“, his challenging “Moana 2” track.
Wanna get through it?
You just gotta chee-hoo it.
Maui in ‘Moana 2’.
The song is a bit of an about-face for the cocky demi-god voiced byDwayne Johnson.
In the firstMoana,Maui sings “You’re Welcome,” a self-aggrandizing tune about his own fabulousness.
Johnsay says “You’re Welcome” is about how self-absorbed Maui is.
Maui and Moana in ‘Moana 2’.Disney Enterprises
“‘You’re welcome for everything that I do in this world,'” he explains.
“We didn’t want it to be coddling her or ‘You’re the best.’
It’s like, ‘Come on, remember your name.'”
Songwriters Emily Bear and Abigail Barlow during a ‘Moana 2’ orchestra recording session.Disney
“Can I Get a Chee-Hoo?”
What would we want to be told?
When I’ve messed up everything, there’s zero hope.
Maui in ‘Moana 2’.Disney
What would actually make me feel a little bit better?'”
“It would be, ‘Moana, why don’t you believe in yourself?
That’s what started the mindset shift.”
“Can I get a Chee-Hoo?”
“In the first film, she did that for Maui,” says co-director David G. Derrick.
“She helped motivate him and get him back up on his feet.
I certainly hoped so, as I myself have grown.
I like that growth is shown throughout our script and our music and my voice.
It makes all the difference because it makes it real to also turn it on its head.
Disney
Still, he admits that the song was quite difficult for him to get right.
“Abigail and Emily came in with something that was very challenging and I loved it.
That was multiple sessions to get that song down because it goes into a lot of different places.
Their words, not mine, it’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and all the places that it goes.
So it was a challenge, but I loved every second of it.”
However, the song does allow Johnson to show off his ability to spit a verse.
“I got bars,” he insists.
“I grew up loving hip-hop music.
My love is hip-hop music and traditional country put them together.
That’s how I grew up.”
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“It goes into this reggaton feel for a second,” says Bear.
So we did.”
“It’s going to happen,” he says, with a laugh.
“It has that potential as an anthemic song.”
So, come-on-a, Moana, go get your destiny.
