Christina Perri has turned her Twilight soundtrack hit “A Thousand Years” into a children’s book. The mother of two says it’s the next step in the journey of the song, which has followed her and her fans as they’ve gone from being Twihards to parents.
“When I first wrote it, I was also in my Twilight era. Then everyone started getting married to [the song], and then I also got married,” Christina tells ABC Audio. “Then everyone starting having babies, and I started having babies. … So when we thought about a book, I was like, ‘Absolutely.'”
“It makes so much sense because I, too, am reading picture books to my kids at night. Like, it couldn’t be more appropriate or authentic to where I’m at in my life.”
But Christina found a few lyrical changes were necessary.
“I immediately thought, ‘You can’t say “I have died every day/ waiting for you” to a little tiny child,'” she explains. “I wrote, ‘I have spent every day/ waiting for you.’ … It was a no-brainer for me to change some of the lyrics so that it was more delicate and more gentle.”
Christina’s eldest daughter, Carmella, now 7, is depicted in the book as a toddler, which she was when Christina and illustrator Joy Hwang Ruiz started working on the book.
“Carmella reads now, so she reads it to me,” marvels Christina. “She reads to [her sister] Pixie. … I can’t even believe the little girl in the book is now 7 and reading it to me. Like, it’s wild!”
And there may be more books on the way, too.
“I absolutely loved this process and I have more ideas up my sleeve,” she says. “I would really love to stay in this kid space for a bit.”
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