Meet Barlow & Bear: The Grammy-Winning Musical Duo Behind the“ Moana 2” Soundtrack (Exclusive)

'Moana 2' hits theaters Nov. 27

• Barlow & Bear share their musical backgrounds — and what led them to each other

• The duo reveals the inspiration and challenges that came with making the Moana 2 soundtrack

• Emily Bear opens up about leaving the child prodigy label behind — while Abigail Barlow opens up about learning she can do more than write pop songs

As Grammy-winners at ages 23 and 25, there's no telling how far Barlow & Bear will go.

Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, who are each musicians in their own right, met through sheer serendipity five years ago. Now, not only are they inseparable, but they've taken on their biggest project yet: over the last two years they composed the soundtrack for the highly anticipated Moana sequel, out Nov. 27.

"It's one of those little life decisions that end up changing everything," says Bear. Barlow adds: "We had a songwriting session together and immediately clicked. It all just fell into place."

Making the soundtrack for Moana 2 made Barlow & Bear the youngest composers in history to write all the songs for an animated Disney film and the first female writing team to do so. Fittingly, the duo was only a few years older than Moana when they took the project on — and they think she's "such a badass."

Before they got together, Barlow and Bear were each making their way in music, with Barlow pursing a career in pop songwriting and building her social media presence. Bear, who's a pianist, composer and performer, was a child prodigy who Quincy Jones took under his wing and toured as the pianist on Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour in 2023.

"We have such different musical backgrounds and view music in completely different ways, which is why it works," Bear, who scored two films releasing this holiday season, adds. "Because why would you want to collaborate with someone who thinks the same as you."

Get to know Barlow & Bear below:

Before you met, you were each trying to make your way in music. What was that journey like?

Barlow:  I grew up in Alabama, a big musical theater girly. Very serious about it and thought I was going to go to school for it. But then I did a scholarship program where I met a songwriter and she produced her own pop music. We wrote a song together and I immediately was like, "Oh, never mind. This is what I want to do with my life." Then, I graduated high school a little early and moved to Los Angeles when I turned 18. I started writing, doing the whole thing, doing the pursuit of the dream, which just led me back to social media and growing an audience on my own. Then me and Emily met during that time that I was on social media and doing the pop thing. We started writing musical theater together, which neither one of us had done.

Bear: I started when I was really young. Like 2 or 3. We had a little upright white piano in my house, and my older siblings played and I would go over to the piano as a baby... and instead of smashing on the keys, I would play scales and stuff. Then I started writing music actually and making songs up on the piano before I started piano lessons, which was when I was 4. I started in classical. I love my piano lessons, but classical to me always felt like very... I had to play exactly what was on the page and nothing else. It was like putting me in a little box.

Then I discovered jazz and I was like, "Oh my God, this is amazing." Then I got introduced to Quincy Jones when I was 8, 9. He signed me, and he was my manager for a long time. I toured with him for a long time with my jazz trio but also playing the occasional concert. Then I discovered film scoring and I was like, "That's it. That's the one." I just fell in love and I started studying at the NYU Film Scoring Program, when I was like 10. They really took me under their wing and taught me so much of what I do now. The first time that I ever heard my own music played by an orchestra, I was like, "Yep."

I had never written a song up up until this point. Then I hit high school age and I was like, "I want to write music that my friends want to listen to," and I started writing songs and fell in love with that because it's a whole new world. Then I graduated high school early, and then I went on tour, and then I came to Los Angeles. I was going to go to school then I got signed by, now, both of our agent, Richard Kraft. I was 16 and I was like, "OK, now it makes no sense to go to school." So I stayed out here and started pursuing being a composer. And I met Abigail.

How did you meet?

Barlow: We met through a mutual friend who had an idea for a show, and he thought that we would work well together, but the show is very much going to be pop musical theater. So we got in a room together after he had said that, and kind of magic was made. [But] we didn't know that until we just met us friends first. She came over to my house, I made her cookies.

Bear: We watched The Bachelorette. [Back then,] I was alone. I had no friends. It sucked. And then we met and we were like, "Oh my God, you get it." Because we didn't go to college, we had no friends, and we were just trying to do the thing. And there was a mutual understanding there that was really special.

You won a Grammy on your first collaboration, The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical Album. How did that feel?

Barlow: It's what brought us really close and taught us what our superpowers were musically together. I didn't know that I was capable of anything other than a pop song. Then, that experience showed me that I can have a career in writing music and telling stories through music

Bear: It personally showed me a lot because I've done a lot in my career, but so much of that was when I was a kid. For me personally, the Bridgerton experience was the first thing that reached a ton of people where they didn't know anything about my background and anything that I did when I was a kid. It was purely based off of the work that I've done as an adult. I felt that bridge-crossing moment for me where it was like, "OK, I've left the kid prodigy stuff in the past and I'm now..." The dancing monkey is gone, the shock factor is gone, and people respect me for the work that I do.

But it's crazy that a concept musical based off of a TV show that we wrote for fun during COVID was a thing that blew open all the doors for us. It was not planned. It started out as something fun to pass the time when we had no jobs and no money during COVID, and it just outgrew us. Bloomed and blossomed and flew away a like a dandelion.

What was your reaction when you got the call about Moana 2 two years ago?

Barlow: "Is this real life?"

Bear: Like, "Really?" And from that first call, we learned about Moana's journey that she was going to be going on, and immediately felt connected to a lot of the struggles that she was going through as a young woman trying to find her place in the world.

When you were working on the soundtrack, where did you find inspiration?

Bear: When you write for TV and film, you have to write for everything and everyone in all styles. So when we got this job, we just started listening to a lot of music, and especially of the culture. When you listen to a lot of music, you start figuring out the patterns. And then, you can pick and choose and incorporate some of that in while also staying true to our songwriting style. Also, Disney takes such care with the culture. The amount of research that goes into every single detail from the way that Moana's hair is parted to the etchings on the side of a canoe that you don't see ever is insane. They supplied us with a lot of incredible information.

Barlow: And a lot of incredible people. In the screening, they talked about the Oceania cultural trust and we met with real life wayfinders. That was really, really fascinating and I think informed pretty much every part of the songwriting process.

Did you face any challenges along the way?

Bear: The whole thing is pretty daunting, but I feel like a challenge is what makes the best music because it pushes you to do better and do more.

Barlow: You have experience with TV and film writing and scoring, so you are well-versed with the notes and the note-taking process. But me as a pop songwriter, I never had notes. I was the only person I was trying to please. So having to go back doing rewrites, that was hard on my mental health because I was like, "Oh, I suck," every time they were like, "No, this isn't right."

Bear: And this is not just one or two rewrites. It's like, a thousand.

In what ways did you relate to Moana's journey?

Barlow: Ultimately, she becomes a better leader in this sequel. Like I said, this process, I felt like life was a classroom and I was learning so, so much about myself, about this industry. I think that's the way I relate to her is that I just feel like I've grown a lot, and I'm proud of me for that because it's not easy. Being a young artist is such a mindf--- sometimes. So having a path that was like a brick road laid out in front of me was the biggest joy, and it felt like I was following a fire in the sky like Moana.

Bear: Especially in this movie, Moana makes mistakes but she learned from them instead of letting them beat her down. Because it's Moana. I think it's a powerful thing to see on the screen and to write about, and it's very real because we all f--- up and it's just a part of life. To learn and accept yourself as you do these things and as you make mistakes and stumbles instead of feeling sorry for yourself and letting it drag you down is important.

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