A song from the soundtrack to Disney's latest animated film, Encanto, climbed towards the top of music charts, nestling itself among the likes ofLil Nas X and Adele on the Hot 100. One of the film's dramatic climaxes consists of a revolving door of magical characters. Mirabel is the main character in the film and she is trying to figure out what the deal is with Bruno.
The song narratively compelling, as well as a total bop, is one of the reasons why this track is rising in popularity. The music is a mixture of Broadway and Latin-American influences. The characters in Miranda don't usually sing on the beat, even though they sing the same songs. Only two of the 30 notes that make up this lick align with the beat, and the song's repeating bass line teases our expectations. This pervasive off-the-beat-ness is why we can't help but grooving to this song; when music escapes the beat, it evokes a feeling of motion in the ears, tugging on our own centers of gravity as it narrowly avoids where we expect it to land.
The trajectory of "We Don't Talk About Bruno" is equally dramatic. Mirabel's family sings different melodies in the song, which rotates through a series of verse. Miranda has composed each of the melodies to work together. As the song progresses, we hear a tornado of lines mashed together as the characters sing their individual melodies at the same time. The moment produces an unexpected and sensational musical high point, and it cleverly references similar dramatic pinnacles in Les Misérables, West Side Story, and even Sesame Street's famous breakfast conflict.
The song is more than just danceable. The movie Encanto is about a family who are losing their magic due to force. Mirabel is questioning her relatives about Bruno, her fortune-telling uncle, as she tries to understand this force. The song is not about Bruno in the same way the movie is not about magic. The movie is about unresolved intergenerational trauma in migrant and politically oppressed cultures, while the song lays bare the characters' own flaws.
Mirabel's aunt and uncle blamed Bruno for predicting rain at their wedding in the first verse. The underlying meaning behind her verse is not about Bruno's alleged curse on her wedding, but about the couple's underlying frustration withPepa's inability to control her own power.
The most compelling moments in the song are those sung by Mirabel's cousin, who has magical ears. The family ignores her feelings and 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 888-270-6611 In "We Don't Talk About Bruno," the verse recounts what she has heard and deduced about her uncle. In the 19 seconds that she sings, she reveals that Bruno tried to use his gift to help the family and that she still hears him around the house. The music is too fast and soft for us to fully understand her. She whispers her words at twice the speed of any other verse, making her words difficult to comprehend. By being too fast and soft, the music forces the audience into the same relationship with the rest of the family as she is trying to tell us the truth about Bruno.
The song has hidden musical prophecies as the track continues. Isabela retells Bruno's prediction that her own power and happiness will continue to grow when she says "He told me that the life of my dreams would someday be mine". Mirabel helps her sister realize that her life has been restricted by her family's unrealistic expectations in Isabela's song "What else can I do?" Mirabel encourages Isabela to embrace her own wants and needs by quoting her sister's verse from "We Don't Talk About Bruno". Mirabel shows Isabela how she can finally attain the life of her dreams.
Information about the plot's final resolution is hidden by the key of "We Don't Talk About Bruno". The key of C is the central home pitch of the song and has already played an important role in the soundtrack, with scenes that highlight family and connection set in this key. Mirabel being pulled away from her family's key is shown in the songs "The Family Madrigal" and "Waiting on a Miracle", which foreground the note C-sharp as a pitch one note away from C. During Isabela's breakthrough, "What else can I do?" moves to that key, and Abuela has her own breakthrough in the song "Dos Oruguitas" in that key. The music uses the key of C to make an explicit connection between the solutions and the ultimate resolutions of the family's trauma.
The first Disney song since the mega-hit "Let It Go" was "We Don't Talk About Bruno", and in a lot of ways it is surprising. It is not a love song, it is not a solo anthem, and it is not even in a mainstream pop style. The song gives us many reasons to talk about and sing about Bruno, as well as making TikToks about it.
The name Mirabel has been changed to Mirabel.
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