Tangled (& Tangled Ever After) Discussion: Part VII

[Atlantica]

That's really kind of you to remember D82 ! Sadly no, I have Disney+, but in the UK only the very first season is on there ? I've emailed them and tweeted them, but have heard absolutely nothing back at all.

So so so annoying. I don't even like listening to the music from the last series as I can't place it anywhere If anyone else knows of the reason it isn't there, please do share if you can !

[D82]

That's really kind of you to remember D82 ! Sadly no, I have Disney+, but in the UK only the very first season is on there ? I've emailed them and tweeted them, but have heard absolutely nothing back at all.

So so so annoying. I don't even like listening to the music from the last series as I can't place it anywhere If anyone else knows of the reason it isn't there, please do share if you can !

That's too bad, I don't understand why they the rest of the series is still not available there. By the way, I sent you a private message the last time you mentioned you couldn't continue watching the show, did you receive it?

[Atlantica]

Oh my gosh no I didn’t see it until you mentioned it just now !!!

I’m so sorry, totally and utterly unintentional, I didn’t see a notification for it at all. Apologies, I certainly wasn’t ignoring you.

Thank you very much

[D82]

You're welcome. And don't worry, I didn't think you were ignoring me. I imagined you just hadn't noticed my message, but I didn't know how to let you know I had sent it to you.

[Sotiris]

Tangled 10th Anniversary: A Message from Mandy Moore & Zachary Levi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPZHCgeXZew

Tangled 10th Anniversary: Getting Cast as Rapunzel & Flynn
https://www.facebook.com/23245476854/vi ... 965950237/

Tangled 10th Anniversary: Memories with Mandy Moore & Zachary Levi
https://www.facebook.com/23245476854/vi ... 278503331/

[blackcauldron85]

^ Can anyone please recap that Facebook link for me? We have some new hardcore privacy settings on our computers/Internet and I can't access it!!! I need to know what Mandy says!!

[disneyprincess11]

I'm genuinely shocked Disney is letting Glenn and Alan talk about the Broadway show before its announcement

https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 4423211008

[Disney's Divinity]

Wonderful. I think one moment I wish they'd put to music that they didn't with the cruise show is Rapunzel and Gothel's confrontation after Rapunzel realizes the truth--a short "Mother Knows Best (reprise)" where Rapunzel does most of the singing this time. "Mother... Or should I even call you that...?" And perhaps a choral reprise of "When Will My Life Begin" when she's meeting her mother and father at the end ("And now my life begins..." sort of like POYW's "Now we can walk, now we can run...").

[D82]

^ Can anyone please recap that Facebook link for me? We have some new hardcore privacy settings on our computers/Internet and I can't access it!!! I need to know what Mandy says!!

Can you access the Twitter link for the same video?

Here are some more posts about Tangled's anniversary:
https://twitter.com/DisneyAnimation/sta ... 2958833670
https://twitter.com/DisneyAnimation/sta ... 8271085569
https://twitter.com/DisneyAnimation/sta ... 2623951872

I'm genuinely shocked Disney is letting Glenn and Alan talk about the Broadway show before its announcement

https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 4423211008

I'm glad it seems it's happening!

[blackcauldron85]

^D82, yes, the Twitter link worked for me! Thank you!!!!!

[D82]

^You're welcome! I'm glad it worked for you.

By the way, to celebrate Tangled's anniversary, Glenn Slater answered lots of questions from fans on Twitter:

Favorite lyric from the movie?

Probably the "Mother Knows Best" reprise? "Tangled" might be one of Disney's most psychologically accurate films - we spent a LOT of time discussing the nuances of the Gothel-Rapunzel relationship. The first MLB sets up Gothel as a "fun" Disney fairy-tale villain but the reprise, where she lets her true abusive behavior out, feels realistic and terrifying in a way even I didn't quite expect. Needless to say Donna Murphy's brilliance makes both parts work like a one-two punch.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 6035736576

What was it like for you to receive an Oscar nomination for 'I See the Light'?

Total dream-come-true moment. Alan was going to let me do the speech if we won! And then I left my cue cards in the car. Spent the whole ceremony desperately trying to remember what to say and who to thank. It went by in a blur. And then...sigh, a slower, more disappointing blur.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 3700160514

What new wisdom did you gain working on this film that helped shape your continued success?

Not "new" wisdom, but reconfirmation of the truth that in a collaborative process, you have to check your ego at the door and work for the good of the project as a whole. A story...

Alan and I had originally written a huge Broadway-style duet called "Blaze of Light" for the rowboat scene. It had everything - huge Menken chorus, soaring melody, big emotions. But when we played it for the directors, we didn't get the reception we were expecting. They liked it...but...they were worried that the "bigness" of it was going to compete with the bigness of the visual surprise of all those lanterns. And...could we try again? Alan immediately went to the piano (there was one in the conference room!) and wrote another melody. Another GREAT melody - this one, I was sure, was the one. But...no, it still didn't have the specific quality that the directors were looking for. So Alan dashed off another Oscar-worthy melody. And then another. And another. For THREE HOURS. He must have literally come up with 30 different tunes, each one of with that magic Menken quality. I was losing it - any one of these could have been a hit! And we were tossing them!

Finally, he said, "I think I have it," and played what eventually became "I See The Light". And the directors finally said, that's the one! It didn't have the bigness, it didn't call attention to itself, it didn't smell like Oscar-bait. It was almost self-deprecating. But they were 100% right - even though it didn't have that look-at-me quality, it was exactly what the story needed. Two characters who spend the whole film talking a mile-a-minute at each other, finally having a quiet moment of simple clarity. And of course, they already knew that the song would play against that glorious image of the lanterns rising in the night sky. They were seeing the movie in its totality - we were only thinking of our song. That's how the collaborative process should work - a team of people all aware that no single one of them is "the smartest person in the room", and willing to subsume their individual vision into the larger picture. A lesson I "know" - but can always benefit from learning anew.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 1577125891

What rhyme are you most proud of from the film? I love rhino/I know, even if it was cut and just appears on the soundtrack!

I've always been fond of the femurs/dreamers line rhyme in "I've Got A Dream", as well as "I'd rather be called deadly/for my killer show-tune medley". And in the original draft of "Mother Knows Best", when she's listing all the things Rapunzel should be afraid of, I had rhymed "quicksand" with "men with pointy sticks, and". But the directors asked me to change it to "men with pointy teeth" to set up a later visual joke. So...lost the rhyme, but gained a punchline. I put "pointy sticks" back in for the cruise-ship version of the show, because the bit with the pointy teeth was cut.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 5518124032

What were the most difficult lyrics for you to write/what song gave you the most trouble?

"When Will My Life Begin" was by far the hardest. We were trying to capture an elusive quality - Rapunzel has to be both upbeat and yet too scared to leave the tower, smart and yet ignorant of the world outside, satisfied and yet restless... And we still don't really know what her "want" is. So we tried lots of difference approaches. LOTS. We started with the melody we eventually ended up with, but in a more acoustic, folky style, and the title "What More Could I Ever Need". That went through 15 different drafts. The problem: it captured her wide-eyed spirit, but didn't capture how disturbing her situation actually was, nor hint at her need to escape. So we then tried a different approach - starting with Rapunzel as a little girl, and following her as she grew up both happy but perplexed about her weird situation. We wrote several songs for this take...

One that was very Joni Mitchell-esque, called "The Everything of it All", which featured a Rapunzel who was kept so ignorant that she had to make up words for ordinary things, and who thought about the outside world with rhapsodic wonder...

One (also Joni-esque) called "Absolutely Right" that followed little Rapunzel through a series of birthdays, each of which finds her just as happy but starting to ask questions and realizing things don't add up, leading up to her current 18th birthday...

One that was a little country-ish called "So Many Questions" that had Rapunzel asking Pascal about the outside world, with the questions getting more pointed as she gets older...

And then a decision was made that the whole 'young Rapunzel" route took us too far backwards in the story. So...we were back to starting on 18-year-old Rapunzel. And we went back to the music everyone liked originally, but with two changes...

1) The "folk" approach was deemed too introspective and not energetic enough for the first big song of the film, so we popped it up a bit.

2) We needed a different lyric approach - one that pointed more directly to her wanting to leave the tower.

Hence "Where Will My Life Begin". Which went through another 11 or so drafts, mostly to get the details of her day right and to punch up the comedy. The last big decisions: there was originally a here-we-go intro, in which Rapunzel addresses Pascal wistfully before bursting into her routine, and a final chorus, to end on a triumphant note. But there was no "triumph" to end on - she's still locked up! So... We cut the last chorus, and moved the semi-pointless wistful intro to the end of the song. Now it was no longer directed to Pascal, but it finally gave her unrequited subtextual longing (to leave the tower) a chance to be spoken out loud. So...phew! Yeah, that was a toughie.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 5231860736

Oh, Eugene, by far! In fact, there was a sort of feeling that Eugene shouldn't sing at all - that he was too hip and cool to ever let his feelings rise to the level of burst-into-song earnestness.
For a long time, we couldn't figure out what he would sound like if he DID sing. We tried writing a song for him in the pub scene (called "Welcome To The Party") that gave him a kind of early Elvis sound (to match his smolder!), but, eh.
Eventually, we concluded that the trick to having him sing was to have him refuse to sing..in song. Hence his bit in "I've Got A Dream". And that was definitely the right decision; it makes the moment when he finally DOES really sing, in "I See The Light", feel truly meaningful.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 0631864323

Do you still have stuff from Welcome to the Party???? like bits??

LOL, I just opened up that folder and took a look at it for the first time in 11 years!

Wow, it's so not good!

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 7397166083

How does the Disney songwriting experience differ from writing for stage musicals or other production companies? Or say, compared with Galavant? And of course, congratulations on such an amazing film! One of my absolute favourites!!

As you can see from some of the other answers I've been giving, the main difference is a) just how collaborative the process is for animation - for stage musicals, the songwriters are for the most part calling the shots, in film, we're just one cog in the machine, and...
b) just how long and arduous the process is, as opposed to television, which is super-fast. For "Galavant", we had to write 35 songs in 2 months...and then again for season 2 That's practically a song every other day...so, no time for even a second draft, let alone 20.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 9190124545

Were there any songs that sounded completely different at first, but you and Alan had to change them up to fit the movie?

Our original vision for the score was much, much more "folk-rock" oriented than the way it ended up. We saw early drawings of Rapunzel - barefoot, long hair, playing guitar alone in her room, smart, sensitive - and instantly thought, oh, she's like a young Joni Mitchell! Alan is absolutely brilliant at capturing musical styles, and he was able to write those open-fret acoustic guitar harmonies and big leaping intervals that perfectly echoed Joni's sound. But that feel, while amazing on an album, just didn't feel like it had enough body and drive when matched to the visuals. So bit by bit we added drums...then a heavier bass...then more contemporary-sounding instrumentations... And it slowly mutated away from the original sound to something a little poppier. When we did the cruise-ship stage version, we went back to a more guitar-based feel, returning the score to its folk roots...and giving it a bit of a ren-fair vibe that matches well with the story.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 9897155592

Still kind of sad that When Will My Life Begin Reprise 1 was ultimately cut from the film! Were there any other songs that didn't make it and did they find a new life perhaps in the animated series?

Lots of "early attempts" - songs that were eventually replaced by other songs in the film. We also wrote a song meant to take the place of the spoken prologue (called "Love Is A Thief"), but we all felt that it was harder to follow than the narration.

Oh, and we also wrote a song for the festival, called "Glorious Day". But I felt very strongly that it stepped on "I See The Light" and argued that the scene should stay wordless. So we left it as the "Kingdom Dance" in the score - which may be my favorite music in the film.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 4147854341

How was your process in making "When Will My Life Begin"? Did you make a list of all things Rapunzel would do and then combine them to make the rhymes?

SO MANY LISTS. A list of things she would do for fun. A list of things she would do for work. A list of things she could see from her window. A list of things one might find in a room of that time period. So...many...lists...!

Often when I work with Alan, we start with the music first, so I'm matching words to a melody. That means that it's not just about finding good rhymes, it's also about making sure the syllables are accented in the right places, that the vowels and consonants are easy to sing and that it sounds like something an 18-year-old girl, with a very particular world view, would say. The more possible word choices I have, the more options I can test out. Hence all the lists!

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 0016175106

What was the best part of working with Alan Menken, Byron Howard, Nathan Greno, and Glen Keane?

Byron and Nathan are fantastic to work with - a perfect blend of honoring and respecting Disney history, while also bringing in fresh new ideas to give that history a contemporary spin, and the vision to make it work together seamlessly.

I didn't work directly with Glen Keane - but obviously, he is beyond brilliant, and his ability to probe his characters' psychology through movement - and the seriousness with which he approaches his characters - has always been hugely inspiring. (If you haven't seen Over the Moon - the film he recently directed - I highly, highly recommend! Both wildly imaginative and deeply emotional, with some great songs as well!)

And of course working with Alan is amazing. I've written literally hundreds of songs with him by now, but every new one feels just as exciting, and make me feel just as lucky, as the first.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 0706920449

I really love the ridiculous ones. These two are from the show, but are favs:
Like "something else that rhymes with -uddy!" and rhyming Fitzherbert with sherbet.
Mostly b'c they feel so much like what Eugene would say.

It's easier to write for a character when you know the actor playing the role. I have a really good sense of how Zachary Levi approaches Eugene, how certain words will sound in his voice, and how brilliant his sense of comic timing is. So I trust he'll land the goofy stuff!

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 3468813312

Is there a specific process you do or go through to write songs?
And thank you for the wonderful songs you have created! Music is truly a gift from the heart.

It involves a LOT of talking before we write a note. Discussing the scene, the characters, when we think the emotions are reaching the point that they need to be sung, what emotional journey the characters are going to experience, where do they end up...

Then, once we're on the same page, I generally give Alan a title, or a few lines of lyric, and he starts to play with them. Trying different melodies, different styles. Title at the start of the chorus, title at the end of the chorus, etc...

When he hits something that matches what I have in my own head (and honestly, Alan is so good at this that often it's his very first try), I'll say "that's it" - and then we start to hone that specific idea, still just music only...

But I start getting the sense of where the rhymes will go, how many syllables I'll need to express an idea, and so on. So I can ask Alan to repeat a line, or add some notes, or drop some notes. He'll absorb those suggestions, and then refine the melody even more.

By an hour or two later, he'll have come up with the full melody, and done a basic piano/drums/bass demo. I'll take that home, and start piecing lyrics together, syllable by syllable, to match his melody. Sometimes it goes fast - I wrote the words to "I See The Light" overnight, because we were in a deadline crunch. Usually though, I spend about a week, working 6-8 hours a day, honing the words.

Once I have a draft finished, I bring it back to Alan. He'll play through it, and then start refining the melody to make it as catchy as possible. Sometimes, that means adding or dropping notes, so I have to adjust the lyric to match. Sometimes, I've added a bridge or a chorus or a coda, and he'll write new music to match that.

He'll then do one more demo, with vocals. If it's a group number, Alan plays all the parts himself, coming up with the harmonies on the fly. And then we deliver it to the directors. If they like - we've got a song! If not...we start the whole process over again from scratch.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 5221345280

For “When Will My Life Begin”, was it hard coming up with so many hobbies and things Rapunzel could do in the tower (especially since some of them had to rhyme)? And how did you all decide on that? I

I had some help - the story artists had already done a lot of sketches and drawings, and I was able to use some of their ideas as a launching pad. It was actually harder coming up with hobbies for the Pub Thugs! (And names...I spent a lot of time looking up Viking names.)

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 2860622849

How many of the songs for the cruise ship show had already been written in the drafting process of the movie, versus being written specifically for the musical?

None, those were all freshly written for the cruise ship! I did the script adaptation for the ship as well - a bit of a challenge, since shows onboard can only run 54 minutes, and the film is considerably longer. The new story configuration opened up new song possibilities.

And it worked so incredibly well! I couldn't believe how effective the ship musical was, given its brevity.

Thanks! I was pretty happy with how it turned out!

Sources: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 8595412992
https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 2588092418

So many! It's hard to pick just one. But in terms of just pure songwriting fun? From Tangled, probably "I've Got A Dream". From the series, I had a blast writing "Buddy" and "Bigger Than That". And in general...writing "A New Season" for Galavant was an absolute joy.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 9414835203

Seems like my first question was already answered so, were any changes made to the songs or song concepts once the team heard Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi's voices? Where there things you incorporated or took out based on their vocal ranges or singing strengths?

We didn't have to change anything for the film! We wrote for the characters, not the actors-but we knew going in that Mandy Moore would nail everything, and she did. We were less sure about Zachary Levi (at the time)-but once we got him in the studio, we knew we'd struck gold.

For the series, it was a gift getting them both back, and now that we knew their voices and ranges and singing styles more intimately, we DID write for the actors. That meant knowing that we could give Mandy tricky passages to sing, knowing she'd be able to enunciate each word. And it meant feeling confident that Zach could not only handle comedic numbers, but could break your heart with big ballads as well.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 6001801216

hi! i saw tangled in theatre when i was 7 years old and to this day my obsession has never stopped! one of my biggest questions since the movie was released has been were there any outtake songs other than when will my life begin reprise 1 that we will ever be able to hear?

None that were actually recorded. There are a bunch that died during the writing process that exist as demos, with Alan Menken singing. But they're not necessarily "finished" enough to share. (Just from a lyrics standpoint, a lot of those demos are VERY first-draft quality...and a little bit embarrassing. Because we abandoned the song, I never had a reason to go back and "fix" them. Not sure how I feel about letting them into the wild!)

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 3905216513

Do you think musical movies like tangled work better when the songs are created based on the plot or when the plot is inspired by songs/music? Happy 10th anniversary on this beautiful work, and thank you for making it!

Always better when the songs are created to fit the plot! Not that there aren't some jukebox musicals that work ("Mamma Mia", etc), but they work differently than normal musicals do. We're responding to both the original version of the song AND the recontextualized version simultaneously. We're both inside AND outside the story. And that double response tends (for me anyway) to blunt my emotional connection to the characters. To each their own, though!

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 9510226946

Which was the first song you wrote and why?

"When Will My Life Begin" came first. It sets the tone for the whole film - who Rapunzel is, what her journey will be, how we're supposed to feel about her. We needed to have that column in place before building the rest of the score.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 2519379968

Do you always know when a song’s landed before sending it off? Are there certain ones where you don’t even need the directors’ approval - do you just know for sure it’s perfect? Or are they all still considered a bit touch-and-go until they go in for the directors’ approval?

Always touch and go until the movie is released!

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 6011714563

After working to Alan's music, I decided to add that little tag at the end, where Eugene goes back to the music of the verse. He sounds so broken! And for me it makes the song really land hard. Coming up with that little addition - so satisfying!

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 5086075906

"I See The Light" is one of my all-time favorites musically and lyrically--do you have a favorite line from that song?

"And the world has somehow shifted"...their entire view of their lives has been turned upside down, but that phrase is so simple and understated. And the simplicity is what captures the enormity. For me, anyway!

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 8545970179

Once "When Will My Life Begin" was sorted, was it easy to write the list of things she can do now she's out of the tower in the reprise? Always struck by how well that particular list addresses confinement: you can only do things to a certain extent inside.

Absolutely! We really wanted to capture the anguish of teetering on the edge: can I do this? should I do this? And the outpouring of relief once she's done it. Happily (for me), her confinement meant that her new mental freedom is echoed by her physical freedom. Perfect metaphor.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 0487909376

I've always wondered about the extra "When Will My Life Begin" reprise that's on the soundtrack but not in the movie. What's the story behind that, and why was it put on the album but not in the movie? (I love Tangled so much, buy the way, especially your music)

It was written, orchestrated, recorded...and then the script changed. (These things happen, almost always for the better.) But even though there wasn't a place for it in the movie, it's still Mandy Moore singing an Alan Menken song - who wouldn't want that? So...bonus track.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 1640412160

If you could add one more song into the movie, where would you put it and who would sing it? Happy 10th anniversary!

I...don't know! The two obvious places (musicalized prologue, for Eugene to sing, and a song for the festival, to hear everyone's inner thoughts) we DID write songs for, and cut them because they got in the way of the storytelling. So...I would keep it just as it is!

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 9731389448

Hello! Which Tangled character do you feel close to? The one that invariably strikes a chord inside?
Thank you for all these answers, it’s so interesting & extremely clear. We can better understand the movie & our feelings.

Rapunzel, definitely. Dan Fogelman did such an amazing job of creating a real person out of a mass of contradictions All the characters are like that, really - but something about Rapunzel's optimism and willingness to see the best in everyone gets me every time.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 3999524866

Were there ever plans to give Eugene a solo song for the film?

Yup - in the pub scene. But it just didn't feel right for him to initiate a song - in a musical, you sing when your emotions rise to a place bigger than mere speech, but Eugene's whole thing (in the movie) is keeping his emotions in check.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 1393556481

Is there a song / lyric from the movie you relate to?

I absolutely drew on my own experience for "I See The Light" - had one of those moments of complete clarity with the woman who is now my wife, and part of the songwriting process for that song was trying to recreate what that felt like.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 8414951424

Are there any of the supporting characters that you wish had a song?

Actually, one of the issues we had writing the piece is that despite the grandness of the film, it's more or less a three-character story. Given that we couldn't really imagine Flynn Rider singing a show tune, that presented us with a problem!

One of the ways we solved it was by taking the Pub Thugs - who were just minor, nameless characters in the original script - and pumping them up into bigger presences. We warned the story team that if we gave them a song, they'd have to bring those characters back because audiences would want more of them. Thankfully, after we wrote the song, they agreed!

Other than that...not sure which side characters even COULD sing? The Stabbington Brothers?

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 7022600192

What is it like writing a song that gets a reprise like Mother Knows Best? I find the switch up to "Rapunzel Knows Best" really interesting and want to know how you approach that kinda of writing and whether or you know you knew it was gonna have a reprise

When working on animated films, one of the first things we do is what we call song-spotting -- basically, going through the whole movie and trying to figure out where the songs should go. That means identifying the big emotional high points, but also figuring out how many songs there will be, making sure there's an equal balance of uptempo to slow, comedy to serious, solo to group, etc. While we're in that process, I'm also trying to figure out what the main themes of the stories are and how the character arcs intersect.

I was an English major in college, and tend to approach story in this way almost by habit! The benefit is - I can see, right at the beginning of the process, where I can plant ideas that will come back into play later.

"Mother Knows Best" was definitely one of these - I knew that Gothel arc required an over-the-top "niceness" at the beginning, that would have to be countered by an equal and opposite over-the-top turnaround into cruelty during that forest scene.

I also knew that the original fairy tale is a coming of age story - about children who need to break away from their parents in order to become adults, and parents who are afraid to let their kids go because it means confronting their own mortality.

So I was able to plan ahead and set up phrases and ideas in the first "Mother Knows Best" that would pay off hugely when Gothel took the gloves off in the later scene. Including the turnaround from "mother knows best" to the mocking "Rapunzel knows best".

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 5919983622

Were you provided with the names for the ruffians, or were you able to choose them for their lyrical potential? They work so well!
Bonus question: How glad are you there wasn't a song about the kingdom of corona?!!!

I had to come up with the Ruffians names on my own - when we started writing that song, they were barely even characters. But we knew that we needed a comedy song in the score, as well as a group number. And the pub seemed like the only place we could put it. So Dan Fogelman came up with a fun idea - what if these terrifying thugs were all in the bar for a poetry slam? And they were really just sensitive, albeit scary, dudes. We took that thought and ran with it.

Basically, I was just trying to come up with names that sounded thuggish - Spike, Killler, that kind of thing. Not sure how they all ended up having Viking names - probably because there isn't a lot of space to land the jokes, so I needed one-syllable names that sounded "tough".

And yes - SO relieved that we didn't write a song called "Hooray for Corona" or whatever. Although probably we'd have made tons of royalties from people hate-playing the song.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 7518480385

What was it like working with the voice actors? did you ever have to adjust the song to fit their voice? did they ever give feedback on your songs or add their own unique style to improve them?

With voice actors of this quality, you never have to adjust songs to cover for their flaws - but we do sometimes make adjustments to frame their talents better, i.e. changing keys to hit their sweet spots, that kind of thing.

The relationship between singers and composer/lyricists is a true collaboration. They definitely give us feedback on what's working/not working for them, questions about word choices and intent, issues with singability - and we always try to make the adjustments they need.

Likewise, we have lots of notes about what words to emphasis, how certain notes are being sung, where to sing full-out and where to speak-sing. And the director is giving them direction as well.

There are ABSOLUTELY times when an individual performer brings something special and makes the song even better than you thought. For Tangled, a special call-out goes to Donna Murphy. We were a little worried about "Mother Knows Best" largely because Gothel's mood and intent swings so wildly from line to line, and we weren't sure if it was making a coherent whole. Donna figured out exactly how to walk that tightrope that connected all of those wild swings, and held the song together by sheer force of will.

More than just that, she turned those swings into a weapon - the thing that she uses to pull Rapunzel closer to her, as well as the cudgel she uses to keep Rapunzel in line. Sheer brilliance.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 5013078016

Do you feel like there’s any specific songs that really developed a character’s personality or storyline?

Gosh, all of them, I hope! One of the things we try to do is to make every song character-driven, so that the character goes into the song with their arc leading them one way, and comes out of it moving in a whole different direction.

If a character doesn't develop at all during the course of a song, then you just wasted three minutes of screen time treading water. And probably lost the audiences attention after the first thirty seconds.

Once the audience feels like they've gotten all the information they're going to get, they tune out. So as a songwriter, you have to make sure there's enough changing within the song to make it worth their while. Otherwise...it probably shouldn't be a song moment.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 2689555456

Were there times where you felt like there was a song that didn't feel quite right for a scene in the movie/show but found a way to get through it or didn't?

Absolutely - in fact, I would say on most songs there are moments where it feels like you're on the wrong track. It usually means that you haven't thought deeply enough about the characters - what do they want, what are they trying to accomplish, why do they need to sing?

What you usually find is that you're writing a song you THINK you should be writing (because it could be a hit, or because there are other successful songs like it, or because you always wanted to write that kind of song) rather than the song the character should be singing.

So...you need to stop what you're doing, take your ego out of it, and get back to the characters and their motivations. It almost always works! When it doesn't...it usually means that you just picked the wrong moment for a song.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 6422907904

Donna Murphy speaks or speak-sings much of Mother Knows Best. Is there an actually melody written for those parts? Did you tell her where to speak it, or did she decide? Or was it both?

There is an actual melody! And honestly, I think Donna sticks pretty closely to it. But we definitely valued nailing the character more than nailing the melody on this one. Donna found the singing/speaking balance on her own, on the very first take. After that, we worked with her a little on bringing out this nuance or that detail, but she's so intuitive that she pretty much figured it out on the fly.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 8734294017

Where any lyrics changed while writing the Reprise version of Mother Knows Best?

For the first part - before she sings "Rapunzel knows best" - I wrote six or seven different versions, all slight variations, trying to find just the right way to belittle Rapz. The rest of it pretty much stayed the same from the first draft until we recorded.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 8056573952

Tangled the series and the movie Question: Did you write the song before hand of each episode or a scene? or was it more like the writers want a song in this scene or episode and you create it?

A full script was written by Dan Fogelman first. Then, in consultation with him, the directors, and the story artists, we worked out where the songs should go. In some cases, we had an idea for a song that would require a script change. Dan would then sketch out the new scene and we'd incorporate his scene work into and around the song.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 9452043269

Did you take any unusual approaches to compiling Rapunzel’s list of activities for “When Will My Life Begin”? Any fun lyrics/pastimes you wanted to include but had to cut for one reason or another?

Nothing particularly unusual - just a LOT of list-making. The lyric went through a ton of drafts, with a lot of the decision making on what was kept or discarded based not so much on fun/cleverness, but rather on singability...
The melody has a lot of notes tumbling out very quickly, with a little bit of subtle syncopation, and it was difficult to get the vowels and consonants to line up in a way that didn't get muddy and incoherent. So - a lot of trial and error.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 9105584129

About the cut song "When Will My Life Begin (Reprise 1)": chronologically, does it go right after "Mother Knows Best", or...?

It would have come after "Mother Knows Best".

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 3761116160

I can imagine Frederick and Arianna singing a song about how much they miss their daughter right after the intro, but there would almost had to have been a reprise when they got her back—slowing both sections of the film down intolerably. Obviously, you chose wisely.

I think the decision to keep Frederick and Arianna completely silent in the movie was absolutely brilliant - there was nothing a song could say that wasn't completely captured in their expressions. Thank you, amazing animators!!

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 8010195969

I remember reading in Wikipedia (before the movie was released) that Mother Gothel would sing a song to Rapunzel which would later be reprised by Flynn in a romantic way. Is there any truth in that?

Yes, the Healing Incantation was originally a short song called "You Are My Forever". When Gothel sang it, it had a double meaning: "you're my child who I'll love forever" and "you're the key to my immortality". When Flynn sang the same words, it worked as a romantic declaration.

Source: https://twitter.com/SlaterLyrics/status ... 8956527618

[Disney's Divinity]

One that was very Joni Mitchell-esque, called "The Everything of it All", which featured a Rapunzel who was kept so ignorant that she had to make up words for ordinary things, and who thought about the outside world with rhapsodic wonder...

That sounds almost too much like Ariel's random names for human things, so I'm glad it didn't happen. "Wind in My Hair" definitely has the feel of an End Credits song.

"Blaze of Light" sounds great. I guess I can understand wanting something understated for the boat moment though, since it would be weird to have them sing a huge song while the characters are mostly sitting still in place. They can't exactly move around like Aladdin and Jasmine in "A Whole New World," for example. Aside from that, I'd love to hear "Love Is a Thief".... I always hated the introduction and "Flower of Gold" from the cruise musical didn't quite satisfy either.

"A New Season" is hilarious, so I get why he had fun with that one.

I loved how he gave a shoutout to Keane's new film. That was really nice.

[blackcauldron85]

which featured a Rapunzel who was kept so ignorant that she had to make up words for ordinary things, and who thought about the outside world with rhapsodic wonder...

I can see the Scuttle/Ariel/Punzie fan art now...[typing as I read, and Disney's Divinity hit the nail on the head!]

Remember when during production it was talked about that it'd be very folk-music oriented? It's neat reading about those cut songs. Mandy Moore is a huge Joni Mitchell fan, so I wonder if she ever was able to hear any of the cut music. (I'm typing as I read, so probably not, because Glenn said, "But they're not necessarily "finished" enough to share.")

D82, thank you x 1,000,000 for sharing all of that!! What an insightful read!!

[Disney Duster]

I have heard that Mother Gothel was racially coded as a caricature of a Jewish woman.

Does anyone think this is true?

I'm like 99.9% sure it's not. I mean she looks so much like the Michelle Pfeiffer version she was going to be, and she's not Jewish.

[Farerb]

I don't, and it's not something I've heard from anyone I know. Wasn't she designed after Donna Murphy and Cher?

I mean I guess you can kind of analyze it that way, especially that thing with stealing "Aryan" babies for magic rituals, but I don't think there was anything intentional about it.

The thing is there are many curly black haired women who aren't Jewish (once again - Donna Murphy, Cher and even kathryn hahn, mentioning her because I see similar claims about WandaVision) and there are many Jewish women who don't have that kind of hair, my sister in law is from Ukraine and she has straight blonde hair. We don't all look the same!

So in my opinion there's a bit of reaching here, and I feel that it is sort of that Tumblr/Twitter mentality of disliking something and then trying to paint that something as "problematic" in order to justify disliking it. But people can think that way if that's how they feel, but I personally don't. They must be few though cause I've been on many Israeli Facebook groups and I haven't seen anyone raise that claim, though I did see some time someone who claimed that Tangled is discriminating against brunettes because it shows that being with long blonde hair is magical.

[Disney Duster]

Thank you for writing that thoughtful post. I'm glad it seems they definitely were making Mother Gothel look like Cher rather than a Jewish caricature.

[thedisneyspirit]

I don't, and it's not something I've heard from anyone I know. Wasn't she designed after Donna Murphy and Cher?

I mean I guess you can kind of analyze it that way, especially that thing with stealing "Aryan" babies for magic rituals, but I don't think there was anything intentional about it.

The thing is there are many curly black haired women who aren't Jewish (once again - Donna Murphy, Cher and even kathryn hahn, mentioning her because I see similar claims about WandaVision) and there are many Jewish women who don't have that kind of hair, my sister in law is from Ukraine and she has straight blonde hair. We don't all look the same!

So in my opinion there's a bit of reaching here, and I feel that it is sort of that Tumblr/Twitter mentality of disliking something and then trying to paint that something as "problematic" in order to justify disliking it. But people can think that way if that's how they feel, but I personally don't. They must be few though cause I've been on many Israeli Facebook groups and I haven't seen anyone raise that claim, though I did see some time someone who claimed that Tangled is discriminating against brunettes because it shows that being with long blonde hair is magical.

I feel comfortable with you after responding to enough of your posts to skip the customary greeting now. I watched a video on how Mother Gothel was coded as Jewish and there is still enoguh Anti-Semitism in the continent for me to think it is not a coincidence but I don't know. Like us aid, maybe she was designed to look like Cher instead. I think they just went w/the opposite of Rapunzel so black hair instead blonde and curly instead straight.

However I think it is silly to get upset about magical blondes. Blonde hair has often been associated with magic since the Biblical times of Samson and Delilah and characters like Elsa, Daenerys, and Amalthea are further proof that you must be blonde to have those powers. As a brunette I have never been self-hating but I would hate myself if I had Rapunzel's hideous short haircut. That was a real

[Farerb]

It's so weird to be brought back to this topic after so many month that a lot has happened ever since.

I've seen similar claims about Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, but in my opinion - Disney, Tolkien and Rowling were inspired by European folklore, which is probably filled with antisemitic undertones, but I don't think they had an intention of creating something antisemitic.

I also saw recently people claiming that Disney turned down Prince of Egypt because of antisemitism, but that is false considering Michael Eisner, who is Jewish, was the one who turned that down.

[thedisneyspirit]

It's so weird to be brought back to this topic after so many month that a lot has happened ever since.

I've seen similar claims about Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, but in my opinion - Disney, Tolkien and Rowling were inspired by European folklore, which is probably filled with antisemitic undertones, but I don't think they had an intention of creating something antisemitic.

I also saw recently people claiming that Disney turned down Prince of Egypt because of antisemitism, but that is false considering Michael Eisner, who is Jewish, was the one who turned that down.

I've never heard of any Anti-Semitic things in LOTR but I've heard many Jewish fans complain about the Goblins in Harry Potter. I'm glad you don't feel those are racist stereotypes but at the same time, if so many other Jewish fans are complaining, then there is probably some truth to it. Especially considering everything else that has come out about that TERF. Asians have rightfully also complained about Cho Chang so I think there is some truth to all of it even if it was not fully intended.

I don't know about Prince of Egypt getting turned down for Anti-Semitism as much as probably the Biblical story isn't Disney's forte. However I don't think Michael Eisner is Jewish. It's Katzenberg that is Jewish especially since I heard there were some unkind things said about him as a result of that when Katzenberg left. I don't remember if Eisner said anything derogatory or not.

[Farerb]

I think it's more of an individual feeling I guess and I don't want to invalidate anyone who feels that way. While I like Harry Potter, I'm not a Potter head or anything like that so I haven't looked into this myself. I know that there are many fans here and a lot of people went to the 20th Anniversary screenings.

In regards to Lord of the Rings, I have heard that the Dwarves are based on Jewish people, their language is inspired by Hebrew and their main motivation in the Hobbit is to reclaim their home.

Michael Eisner is definitely Jewish, you can read about it in his Wikipedia page, but also there are quotes from him mentioning his Judaism, and I agree that the reason why they turned down Prince of Egypt was probably because they didn't want to do a biblical story (people tend to be more sensitive when it comes to religion and they probably didn't want to offend anyone).