honor, we want the public record to show for perpetuity that we, and we alone, were the originators of the single corniest thing about this movie.”

In case it becomes an issue, may I suggest “Take Me With U” by Prince & The Revolution instead. I realize that the characters in the movie are a little too young for the reference to land, and also I believe that the song has already been included in a movie, but I would suggest that it’s even more appropriate for a horror movie than a schmalzy song encouraging safe sex.²Also considered for this post: “Closer” by Nine Inch Nails, which is raunchier than I like to get on here, but it does include the line “I want to feel you from the inside.”

Specifically, it’s got this vaguely sinister tone to it. Your brain wants it to be a typical catchy melody from Prince, but also it’s got all the weird string flourishes and everything seems slightly off key. Plus the multiple-overlaid vocals strike me as a little horror-tinged. The whole thing feels more desperate than romantic.

A more directly relevant — almost eerily relevant — choice is “We Are Each Other” by The Beautiful South. It is explicitly a happy, upbeat song about a couple in a toxic and insufferable codependent relationship. It’s also got my favorite lyric from a Beautiful South song:

Closer than a sister to her baby brother
Closer than a cat to the child that she’ll smother

To be clear: I’m not actually suggesting any of these. “2 Become 1” seems corny on the surface — basically the exact same gag as most songs from The Beautiful South, where there’s a dissonance between the tone and the words, and that’s what makes it “deep.”³I’m very much still a fan of The Beautiful South, and a few of their songs are all-time favorites, but I very quickly hit a point of “okay, yeah, I get it” saturation.

In Together, though, it’s actually a perfect choice. When Millie first mentions the album to her friend, it feels like she’s still holding onto shallow and corny memories from 10 years ago, in furious denial about how hollow their relationship has become as adults, and how it’s become more about familiarity than love.

But by the time the song shows up, the meaning has become clearer, which is that the song itself doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t matter whether anyone else thinks it’s corny or shallow, because the significance doesn’t come from the song, but what it means to them specifically and personally.

Which I guess means Together fits into the summer movies running theme of fearless corniness, which is something I am completely in support of.

• 1
  Pun intended, this time
• 2
  Also considered for this post: “Closer” by Nine Inch Nails, which is raunchier than I like to get on here, but it does include the line “I want to feel you from the inside.”
• 3
  I’m very much still a fan of The Beautiful South, and a few of their songs are all-time favorites, but I very quickly hit a point of “okay, yeah, I get it” saturation.