Tag Archives: Kristen Anderson-Lopez

New podcasts with the “Frozen” songwriters, composer

As many of you know, I now host a podcast, For Scores, that gives me the chance to interview prominent composers and songwriters working on current films. This month we have two, and these are some of the nicest, most thoughtful and articulate people in the business: Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, the Oscar-winning songwriters (Frozen, Coco), and Christophe Beck, the Emmy-winning, Grammy-nominated composer (Frozen, Ant-Man). Frozen II was the subject for both, as the Lopezes talked about their long odyssey with Anna, Elsa and friends. And for Beck, we talked not only about  scoring the Frozen films but also about his Marvel adventures (the fun scores for Ant-Man and Ant-Man & The Wasp). Here is the address to find them, which will then direct you to your favorite podcast source to listen.

Oscar music roundup

Robert Lopez, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Alexandre Desplat (photo by Ray Costa)

Another awards season is finally in the books, with Sunday night’s Oscar telecast that saw Alexandre Desplat win for his Shape of Water score, and songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez for their song “Remember Me” from Coco. Variety kept me busy all weekend, writing the winner stories (score story here, including Desplat’s beating the statistical odds for a second time; song story here) and adding a Monday-morning story about Lopez becoming the first-ever double EGOT winner. A complete summary of Saturday and Sunday events — including the annual SCL Oscar reception, always a highlight of the weekend, is here.

The songs in “Coco” and “Greatest Showman”

The two most likely candidates for Best Song nominations at the Oscars come from very different movies: “Remember Me,” the musical centerpiece of Disney/Pixar’s Coco, and “This Is Me,” the outcasts anthem from the P.T. Barnum biopic The Greatest Showman. They also happen to be the work of four of America’s current greatest songwriters, all previous Oscar winners: Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Frozen), who wrote “Remember Me”; and Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (La La Land), who wrote all the songs in The Greatest Showman. I chronicle the creation of both songs in this week’s Variety: Here is the “Remember Me” backstory, and here is the one on “This Is Me.”

Making Mexican Music for Pixar’s “Coco”

This piece, the lead Artisans story in this week’s Variety, was both complicated and a joy to write. Disney/Pixar always goes to great lengths to find the right score (and often songs) for each of its films, but on Coco they went to extremes. Coco, which opens next week, is set during Mexico’s “Day of the Dead” celebration, and is about a boy who desperately wants to be a musician — something his family is dead-set against. The filmmakers hired the ever-reliable Michael Giacchino (Ratatouille, Up) to compose the score, but added Mexican-American composer Germaine Franco to orchestrate and co-write several of the songs. And they arranged for many of Mexico’s top musicians to perform much of the background music you hear. Oh, and not incidentally, they asked Frozen songwriters Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez to pen a key song heard several times in the movie.

Interviewing the music team from “Coco”

The Disney-Pixar film Coco is going to be a big hit during the post-Thanksgiving period, and critics are already calling it one of the best animated films of the year. It was an honor to be asked to interview the entire Coco music team Thursday night after a Society of Composers & Lyricists screening at the Pacific Design Center. L to R in the photo: co-director, co-songwriter and writer Adrian Molina; songwriter and orchestrator Germaine Franco, whose Mexican-American heritage became a big factor in achieving an authentic sound for this “Day of the Dead”-themed story; composer Michael Giacchino, whose previous five Pixar films include Ratatouille (an Oscar nominee) and Up (an Oscar winner); songwriters Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, whose “Remember Me” is certain to be short-listed for awards this season; and yours truly. A memorable evening.

Oscar weekend, music-wise

It was a whirlwind four days, beginning with the first-ever Oscar concert at Royce Hall, then a really fun Oscar music reception (sponsored by the Society of Composers & Lyricists) and finally the Academy Awards themselves on Sunday. A roundup, with lots of colorful photos, is here.

The music of “Frozen”

I walked into a scoring session for Frozen, not really knowing what to expect (except that I knew Chris Beck’s score would be great, and it was). What I found was a surprising group of musicians, songwriters, Disney animators and executives who hoped that, somehow, this long-in-gestation version of “The Snow Queen” would somehow resonate with moviegoers. (Boy, did it.) We were proud to introduce the musical ideas first, in the pages of Variety.