How Last Year’s Disney Legends Ceremony Led to Miley Cyrus Writing “Dream As One” For ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’
At last year’s D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, The Walt Disney Company officially inducted its next class of Disney Legends.
Among those honored last August were Angela Bassett, Harrison Ford, James Cameron, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Williams, and Miley Cyrus.
Photo: Disney
Though we didn’t know it yet, that Disney Legends ceremony would have a significant impact on one of the studio’s biggest franchises.
How Miley Cyrus and James Cameron Teamed Up
In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Miley Cyrus revealed that her contribution to the upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash actually began while she was waiting to accept her Disney Legend award.
Photo: Avatar
“I was waiting line for my turn, and I said, ‘Do you need a song?’ And he did,” she recalled.
Eventually, Cyrus would team up with Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt, and Simon Franglen to create “Dream as One,” which plays over the Fire and Ash closing credits.
D23: THE ULTIMATE DISNEY FAN EVENT PRESENTED BY VISA – MICKEY MOUSE, MILEY CYRUS at the DISNEY LEGENDS AWARDS CEREMONY at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event on Sunday, August 11, 2024. (The Walt Disney Company)
“We projected Pandora into the studio,” she revealed. “I was actually in Sunset Sound, but I could create the world of Avatar around me, and that was really inspiring.
Cameron Was Involved in the Process
According to Cyrus, Cameron specifically requested that the song be a ballad titled “Dream As One.”
Photo: Complex.com
“I feel that I’m someone who, if I can go and get myself by a piano, can write a song that feels like it’s large-scale enough to flow into something like Avatar — because it needed to fit — but I also can write something that’s intimate and emotional enough that can hopefully bring the heart forward.”
Cameron, she said, was instrumental in the songwriting process.
Photo: Variety
“He has a pretty amazing perspective on love, life, death, grief, trauma, healing, resilience, courage, and faith. That was more important to me, for the songwriting process, than even getting to watch the movie itself, because it’s his imagination, so getting into his mind on how he perceives the human experience, that was really, really helpful.”
The Final Result
While the end result has been lauded by critics and fans alike, the final version of “Dream As One” was almost abandoned.
Photo: Miley Cyrus
“We did a lot of songwriting sessions,” Cyrus explains.
“We actually wrote the song that it is now, ‘Dream As One,’ and we threw it out — we got rid of it — and we wrote another one. And then that one didn’t feel quite right, and we left, and we came back and listened to the other one — the one that’s out now — and we’re like, ‘That’s the one.'”
Photo: Disney
You can listen to “Dream As One” below!
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