Barlow & Bear Bring New Sounds to “Moana 2”

Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, the GRAMMY Award-winning duo behind Barlow & Bear, have made history!

Not only are they the first all-female team to create the songs for a Disney animated feature, but they are the youngest composers to do so!

(Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images)

With Moana 2 now captivating audiences and breaking box office records, the pair reflected on the unique opportunity to create the soundtrack for the highly anticipated sequel.

An Honor and Opportunity 

“It’s a crazy honor,” Barlow shared. “To think that children all over the world are going to hear these songs and want to sing them is like something out of a dream.”

Having seen the original Moana in theaters, the duo jumped at the chance to shape the musical journey of Moana and her people. The two shared their excitement with The Walt DIsney Company earlier this week:

Moana 2 is setthree years after the original film and show a more mature Moana. “She’s a little older, a little wiser,” Barlow explained. “We wanted to show that evolution not only in the music, but in the lyrics.”

Songs like “Beyond” and “We’re Back” reflect the growth of familiar characters while introducing new onesand incorporating fresh, distinctive sounds.

(Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)

For Bear, creating the music was “like dreaming in the middle of the day.” She shared, “We grew up on Disney music, just like everyone else. To see the inner workings of how something like this is made is surreal.”

Moana 2

Moana 2 is in theaters, and fans love it! Barlow & Bear are hoping audiences enjoy the soundtrack too and “hope Moana 2 brings you back to that place—somewhere you’d never, ever been able to go otherwise.”

Photo: People

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