Inside the music of “Moana 2”: A new anthem, Dwayne Johnson's challenging number, and a guaranteed 'TikTok moment' (exclusive)

Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear tell EW about stepping into Lin-Manuel Miranda's 'big shoes' for the Disney sequel.

Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear are trading ballrooms and breeches for boats and beaches.

The songwriting duo, who won a Grammy for The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical, are charting new waters as Disney's first-ever all-female musical writing team and the youngest composing team to work on a major animated motion picture, Moana 2. After the viral success of their Bridgerton project, the duo landed a dream gig: writing music for a Disney princess.

But with big dreams come big expectations, and the duo were taking over from one of the biggest names in musical theater of the last decade, Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton). Together with returning musical forces, Opetaia Foa'i and Mark Mancina, Barlow and Bear were tasked with finding a sound for an older, more complicated version of Moana.

Related: Beyond the sea: Moana 2's Auli'i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson reflect on the unexpected path to their surprise sequel

If there's one person who had no doubts about their abilities to do so, it was Moana herself, actress Auli'i Cravalho. "It is a passing of the baton to this younger generation," she gushes of the change-up. "To have two women in the songwriting process trying to get to the heart of the story, which is a young woman finding her way, I couldn't think of a better duo than Barlow and Bear. They have such a history with show tunes and a history with Disney, growing up with these films and knowing the impact that it had on them and their songwriting careers. To use some of Lin's words, they're young, scrappy, and hungry."

Cravalho says their music pushed her to places she wasn't even aware she was capable of going. "This film really digs into these [metaphorical] low notes — these times of indecision when we don't know what we are supposed to do next," the actress says. "Those songs required a lot more homework for me. There's a lot of deeper layers to these songs."

Related: Moana 2 trailer introduces younger sister for Disney heroine

"It wasn't even about asking like, 'Oh, is this the right pitch for you?' It was more of, 'Does this evoke the right emotions from you?'" Cravalho says of her process. "I'm getting the full breadth of emotion through pitch, but also through vocal quality. There are portions where I'm crying while singing. It's a full meal. While I was in the booth, it felt like I was running a marathon over and over and over again. By the time you've gotten to the end of a record, I've hit every possible riff. I've hit the note and I've missed the note."

Entertainment Weekly caught up with Barlow and Bear for an exclusive first interview with the duo about their work on Moana 2, discussing everything from their favorite Disney films growing up and knowing their songs will be heard in Disney theme parks to their own sensibilities as songwriters and musical theater lovers.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did this project come your way? Did people reach out after the Bridgerton Unofficial Musical?

EMILY BEAR: We had lunch with this guy who works at Disney, and it was a general, 'Let's meet and talk the talk,' and the industry chitchat, whatever. Then, a year later we got an email about a Moana sequel. At that point, it was still a TV show, and we met with the filmmakers, and we really hit it off with them because we were learning about Moana's journey and how we are her peers. We really connected with her on a personal and deep level. And a few months later we got the job. It was crazy.

ABIGAIL BARLOW: Emily was like 19 or 20 at the time too, so she was the same age as Moana. We felt like our story, our journey was mirroring the adventure that Moana goes on in this film. It happened organically, and it was a right place, right time, lightning in a bottle situation.

Related: Disney's live-action Moana casts Catherine Laga'aia in lead role

You rose to prominence for the Unofficial Bridgerton Musical, which as the name says wasn't something Netflix green-lit or worked on with you. Is it more freeing now to be working in a space where you have the whole toolbox at your disposal, the studio has your back, and it's something that you're doing together as opposed to just a fan tribute to something that you love? 

BEAR: It's a little bit of both. Each project we work on is so different, and obviously, we're stepping into an already beautifully filled-out world and we want to pay homage to that world, but also bring our own spice to it. There's beauty in writing within confines because when you have some guidelines and a story and a person that you're trying to put yourself in the shoes of, you write things you never ever thought you would write because you're suddenly in a different mind space. We're coming into a world that's already been built, and there's obviously cultural guidelines that we have to follow and a lot of inspiration from Polynesian music and everything. But the confines are freeing in a weird way.

Disney has an amazing history of songwriting and iconic songs. How much is the work of a team like Howard Ashman and Alan Menken foundational to the way you write music? 

BARLOW: It's everything. It laid the groundwork for how to tell a great story through music. Great musical theater is when words aren't enough and you must sing. And Ashman and Manken are a wonderful example of a duo who do that beautifully and have solidified their legacy in this space.

BEAR: To even be a part of that group is an insane thing to say out loud. It doesn't feel real. We're still pinching ourselves.

Related: Dwayne Johnson has a party trick for kids that involves Moana — and one for adults that involves grapes and a body part

Are there particular songwriting teams or even solo composers who have really influenced both of you? 

BEAR: It's funny because Abigail and I have very different musical backgrounds, and we see music in very different ways. So, we have very different people that have influenced the way that we write music. But I think that's why we work so well together — because we are two halves of a whole. I'm more influenced by cinematic scoring, some Alexandre Desplat, Alan Menken, and all sorts of stuff. Even Quincy Jones, the way that his catalog influenced me growing up in that camp, all of it goes into little things and harmonic decisions that I make. [Editor's note: Legendary producer Quincy Jones was Bear's early mentor and champion.]

BARLOW: Lyricists. We love them. Howard Ashman, Stephen Sondheim, the greats.

Speaking of great lyricists, Lin-Manuel Miranda did the songs for the first Moana. How daunting is it to be following him in this task? 

BARLOW: I mean, big shoes to fill. But we are so grateful to be part of this music team. He already laid the groundwork for this world, and it's so lush and welcoming.

BEAR: Something like this is obviously daunting, but as a creative, I feel like the most daunting tasks are the most exciting because they push us to do better and be more. Without a goal that was high, we would've never written the music that we wrote.

Related: Disney delays live-action Moana by 1 year, reveals Toy Story 5 release date

This film is unique in that you've got those pre-established composers who were on the first film and they've done a lot of the cultural music and pre-set the sonic tapestry of this world. What was it like collaborating with them? How did you mesh and bring your own sound into a space that's already so established?

BARLOW: We were given lots of information and research when we first started on this project. Our songs are really a vehicle for Opetaia and the vocalists to share their gift and put their incredible work on top of ours. We found the way to stay in this world, but also add our little Barlow and Bear flare.

BEAR: Collaboration is so magical because the way that Abigail and I are very different when we come together is how I feel working with Mark and Opetaia. They view music in entirely different ways, and being in a room with them and working with them and collaborating with them was so cool to see because they each have their own musical vocabulary. Even if we wrote something and we liked it, the second Opetaia walked in and added his magic, it was like, "All right, okay, cool. Great. We're done." Me and Abigail both teared up the first time we heard Opetaia and the strings and the drums all come together for the first time.

Abigail, you mentioned your "Barlow and Bear flare." How do describe what that is? 

BARLOW: In this film, Moana is a little older. She's grown as a human, but also as a leader. We wanted to allow that to be reflected in her melodies. And there's a lot of pop influence on our top lines and our lyrics.

BEAR: We love a good hook. Also, the world has grown immensely. So what we thought was so big in the first movie we now realize is very small compared to what we're about to discover. We wanted the music to reflect that as well. If you listen to any of our other music that we've written, we're no stranger to big orchestral, lush, cinematic [sounds]. So, Moana 2 is a very epic sonic world, even bigger than the first one. Plus, we had some new characters that we could create songs for. The way that [Tamatoa's song] "Shiny" stepped out of the world for a little bit, we got to do that with a new character as well and really change it up.

Related: Moana directors Ron Clements, John Musker talk four decades of Disney movies

How familiar were you with Polynesian musical tradition, and did you have to lean on Mark and Opetaia a lot or were there discoveries you made as you were researching? 

BEAR: Whenever we get a project, I listen a lot. This was no different. Even before we got hired, I listened to so many hours of Polynesian and Samoan and Hawaiian music, and when you listen to so much of it, you start to understand the patterns and listen to what harmonies they use and what melodies they continuously go back to. I feel like that really influenced the way we wrote our songs. Obviously, I took liberties and Abigail took liberties, but I even asked the music team for a bunch of the percussion loops that they made on the first movie as inspiration. One of the songs we wrote was entirely based off of one of those loops, and that was grounding the song. We also got to meet with a lot of researchers, anthropologists, and linguists.

BARLOW: They set us up for success.

Abigail, as a lyricist, were learning a lot of Polynesian words or dialect? How did that impact your process? 

BARLOW: Our whole team was so incredibly respectful of the culture and was so supportive in steering us in the right direction when it came to the content of the lyrics. We did have some songs that we experimented with different Hawaiian words and things like that, but ultimately, we remained in the English language because we're moving the story along.

Related: Moana had brothers?! Lost storylines from the Disney hit

"Beyond" is Moana's big song in this one. It feels like such a spiritual successor to "How Far I'll Go." How do you strike that balance where you are clearly drawing from and honoring this "I Want" song from the first film while also making something that is new and doesn't feel like it's a reprise of what we've heard already?

BEAR: Moana's personal journey is huge in this one. Obviously, it was big in the last one, but I feel like the last movie was more about finding her own self-identity within herself, and now it's much bigger because it's about community and how you connect with others and what it means to be a leader and how she feels being responsible for everyone. "Beyond" lives in a similar place to "How Far I'll Go," yet the context is entirely different. That was really important for us — to put in the lyrics to show how different it is.

BARLOW: She says it in the lyrics, but it's bigger than before. It's bigger than just her personal journey. The filmmaking team was so supportive and helpful in steering us and striking that balance. The theme here is that the ocean connects us all — that's how the Pacific Islander culture survived and thrived. This journey that she's about to go on, it's life or death for their people. So, how important that was to the story was really what grounded and anchored us for that song.

BEAR: We also wanted her to be more vulnerable. "Beyond" is a little bit darker than "How Far I'll Go" because the stakes are suddenly so much higher. She has her little sister, who is her everything, and she's suddenly about to make a big decision that will affect the rest of her life. She's older and a little bit less naive, and she knows more of the world and what's out there. From the very first day that we stepped in the story room at Disney, there was a quote on the wall that said, "You never stop discovering who you are." The biggest message of this movie is that we are all changing every day, growing and evolving as human beings as things around us change. Learning to love ourselves through all the different stages of our life and the people that we continue to become is a really beautiful thing. That was a big part of what prompted us to write this song too.

Related: Moana star Auli'i Cravalho reflects on coming out one year ago: 'It is so joyful'

I have to assume that Maui (Dwayne Johnson) gets another song. "You're Welcome" has become almost a catchphrase for Dwayne at this point. So how do you follow that up? 

BARLOW: That song was hard to write. I'm not going to lie. We took a few swings at it before we really nailed down what we wanted the song to be like. It was no small task for sure, but once Dwayne heard the song, we got a FaceTime call from Dwayne. I was in a robe in New York City and Emily was in the car, and all of a sudden we were talking to Dwayne Johnson about the song.

BEAR: Because we were waiting to hear what his first thoughts were. And I'm like, "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, what is he going to say?"

BARLOW: Thank goodness he loved it and said he got chills. All we wanted was for him to have fun and to enjoy performing it.

BEAR: It is a really fun song, but there's a lot of words, and Maui and Dwayne really stepped up to the challenge.

The other thing Disney excels at is villain songs. Did you get to write one of those for the film? 

BEAR: We did. Our new villain is very multifaceted. She's very layered, and it's what makes her such an interesting character and what made her so fun to write for.

BARLOW: It's interesting because there are a few ways that you can interpret this character. Is she a villain? Is she not? We don't know. You'll have to decide yourself.

BEAR: That was the one that locked the quickest. In animation, the way things develop from start to finish and all of the different lives it takes on is wild to watch. But that song has stayed pretty much exactly the same from the day that we wrote it, which is funny.

Related: Moana is back and visibly older in new Moana 2 photo

Can you tease any other songs you're excited for fans to hear?

BARLOW: There is a song we got to write that explores the new characters of this film and the dynamic of Moana's crew on this journey. Getting to develop new voices and how they sound in music was so exciting.

BEAR: There's one section of that song that I cannot wait for people to hear, and I wish everyone could hear Abigail's demo on it because it was crazy. I'm like, how does your mouth move that fast?

BARLOW: It'll certainly be a TikTok moment.

Is there a Disney heroine or other character that is your favorite and that has been something you've treasured since you were a child? If so, do you think their vocal world has inspired you as songwriters? 

BARLOW: I love Ariel [from The Little Mermaid]. I relate heavily to her, not just because I have red hair, but her vocal world has definitely inspired me in everything I write, not just musical theater.

BEAR: Beauty and the Beast for me, writing-wise. That opening number to me is the perfect opening number, and we consistently go back and listen to that number whenever we write our opening numbers, to be like, "Okay, that's what we need to do." Also, Mulan is so underrated. She is similar to Moana with their strength and not being defined by anyone other than themselves.

Before you started writing, did you ask Auli'i for a demo so you knew where her voice was at now? Because it's been a minute since she voiced Moana, and she was a teenager then.

BARLOW: Ultimately we ended up really pushing each other as writers and performers when we got in the studio with her. We went off of her range in the first movie, but we tried to push the boundary of Moana as a character and her emotional journey in this movie. And Auli'i absolutely killed it. As soon as the words came out of her mouth, as soon as she started to sing it, she is Moana.

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Related: Maui's arc in Moana 2 allowed Dwayne Johnson to reflect on his own vulnerability: 'Asking for help is a superpower'

You are the first Disney songwriters to have grown up in this modern Disney generation. What does that mean to you in terms of your approach? And how are you processing things that are inevitably coming, be it hearing your song at a theme park or something like that? 

BARLOW: It's a privilege and honor, and every time I see a little girl in a tiara walking down the street, I come apart because it becomes so real. They're going to grow up with this music just like we grew up with Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid. So, we wanted to handle this project with the care and respect that it deserves.

BEAR: We are living every songwriter's dream, including our own. We were the generation to truly be raised on these movies and these soundtracks, and I don't know about you [but] I had every single Disney movie on VHS tape. It was a soundtrack of our lives, like everyone else our age. We played at this Howard Ashman tribute a few months ago, right after we recorded with Dwayne, and we were watching all this old footage of Ashman in the studio with [The Little Mermaid voice star] Jodi Benson and freaking out because we were like, "We just did that with Dwayne!" It's hard to process it in the moment because you're trying to do the best job you can and write the best music you can. Now I feel like we're starting to process it and we're like, "Holy s---, this music could live forever."

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.