‘Frozen’ soundtrack finally finds competition

December 8, 2016 — by Austin Wang and Alex Yang

Frozen out, Moana in

With the release of the new Disney film “Moana,” it looks as if we could be seeing a “Frozen”-melting soundtrack after all of these years. The reason? It’s produced by producer Lin-Manuel Miranda, the man behind the hit musical “Hamilton.”

The film was released on Nov. 23, and has since been making waves for its great original soundtrack.

One of the soundtrack’s highlights includes “You’re Welcome” by wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The unique upbeat style of the song shows off Johnson’s singing voice, and the tune is catchy. Not only that, the lyrics are simple, making it easy to sing along to.

Singer Alessia Cara also covered the film’s main song, “How Far I’ll Go,” which was performed in the movie itself by first-time voice actor Auli’i Cravalho. Cara, a Canadian, previously hit No. 9 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 with her debut album “Know-it-all.”

Both versions of the song are good in their own ways, with Cravalho’s “original” version being calmer and more melodic, and Cara’s being more akin to a pop song.

On YouTube, Disney has racked up millions of views between the original soundtrack’s different songs. The “You’re Welcome” music video is approaching 2 million views only a couple weeks after the movie’s release.

While “Frozen” is set in a fantasy world without much connection to real world culture, the soundtrack for “Moana” skillfully integrates Polynesian culture through its use of the Tokelauan language in songs such as “We Know the Way.”

The song “The Innocent Warrior” is written in Samoan, which shows that the film’s writers had an understanding of the different sub cultures and languages that made up the Polynesian culture.

Compared to the somewhat one-dimensional soundtrack in “Frozen,”  which mostly features generic love songs and duets, “Moana” presents a refreshing experience in the theme of Polynesian traditional music.

The only thing Lin-Manuel Miranda has left to tell us is that “You’re Welcome” for this soundtrack.

 
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