In a recent interview, mastermind to the Encanto soundtrack, Lin-Manuel Miranda, discusses the origins of the song "We Don't Talk About Bruno." Encanto hit Disney+ in November 2021 to enormous critical acclaim for its overall character development, fantastic voice acting, stellar animation, and cultural steadfastness. Encanto follows the tale of the Madrigal family, who resides tucked away in the mountains of Colombia in a charming place called the Encanto. Over the course of the family's history, the magic of the Encanto blesses every child with a special gift to benefit the family, that is, until Mirabel comes along. In addition to its overwhelming lineup of praise, Encanto's soundtrack hit the scene hard with every single song reaching the charts.
In June 2020, Miranda announced that he began writing the music for Encanto, which would consist of eight original songs, both in Spanish and in English. With the film's array of successes also came the success of its music, and the Encanto soundtrack quickly rose to the top of the charts, ultimately becoming the first Disney soundtrack to reach the number one spot since Frozen II. In particular, the song entitled "We Don't Talk About Bruno" quickly went viral, ultimately smashing many of Disney's prior records to become one of their most successful songs of all time.
In a recent interview with Collider, Encanto songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda discusses the origin of the song "We Don't Talk About Bruno." Miranda blatantly reveals that the song's success was utterly shocking, reminiscing about how he could not have thought of a least likely candidate to experience breakout success in such a way. Miranda also shares that he originally pitched the song to hear from the film's other characters, who may not have had the opportunity to be heard otherwise. Check out Miranda's full statement on the topic below:
But it's straight-up crazy, because it's an ensemble number with characters that are not really the main character, each getting solos. They overlap, and you kind of have to have seen the movie to understand what's going on. So it's just the least likely candidate for breakout success possible. I couldn't have engineered a more unlikely success, but again, it gets back to the biggest obstacle in this movie was hanging onto as many of these characters as possible and revealing them to each other in interesting new ways. I pitched this song as a proof of concept that we could hold them all, because I said, if we do a gossip number, we can hear from the other characters who aren't going to get their own solos.
Miranda continues:
I can write a Dolores verse, I can write a Camilo verse, and we can hear what their musical voices sound like without devoting the real estate of an entire tune to them. That was literally the pitch. And the side result of that is you've got Camilo stans, and you've got Dolores stans, and it became actually this on-ramp for all these different folks, everyone has a different part. It's a karaoke number where everyone gets to, it becomes an all skate. I'm so thrilled and happily surprised by it, but it also, it makes people want to watch the movie so they can understand what the song's about.
In line with the film's significant successes across the board, Encanto has rightfully earned itself multiple award nominations, including a nomination for Best Original Score at the upcoming 94th Academy Awards. Although "We Don't Talk About Bruno" is clearly a fan-favorite, another of the film's influential songs entitled "Dos Oruguitas" is up for Best Original Song. However, the film has impacted other critical cultural areas along with its sensational music, including becoming Disney's first feature film with an all-Latin-American cast. Additionally, with the breakout success of the Bruno character in particular, doors to discussing the mental health of children of first-generation immigrants have reportedly opened up in a way that may have otherwise remained shut.
The overall success of Encanto brings generations together in an essential and impactful way. As Disney typically does so well, closing generational gaps through music continues to be an area of strength. Families of any background can draw on Disney's music to help better understand each other and the world around them. With Disney+ intending to release a sing-along version of the film, fans everywhere can easily add the inspirational music of Encanto to the merry-go-round of Disney tunes that continually impact human beings in a positive way.
Source: Collider