The Acolyte: Victoria Monét's "Power of Two" joins the pop music legacy of Star Wars
By Kaki Olsen
![Mae Aniseya (Amandla Stenberg) in Lucasfilm's Star Wars THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved. Mae Aniseya (Amandla Stenberg) in Lucasfilm's Star Wars THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_820,h_461,x_127,y_0/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImageExchange/mmsport/319/01j2wrw64ygp3vteq5cr.jpg)
Episode 7 of Star Wars: The Acolyte, "Choice," wrapped with a dark and wrenching unfolding of the true events on Brendok (or so we assume) and the decision of four Jedi to cover their failures. However, it laid out more of the concrete reasons for Mae's anger and Osha's confusion. As the credits rolled, we finally heard "Power of Two" by Victoria Monét, the song that has been hanging over the series since its release in June.
The song itself was stirring and emotional in the abstract but now has power in its connections. Sabina Graves of Gizmodo has this to say:
"Its lyrics explore the themes of duality and destiny shared by the sisters. More like a song of Star Wars lore than a Disney-style soundtrack needle drop, the song would fit right into the in-universe canon as a musical peace about the twins' High Republic-era saga."
- Sabina Gaves
But this is not the only things we could add to a Star Wars mix tape. Graves also points out that Star Wars: Galactic Star Cruiser at Walt Disney World and Disneyland features music by Gaya, and "her sound was very much in the vein of 'Power of Two.'" Harrison Ford and many fans would like to forget that The Star Wars Holiday Special exists, but in addition to Princess Leia's "A Day to Celebrate," there are songs from Bea Arthur and Jefferson Starship.
In more exotic music, before "Jedi Rock" in the Return of the Jedi re-release, there was the 1983 "Lapti Nek," whose lyrics of "my whole frame is jumpin', I'm workin' out and havin' fun" call to mind Olivia Newton-John's "Physical." As a Hamilton fan, I was delighted to find that Lin-Manuel Miranda composed "Dobra Doompa" and "Jabba Flow" for the band at Maz Kanata's castle on Takodana and even sang the tracks with J.J. Abrams. Less canonically, we all remember a young Jedi named Weird-Al who chronicled the studies of two Skywalkers in a slightly irreverent style.
Star Wars: The Acolyte concludes this week and we can look forward to finding how "Power of Two" informs the whole season's story arc as well as the Aniseya legacy.
Next. Analyzing Victoria Monét's "The Power of Two" . Analyzing Victoria Monét's "The Power of Two" . dark