Yahoo Lifestyle Did Lin-Manuel Miranda Write Music for 'Moana 2'? Here's the Answer
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."
In November 2016, Disney movie fans were taken to the seas when Moana debuted in theaters.
The heartwarming story followed a young girl named Moana (Auli'i Cravalho) trying to save her people by leaving the island she'd known her entire life. As she tries to find the answer for how to help her loved ones survive, she meets the demigod Maui (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) and sets sail on an epic adventure, where she learns new things about herself along the way. Couple that with memorable music and songs written by Hamilton playwright and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda, and the movie immediately became a box office success.
Now, almost a decade later, viewers set sail once again with the debut of Moana 2 (out November 27). Set three years after the events of the first film, Moana finds herself called to the ocean when her ancestors want her to break a curse on the hidden island of Motufetu. Needing help, she reunites with Maui for an all new adventure. Just like the last movie, Moana 2 will feature new songs throughout.
With all of this in mind, there's one question fans are curious about: Did Lin-Manuel Miranda write the music for Moana 2? For a long-awaited sequel to quite an iconic first film, we had to do some digging and find out the answer for ourselves.
As it turns out, Lin-Manuel Miranda did not write the music for Moana 2.
That task was given to songwriters Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, who are also the first female songwriting duo and the youngest composers hired by Disney for a movie. They became famous for writing and singing The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical, a series of songs that went viral on TikTok and later won the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.
Even though Lin-Manuel isn't involved in the music for Moana 2, it doesn't mean his influence isn't there. When Abigail and Emily spoke to ABC News in an article published on November 22, they shared how he was there to help the two while they were writing the new songs.
"He was really really helpful, especially in the inception when we decided to set sail," Abby shared. "He gave me a bunch of books about true rhymes and about musical theater storytelling."
"Yeah, he was a FaceTime call away. We reached out for some advice a few times!" Emily added.
Although it's unclear why exactly Lin-Manuel didn't write the music for Moana 2, we do have a theory for it. With the upcoming animated Disney film Mufasa: The Lion King debuting on December 20 in theaters, it turns out he wrote the songs that will be featured in that. Given how the movie comes out just a few weeks after Moana 2, it's likely he was busy working on this and therefore unable to be more involved in the Moana sequel.
No matter the case, we're still excited to check out all the new tunes in Moana 2!
You Might Also Like
