Page 12 - aruba-today-20220124

a12 people & arts
Monday 24 January 2022

Miranda talks about Bruno, and the

'Encanto' phenomenon

also rank among the most
streamed songs on Spotify.
There, "We Don't Talk About
Bruno" has been streamed
more than 100 million times.
On YouTube, you can not
talk about Bruno in Hungar-
ian and Bahasa Malaysia.
Miranda took in the phe-
nomenon of the "Encanto"
soundtrack for the first time
in an interview, speaking by
phone on his way to a night
of theater. ("Very on brand
Lin-Manuel Miranda arrives at the premiere of "Encanto" on
Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021, at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Ange- for me," he said from the
les. Miranda composed the songs for the film. back of a car.) He's mostly
Associated Press been experiencing "Encan-
to" mania through a text
By JAKE COYLE out, people are talking thread with directors Byron
AP Film Writer about Bruno, and his whole Howard and Jared Bush,
NEW YORK (AP) — A month family." co-director Charise Cas-
after "Encanto" debuted in It's not unusual for songs tro Smith and Tom Mac-
theaters, Lin-Manuel Miran- by Miranda, the compos- Dougall, head of music at
da, who wrote the movie's er of "Hamilton" and "In Disney. They share things
Colombia-inflected songs, the Heights," to capture like clips of choreography
took a long vacation. the zeitgeist. But what the or TikTok videos of people
By the time he returned, soundtrack to "Encanto" is singing along. (The #En-
something almost as ex- doing, long after it arrived canto hashtag has been
traordinary as the enchant- in theaters on Nov. 24, is al- viewed more than 11.5 bil-
ed home of the movie had most unheard of — particu- lion times on TikTok.)
transpired. larly during a pandemic "I just got a text 10 minutes
"Encanto" became the first that has muted the ability ago of someone tweeting
movie soundtrack since of movies to make a last- 'If you don't speak Spanish
2019 to reach No. 1 on the ing impression. "Encanto," a and you put on the closed
Billboard charts earlier this warm celebration of fam- captioning for 'Dos Orugui-
month. The film's most pop- ily centered on the Mad- tas,' you're really going to
ular song, "We Don't Talk rigals, a Colombian clan cry," says Miranda, chuck-
About Bruno," became the with magical powers, has ling.
highest-charting song from been the most success- To Miranda, what's most re-
a Disney animated film in ful animated film at the warding is how people are
more than 26 years, rank- box office during the pan- connecting to the songs
ing higher than even "Let It demic, with $223 million in and its characters as ex-
Go." ticket sales worldwide. But pressions of their own fam-
The music of "Encanto" was the soundtrack explosion ily roles and dynamics. For
suddenly everywhere. Ev- — prompted by its Christ- example: "Surface Pres-
eryone was talking about mas debut on Disney+ — sure," sung by Jessica Dar-
Bruno. has propelled a rare kind of row, taps into the weight of
"By the time I got back, pop-culture sensation. responsibility felt by an old-
'We Don't Talk About Bruno' "Encanto" didn't displace er sibling. Miranda wrote
had kind of taken over the just anybody from the top it with his older sister, Luz
world along with the rest of spot. It overtook Adele. Six Miranda-Crespo, in mind.
the 'Encanto' soundtrack,'" songs from the film have In one of the most popular
Miranda says, laughing. "It charted on the Billboard "Encanto" TikToks, a young
helps you have the per- 100, including "Surface woman named Maribel
spective of: The opening Pressure," "The Family Mad- Martinez says she not only
weekend is not the life of rigal," "What Else Can I looks like the muscular sis-
the movie. It's just the very Do?" "Waiting on a Miracle" ter Luisa, but that "Surface
roughest draft. Two months and "Dos Oruguitas." All Pressure" "tells my story."q