It’s not lost on Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear how stratospheric their rise is from TikTok to Disney. The pair – aged 26 and 23 respectively – are the first all-female team, and the youngest, songwriting duo to create a soundtrack for a Disney animated film – Moana 2.
“It is surprising,” says Bear. “Like, I feel like this should have happened 20 years ago, 30 years ago. ” And hopefully, you know, it’s just the first of a million,”
Adds Barlow: “We’re happy to break that glass.”
Songwriters Emily Bear and Abigail Barlow are the first all-female composing team at Disney.Credit: Edwina Pickles
The American pair, who perform under the name Barlow & Bear, came to the attention of Disney after their TikTok project, The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical, became a viral hit with more than 60 million streams, before winning them a Grammy for best musical theatre album in 2022.
From there, they were tapped to take over songwriting duties from Lin-Manuel Miranda for the sequel to the 2016 animated blockbuster Moana. Now, only the judgment of millions of children and their exhausted parents, desperate for a musical distraction, awaits.
“We are the Disney generation, so our childhood was filled with every Disney animated movie classic ever,” says Bear. “And it’s everyone who writes music – it’s their dream to write music for a Disney movie.”
Moana 2 is set to rock the box office.
Their Unofficial Bridgerton Musical, which led to them being sued by Netflix, eventually settling, featured songs about season one of the racy Regency drama, including song titles such as Every Inch of Him and Alone Together. Moana, who is 18 in the new film, is grown-up, but, you know, not Bridgerton grown-up…
“Yes, they’re two very different things,” says Barlow. “But when we met, and we started writing that first project, I think it taught us how to tell stories through music. So, regardless of what the story was, it really is like a science at the end of the day.”
