The original song “Nobody Like U” and its companion lyric video are available today from the forthcoming Turning Red Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. The Disney and Pixar film will stream exclusively on Disney+ starting March 11.
The soundtrack, which will be released on March 11 as well, features three original songs (“Nobody Like U,” “1 True Love,” “U Know What’s Up”) performed by the fictional boy band 4*Town, written by GRAMMY-winning singer-songwriters Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell.
The soundtrack also features an original score by Oscar-, GRAMMY-, and Emmy-winning composer Ludwig Göransson (Black Panther, The Mandalorian).
The voices behind Pixar’s first-ever boy band include Jordan Fisher as Robaire, Finneas O’Connell as Jesse, Topher Ngo as Aaron T., Grayson Villanueva as Tae Young, and Josh Levi as Aaron Z.
Turning Red introduces Mei Lee (voice of Rosalie Chiang), a confident, dorky 13-year-old torn between staying her mother’s dutiful daughter and the chaos of adolescence. Her protective, if not slightly overbearing, mother, Ming (voice of Sandra Oh), is never far from her daughter – an unfortunate reality for the teenager.
And as if changes to her interests, relationships, and body weren’t enough, whenever she gets too excited (which is practically ALWAYS), she “poofs” into a giant red panda.
Turning Red is directed by Academy Award winner Domee Shi (Pixar short Bao) and produced by Lindsey Collins (Finding Dory). According to Shi, if you set a 13-year-old girl’s coming-of-age story in the early 2000s, it’s pretty much mandatory to include a boy band. “We needed our character Mei to be obsessed with something that her mom would not approve of,” said Shi.
“Boy bands were the first step into the world of boys for a lot of girls that age. The guys were all super pretty, polished, soft, and loving, and they had a way of bringing girls and their besties together. Plus, I thought it’d be really cool to create an animated boy band.”
“When we first started talking about Billie Eilish and FINNEAS — back before they’d won a billion GRAMMYS — we could see then how they had their finger on the pulse,” said producer Lindsey Collins.
“We were big fans. We met with them and pitched this crazy idea of a boy band, asking if they’d be interested in writing and producing the songs. They were!”
Eilish, whose sophomore album, Happier Than Ever, debuted at No. 1 in the Billboard 200 in the U.S. and in 19 countries worldwide, made history as the youngest artist to win in all the major categories at the 62nd GRAMMY Awards, receiving an award for best new artist, album of the year, record of the year, song of the year, and best pop vocal album.
FINNEAS, the youngest ever to win the GRAMMY for producer of the year (non-classical), built a sterling discography penning and producing smashes for a cadre of superstars – not only for his sister, Billie Eilish, but also Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, Camila Cabello, Tove Lo, Kid Cudi and Ben Platt, among others. His debut solo album, Optimist, is out now.
Joining Rosalie Chiang and Sandra Oh are Orion Lee as the voice of Mei’s dad, Jin, and Wai Ching Ho as the voice of Grandma. Mei’s tight-knit group of friends are voiced by Ava Morse as Miriam, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Priya, and Hyein Park as Abby.
Tristan Allerick Chen voices classmate Tyler, and Addie Chandler lends his voice to Mei’s secret crush, Devon. Rounding out the voice cast are James Hong, Lori Tan Chinn, Lillian Lim, Mia Tagano, Sherry Cola, Sasha Roiz, and Lily Sanfelippo.
Mirko Parlevliet has been reporting on the entertainment industry since 1998 and founded Vital Thrills to cover the latest streaming, movie, TV, and game news.