Watch: Wish songwriter Julia Michaels explains how she made Disney’s new villain song
When Wish songwriter Julia Michaels began writing and composing her first villain song for Disney, This Is The Thanks I Get? She wanted to do something different with Yahoo UK, she told Yahoo UK.
The song features Chris Pine’s Magnifico; Magnifico, who expresses his frustration at not being respected by the Rosas people, speculates that this arrogance is a result of Asha (Ariana DeBose) learning the truth of his motivations around the wishes he received from all of them. .
Disney fans have already begun comparing the track to classic villain songs like The Lion King’s Be Pretty, suggesting the older songs have a darker tone compared to Michaels and Ben Rice’s upbeat pop number.
But he says this was by design: “I think Disney’s history has always had very dark, sinister songs with bad guys, and with Magnifico in particular, we talked about his character pretty early on and talked about what he was like, your dad next door.” like.
“He was charming, kind, funny and warm, but the more you got to know him, the more you got to know him. [you realise] Behind closed doors he is actually quite narcissistic and controlling.
“I think these are the scariest villains you can’t see from the outside.”Julia Michaels
“And when we talked about this song, I was like, ‘I don’t think it should be a bad song from the outside. I think the song should start out really fun and upbeat and fit her personality and then as the song progresses we kind of sonically make it darker.”
“Then he tries to control it, but he can’t. He tries, and he ends up with all his narcissistic, sinister, evil power.”
Michaels adds that putting the song together was “really a lot of fun” and that it proved to be “a fun challenge sonically to play.”
Julia Michaels cried while watching the fully animated I’m A Star
While Pine’s villain song is a huge point of contention among fans, the film’s biggest song is I’m A Star, which features DeBose’s Asha and a cast of woodland creatures and flora that nod to Disney Animation’s long history .
Of all the songs in the movie, I’m A Star was the one with the most Easter eggs from Disney’s past, and keeping track of all the moving parts was a challenge.
“We had meetings about the stars and how everything is made of stardust and how that connects everyone. We’re all connected by one thing,” Michaels says of creating the song.
“I thought it was such a beautiful feeling; we’re all so connected, more so than we realize.”Julia Michaels
“When Ben Rice and I were trying to write these songs we thought ‘okay we’ve got to make it scientific and emotional and fun and make it something that we can hopefully make everyone feel connected to,’ and it was a really difficult process. challenge.
“We went to a bunch of forums reading about the stars and trying to find ways to make it really special, and actually, when we wrote it, we didn’t really realize how many people were going to get into this song.
“I think there are 36 people in total in the song; I believe this is the most people ever recorded on a Disney song. “Actually, when we first wrote this, we didn’t have storyboards, we had a little bit of a script, so there wasn’t much that could be done other than these meetings we had together.”
Finally seeing the song fully animated was a completely different experience for Michaels.
“I was crying uncontrollably. Tears were streaming down my face, and I didn’t expect that moment in the movie to be so overwhelming.”Julia Michaels
He brings his own style to Disney
Michaels grew up a fan of Disney movies, so when he was asked to work for the company, it was a legacy he was willing to honor, even if he wanted to add his own vision.
“I definitely knew I wanted to bring together some of the classics of Disney music but also make it really modern,” he admits.
“Chris Buck, one of the directors of this movie, was early on saying ‘just be yourself.’ ‘Okay, if I’m writing a song, how do we do that at Disney?’ I thought.”Julia Michaels
“I really like playing with time signatures and I like playing with different cadences and sounds. I feel like I really got to explore that in such a supportive and safe space while also trying to make it feel like classic Disney.
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