The Gen Z Songwriters Behind Your Fave “Moana 2” Songs

“We make bops that make you feel things”

Could you imagine being only 20 and 23 years old when Disney approached you to write songs for one of their major movies?

Well, this was exactly the case for Emily Bear and Abigail Barlow after their hit “Unofficial Bridgerton Soundtrack” won them a Grammy in 2022.

The duo were approached by Disney to compose songs for the Moana 2 movie alongside Opetaia Foa‘I and Mark Mancina.

When Student Edge spoke to Abigail and Emily, they said it was a massive honour.

“It’s every songwriter’s dream, and so it’s just an honour and a privilege especially writing for such a fabulous and fierce Disney female heroine,” Abigail said.

The trailer for Moana 2, gave us our first teaser for the movie’s soundtrack, and got a whopping 178 million views in 24 hours.

Emily said at this point this is when it all began to hit home.  

“I feel like because it’s in such a small room for so long and no one knows about it except for us and the filmmakers, when something like that happens…this makes it very real all of a sudden,” she said.

Despite making music together for a while both Abigail and Emily have pretty different musical backgrounds.

Abigail has a pop music background having collaborated with artists like Meghan Trainor, Daya and Freya Ridings. While Emily is in the world of film scores and jazz music, and she’s even toured with Beyonce on her Renaissance World Tour!

Working on the songs in Moana 2 together, it’s been a blend of both of their musical experience.

“It’s funny because after you’ve written something you can kind of hear all the different influences that you subconsciously put into the song,” Emily said.

“I mean there’s so many things like my jazz background with Get Lost.

“And your [Abigail’s] fast wrap up session like as a kid came back to really help us, when all of a sudden we needed to write a very, very fast rap.”

Abigail agreed and told Student Edge Emily’s background in, “big epic film scores and then my pop sensibilities when they come together, we make bops that make you feel things, make you feel big things,” she said.

We are feeling all the feels, for sure 🤩

Moana 2 and Moana 2 Reo Māori sails into Australian cinemas 28 November.

You can watch this movie in cinemas with our discounted cinema tickets deal!

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