The songwriting duo, popularly known as Barlow and Bear, are 26 and 23, respectively. They are already Grammy winners. Abigail Bear played the role of pianist on Beyoncé’s 2023 “Renaissance” tour. Emily Barlow, the other star, is a pop lyricist and singer. Working as a terrific duo since 2019, they now are making history. Both of them are identified as the composers for the new movie Moana 2. As remarkable as it sounds, they happen to be the youngest composers and the first all-women team for an animated Disney film. To know more about the unique singing duo Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear on Moana 2, continue reading.
Initial Discussions on the Moana 2 Songs
The duo had a general discussion with Tom MacDougall, Disney’s president of music in the formative years. When he closed the talk by mentioning that he could have a project for them, they didn’t take it seriously. However, about a year later, they received an email informing them that a sequel to “Moana” was coming up, and the filmmakers wanted to collaborate with them. For the next two and a half years, they collaborated on songs in the writer’s room every week for “Moana 2” as bits and pieces of the animation arrived.
Barlow, who grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, is known for doing musical theater at an early age and later became a competitive dancer. She participated in a scholarship program as a child, which allowed her to meet a pop songwriter and widen her horizons.
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Bear, on the other hand, is from Rockford, Illinois. She has been playing the piano professionally since she was a child. Emily showed her introduction on “The Ellen Show” when she was six years old and also played at the White House. Along with that, she also released a jazz CD produced by Jones while still a child. When she arrived at NYU, she learned about film scoring and knew it was what her heart wanted.
Process of creating the songs on “Moana 2”
Barlow and Bear met through a common friend in Los Angeles, who felt they would make a stellar songwriting duo. In an interview, Barlow mentions that she initially invited Bear to her home and they watched The Bachelorette. The duo bonded over cinnamon toast crunch macarons and the common struggles of two young women who graduated high school early and are making their way into the cutthroat adult world of L.A.
Barlow is famous for the concept for “The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical Album”. This was responsible for them bagging a Grammy. It was an exhausting process as she explains, she was stuck at home and wringing herself for not being able to come up with something fresh. Only in the Bridgerton series, did her luck strike gold and the rest is history.
It came to her at the right time, as for more than 6 months, she was trying to procure contracts from production houses but failed in the attempts. She mentioned how they didn’t want to hire young women around 17 years old for movie songs. But she claimed that it worked out in her favor, as she would’ve not received the job for Bridgerton if she had landed any of those earlier jobs.
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After Moana 2 was released, they visited several places for their press tours. Venues in L.A., Sydney, Hawaii, and London make it to the list. They have conversed with several fans and potential composers for future ventures on these tours too. It seems that the duo believes in hard work more than anything else, along with the universe’s luck. With this amazing combination, they believe that age is only a number and nothing can stop them from writing more songs. They would like to be seen as Moana if it means something really powerful for young women all across the world.
