Interview: Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear on Entering the Pantheon of Disney Songwriting Duos with “Moana 2”

When Moana 2 hits theatres in just a few weeks, moviegoers will be treated to a new set of sure-to-be-iconic songs as well. This time around, those tunes were penned by the duo of Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear. Perhaps best known for their work on The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical — for which they won a Grammy — the pair are stepping into Lin Manuel-Miranda’s shoes for the highly anticipated animated sequel.

Recently, Benji had a chance to chat with Barlow and Bear about how they came to this major project, what it was like coming to the world of Moana, and how you prepare yourself for seeing your work join the Disney songbook.

Benji Breitbart: Well, congratulations on Moana 2 coming out in just a little bit. Are you excited?

Abigail Barlow: Oh, my gosh, yes. So excited.

Emily Bear: All of the feelings.

BB: How did you end up joining that project? What was that process like?

AB: A crazy one for sure.

EB: Yeah, we had lunch with Tom MacDougall, who works at Disney, years ago, like three and a half years ago or something like that. It was just a general, let's get to know each other, blah, blah, blah. Which happens a lot in the industry, as you know. He mentions very casually, he's like, “You know what? I might have a project for you two girls, maybe. Keep an ear out.”

AB: “Stay tuned.”

EB: But I don't know, there's a lot of empty promises in this world that we live in, so it is easy to not take that for what it is. Then little did we know, less than a year later, we got an email saying, hey, they're making a Moana sequel. Would you want to talk to the filmmakers? And we're like, “Would we?!”

AB: Then once we did that, we kind of just figured out what kind of journey Moana was going on and weirdly it was sort of mirroring a similar journey that me and Emily were both on. I think Emily was 19 or 20 at the time, which is, Moana is 19 in this film and so, I don't know. It just felt kind of kismet and it was kind of the perfect project for us to take on next.

BB: What's it like to come into a project like Moana 2 where you don't want it to be a whole new world of where you're like, “What am I watching? This isn't Moana,” but you also want to add something new. How did you approach keeping that balance?

EB: Well, I mean, we had Opetaia [Foaʻi] and Mark [Mancina] on the team with us, so that was a really amazing tool because they have lived in this world for many, many years and their guidance and the magic they added was like, you can't really replace that. But for us personally, exactly what you're saying, we want to pay homage to the first one and how beautiful that world was but also, it's a sequel. All the characters have grown. Everyone that we know in the first movie has developed and evolved in some way while having new characters. What's different about them and how can we show that in the songwriting because the Moana world has expanded and the music should too.

BB: One thing that must be cool about writing a Disney song is that there's nothing that provides a long-lasting legacy like a Disney song. I mean, you will be in fireworks shows, parades. I mean, this song will last generations beyond all of us. To have that kind of impact at your young age, I mean, how do you process that?

EB: You don't.

AB: You don't. I think it's such an honor and a privilege. I have young nephews and the idea that they're going to be walking around their house singing these songs fills me with so much pride and joy. You're right, there's nothing else like the legacy of Disney animated music. It been crazy, but also so wonderfully informative to my inner artist. I've learned so much. Life is a classroom and this project definitely was the craziest end of the year project in school.

EB: I mean, it's cuckoo bananas for sure. You feel a lot of responsibility to be like, okay, we want to really prove that we should be in this very small group of composers that have done something like this while also bringing our own style to it so it's daunting. Well, it's daunting, but it's exciting. I think when something is as daunting as a project like this is, it really pushes you to be the best version of yourself that you can be and challenges you.

We were talking to some of the filmmakers like Jared Bush, who's obviously worked on a million huge Disney projects, and it's the mindset of wanting to… Respect the legacy that you're building. A place like Disney never goes away. For someone who's like Jared, who's Oscar winning and has touched so many things, including Moana, it's like that fear never goes away, which says a lot about the creative process.

BB: Speaking of the creative process, obviously many of the best Disney songs came from songwriting duos. The Sherman Brothers, Menken and Ashman, etc. How does working as a team — where one of you has more of a pop music background like the Sherman Brothers did, and one more on a performance and composing bit more like Alan Menken — How does combining those add more than the sum of its parts by working together?

AB: It's a magical alchemy that Emily and I have found together. I don't really know quite what's in the air when we create together, but we've developed such a rapport over the last couple of years. I think it's kind of like a Venn diagram where we're different. We are different in stark contrasting ways, but then in the middle, everything that needs to align for us to have a good partnership is there. Our tastes are similar and we have similar pace when we write together. It's flowed and through this process, I think I've learned that it's something we magically do together. It's like a superpower.

EB: Yeah, I mean, I think how different we are and how we view music in totally different ways is why the partnership works. Because why would you want to be in the room with someone who thinks the exact same way that you do? I've been in the room with so many talented people, and I know Abigail has too, with huge credits under their names and wildly talented people that you're like, oh my God, how are you even real? But sometimes it just doesn't work creatively because there's so many little connection points that have to overlap. But like she said, somehow it just clicks.

BB: To wrap up, I don't know if you're in attendance, but at the D23 event, the whole arena got to hear some of your work and to rapturous applause. Now that it's coming out and you can literally hear the fan reaction, how's that been? I know this has been a very long process, so it's going out into the world. Are you ready?

AB: I hope so. I think we are. Yeah, it's been a long time coming. I think we've done the best job we possibly could have, and made these songs the best they possibly can be. I think it tells the story in a really wonderful, entertaining, exciting way, so I'm ready.

EB: Yeah, the D23 thing especially was kind of insane because I mean, everything's been locked in a small room for two and a half years so no one outside of that room has heard this music. To see it fly off.

AB: And have its own life.

EB: Even a little bit that was shared at D23, and being in the room and seeing the reactions in live time and having everyone not be like, boo, was amazing. I don't know. It's true, it takes on a life of its own. It's ours right now, but it's not going to be ours for very much longer. It'll be everyones soon.

BB: Well, congratulations. I'm really happy for you. The work we've heard has been fantastic, and I can't wait to hear more once the movie comes out.

EB: Thank you so much.