Welcome to Adrie’s beats of the week, a weekly column dedicated to remarking upon the intricacies of modern music. To submit any songs for entry, please contact [email protected], with the subject line, ‘beats of the week.’ Thank you this week, to one of our amazing ediors Ellie, for suggesting this soundtrack. 

As usual, with almost any slightly hyped up children’s movie, I am late to the criticism party. To be totally frank, I wasn’t all that excited about Encanto, I figured it would be akin to The Emoji Movie, a tired story, wrapped in a weird attempt at contemporary filmmaking… but for children. 

I was joyfully surprised though, when not only did I like the movie, but fell totally in love with the soundtrack. It was written by Lin Manuel Miranda, so I should not have been as surprised as I was, and for better or worse, I don’t think this music is going anywhere, anytime soon. I though the movie explored, both what it’s like to be ordinary, in a sea of extraordinary, and also the pressure that being extraordinary can bring, in a really special way.

Here, in order from my favorite, to also my favorite, but the one I listen to the least, is my review of the Encanto soundtrack. 

       1. “What Else Can I do”: 

This could be an unpopular opinion, but I think this one might be my favorite. There is just something about the melody maybe? I like the lyrics, and the way that they flow, although that could be said for any of these songs. 

I think also because it was at this point in the movie (spoiler!) where it was revealed that she didn’t actually want to marry old what’s-his-name, and I love any good drama that involves engagement breaking. 

Not to mention that Isabela for sure would have been my favorite character as a little kid, and I can imagine the dancing in my front yard with flower chains that would have ensued. That may still ensue, to be totally honest. 

      2. “The Family Madrigal”: 

This one also gets stuck in my head quite a lot (in fact, as I’m writing this, I’m fighting from singing it). However, I can’t remember half of the lyrics, mostly just the chorus, which is sometimes kind of maddening. 

If not for this song, I would not know probably half of the characters in the movie (it introduces the whole family), so for that alone I appreciate it very much. The song itself is great, and catchy, and funny, and all the things, but the storytelling is where it’s at. 

       3. “Dos Orugitas”: 

I cry, or at least dramatically tear up, almost everytime I hear this song. For someone who has taken three years of Spanish, I understand very little of the lyrics, but the melody just gets me everytime. And for sure the scene in the movie plays it’s part. 

I love the little story that is being told within the song, and I think it describes the grandmother’s story in a really creative, beautiful, out of the box kind of way. The song definitely does big storytelling work, but in a more visual, and less straightforward way than the rest of the songs. 

I also love that they brought Sebastián Yatra in to sing it, and to me it isn’t necessarily the big ballad of the movie, but executes its role perfectly. One could compare it to “Remember Me,” but I’m not sure if it is quite to that level of tear jerking, just plain out there sappiness.   

       4. “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”: 

I have already done a more in depth review on this song last week, which you can find here. I like it very, very much, although I must admit that my favoritism lies elsewhere. 

It is probably the one that gets stuck in my head the most, and my favorite thing ever is when I will hear my dad, who has never seen the movie, go ‘da da we don’t talk about Bruno la la la.’ He claims that it sounds like Maroon 5, “She Will Be Loved,” but we all know he’s just been brainwashed like the rest of us. 

It has only furthered my belief that Lin Manuel Miranda is some sort of crazy superhuman genius. 

       5. “Surface Pressure”: 

This was the first song that I heard from the soundtrack, before I saw the movie. I was quite impressed, as I felt like it was a sound that I had never heard in a Disney musical like that before. 

The music video, or scene in the movie I suppose, reminds me a lot of Frozen II’s “Lost In the Woods” very heartbroken 80’s moment. It takes you out of the movie in a way that is descriptive of what the character is feeling, and then spits you right back in.

Maybe it’s just the excessive (in the best possible way) dancing animals, which are alway welcome. The donkeys are subtle, but when you notice, you notice; excessive subtlety one could say. I haven’t counted, but there must be hundreds of donkeys in this one scene. 

       6. “Columbia, Mi Encanto”: 

This song has to be the most underrated of the whole bunch, it’s definitely the one that I’ve seen the least of. 

I really enjoy everything about this song, but don’t actively go out of my way to listen to it, which seems to be how the rest of the world is feeling too. 

This one also gets stuck on my head (it’s safe to say that they all do, really there isn’t one of them that hasn’t at some point), but sometimes I forget what it is, which is always confusing and leads to some creative Google  lyric searching. 

       7. “Waiting On A Miracle”: 

This is the big ballad of the movie (maybe?), and to be totally honest, I’m not sure why it’s not a bigger hit, probably because we are still recovering from “Let It Go.” 

It could be that the song is not very long, and doesn’t have a whole lot of storytelling purpose. It expressed feelings, but feelings that we already know are there. And I feel like even though we know how Mirabel feels, the movie does a good job of building to this point. I will say, I think that this scene in the actual movie is really cool. 

I like the way that this song makes me feel, and I like the window that it gives into a feeling that I don’t think we haven’t really seen with a Disney lead character like this before. It also isn’t quite as catchy as the rest, but I still find myself singing it sometimes, much to the chagrin of the people around me (who can hear me clearly not hitting half of the notes). 

       8. “All Of You”: 

The first time I ever watched Hamilton, I immediately googled Moana, because I could hear something similar, and I was not surprised to find out that they were both Miranda projects. I think all of these songs sound like his songs, but this one especially. 

To me, it is a very signature move of his to combine parts, and voices, and other songs from the movie into one big musical amalgamation, and he definitely does that here. Each character kind of has their own musical moment, and they aren’t vastly different styles, but they are all very cohesive, and combine well into this song.

The harmonies at the end here are beautiful, but mostly the Frozen reference is impeccable. You can say anything you want about Disney, but they certainly know how to amp up the fan conspiracy videos. 

I think my opinion here is pretty clear, I adore all of these songs. I think that children and adults both are able to jam to it, and even if you don’t like it, you probably secretly like it. I would say, if you are a person who does not like to have songs bouncing about in your head, then I would avoid this soundtrack, movie, and maybe right now the whole internet in general. However, if you are like me and don’t mind, then we can prepare for our lifelong inner musical, together forever.