"This Wish," The Most Awkward "I Want" Song

It’s weird they wanted another radio hit when “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” was arguably the biggest hit of ‘Encanto’ and it’s a song that’s fully reliant on the story and even adds further context. ‘Wish’ just has songs because it’s supposed too, not because it’s adding further context to the story. As a result, it feels like a bad jukebox musical rather than an original piece

I'm honestly starting to feel like Julia Michaels was set up for failure from the very beginning, from being given little context on to what the damn movie was even supposed to be about, to being given 3 weeks to produce and finalize such an important song for the protagonist, to even being hired as the film's songwriter in the first place as it's clear that she's working *way* outside her element

“This Wish” sounds more like a demo rather than a finalised song.

To me the most egregious line is “throw caution to every warning sign.” It’s like they wanted to use the phrases “throwing caution to the wind” and “ignoring the warning signs” but couldn’t decide on one so they just merged them, failing to realize that merging them just…doesn’t make any sense at all. It really adds to the whole “ai-generated” feel of the rest of the movie, cause that’s exactly the kind of blunder an AI trying to analyze human speech would make.

I feel like pop songs are supposed to be a little vague so people can interpret the song however they like, especially with break up songs. Musicals need to be more specific because they’re about the character and not the audience.

"Throw caution to every warning sign" is such an odd line its REALLY making me believe my theory that these songs were AI assisted. That line and Magnifico's infamous "I let you live here for free and I dont even charge you rent". I refuse to believe those lines were written by actual, thinking human beings

Why did they direct her to sing ‘weighed down’ as a high note?

LESSON: don't try to Miranda if you're not Miranda

The vagueness of the song really just sums up the biggest issue Asha herself has a protagonist. They gave an "I Want" song to a character who _doesn't want anything._ In most Disney movies - and most Hero's Journey narratives in general - the protagonist starts out with personal goals and ambitions that drive their actions to start with (Rapunzel wants freedom, Anna wants true love, Mirabel wants her family's acceptance, etc). And by the end of the story, they either achieve their goal, or they go on an arc where they gain something more meaningful instead, and realise what they _wanted_ wasn't what they _needed._ There's a good starting point at first with Asha initially wanting to be Magnifico's apprentice, but then not even 15 minutes in, that's immediately swept under the rug and has nothing to do with the rest of the story. They don't even have her making a wish of her own, despite the entire plot revolving around her conflict with a villain whose entire thing is hoarding people's wishes. As a result, Asha has literally no personal desires or ambitions, and spends the rest of the movie as a passive non-entity who just goes and does whatever Star prompts her to do. She's such a bland and poorly-defined lead that the only thing she has even remotely resembling a motivation is just for _other_ people to get what _they_ want.

As much as you might hate it, another example of a song-writer heavily involved in the story of the movie...Lin Manuel Miranda! He did a lot of work with Encanto, and pushing through the first song before Disney could refuse or change things is how he got them to agree to such a large family in the first place.

Honestly I cannot take Asha's "Something more than this" line. Girl, something more than what? You live in a flourishing kingdom that doesn't charge anyone rent (as memed on as that line is, that is extremely generous of Magnifico) and has the optional chance to get your wish granted (I seriously will never understand why she was so distressed and shocked so many wishes dont get granted. Girl 1 wish a month means 12 total, unless your kingdom has a population of like 60 why is it that surprising.)

This song really sounds like something i'd make up and sing to myself while walking or in the shower. Just, like, putting high notes wherever, no real throughlines, the occasional questionable rhyme scheme... I mean, if the character is making this up as she goes, then I guess it at least makes sense in context!

It being written by pop song-writers pretty much explains it all, doesn’t it? But tbh I’m sure there’s plenty of pop song writers who can come up with better song structures and lyrics than Wish’s song-writers.

Disney probably wanted the songs to be vague so that they can be played on the radio as a generic pop song, but let's be honest: the real reason is that they didn't have a script ready so the songwriters really have no idea what these songs are supposed to be about. They just have a vague idea of what the story is about, so they write music with that genericness in mind, without the characters singing anything specific to their situation or characterization, because they aren't given what these are. We know from the documentary on Frozen 2 that they were making a movie in search of a story, and even lifted an entire song from some other movie in production ("Into the Unknown", I think). It's safe to say that Disney's animation discipline has been shot to shit.

I think you're right about Disney keeping Wish bland to make it marketable. But I'd go a step further, and speculate they may have commissioned as non-specific a song as possible so they could still use it if they decided to completely overhaul the script again. Disney seems very scissor-happy in the editing room lately, and we can theorise Wish underwent at least one complete storyboard change by the concept art of 'Star Boy'.

To give credit to "For the First Time in Forever" I don't think it's entirely dependent on its context. Anna spends the song listing off everything she didn't get to do from balls, romance and mundane things like just having company to talk to. Furthermore, both Anna and Elsa bring up the gates being opened which is what is mainly happening for the first time in forever and what makes Anna break out into song. It's obvious enough to tell that Anna is singing about wanting to be able to enjoy her freedom that everything she's sung about makes it clear she's been denied

Everything I’ve seen about this movie makes me feel like it was written backwards. They wanted a 100-year celebration movie, so they called it ‘Wish’ to bring Disney full-circle, then were forced to create a villain who makes no sense. They wanted to have a popular song, so they wrote an I Want song because those do well, and ended up with a flavourless pop song instead of a classic Disney song. They wanted an art style that combined the new and the old, so made a weird hybrid 2D/3D thing that ends up lacking the hand-drawn charm and the modern developments and the art style just looks like a straight-to-DVD sequel.

I'll say the dissonance is also included in the animation. A lot of people confuse that with the film's rendering, but the actual acting of Asha in this song is incredibly derrivative when you comapre it to Tangled, Frozen, and Moana. The context is actually quite melancholic; Asha has just run from her home, upset and confused about Magnifico refusing her Saba and mother's wishes and her family are angry at her for questioning him about it. She's confronted with a massive lack of support in the face of seeing a problem she wants to solve. Her want is to confront Magnifico and allow all of Rosas to have their wishes granted. It's fierce and spiteful want, it isn't a longing or excitement the way Anna or Rapunzel's are, but despite that she's animated cheerfully smiling and running up to reach for the stars at the end in almost the exact same way they do. This is the issue all of Wish faces and it guts Asha's identity as a protagonist. She isn't allowed to manifest her wants in a unique, motivated way. It's fascinating to hear you discuss it from a song point of view and it really makes me wonder what a good "I want" song for Asha would have been

So I make this wish That Disney would start giving a hoot about the good songwriting and storytelling again

I'm absolutely loving all your analysis of the wish songs. It really helps put into words about what felt so off about the lyrics. If you want to systematically roast the entire soundtrack I'll be right here with the popcorn

When I think “I want” songs immideately in my head i hear Belles “I WANT ADVENTURE IN THE GREAT WIDE SOMEWHERE” and it almsot makes me tear up bc of how strongly I *feel* her *passion*. The entire song builds up to that chorus/belt by explaining her desire. Just from that song, we learn she lives in a small, quiet town and she loves to read abt this fufilling stories so her motive makes perfect satisfying sense. It’s almsot a bit relatable which just enhances its appeal to the heart of the audience. On the other hand, I find it really hard to relate to or even understand Ashas desire so there’s no heart-felt connection.

This song feels like someone built a puppy and every bone in the skeleton is upside down, and they trained it to do a little dance and make you go "aww" while it begs for death.

I'm so glad you brought up "You can't catch me now," for Hunger Games. I'm not a fan of Olivia Rodrigo (not that she's bad, I just don't listen to her music) but I am a huge fan of BOSBAS and even before watching the film, when I listened to "You can't catch me now," all I could think of was Lucy Grey and how her impact will effect Snow for the rest of his life, specifically with Katniss. But when I listened to "This Wish," in Theatres, I was also very confused on what this was supposed to be about. The lyrics don't have much of a central theme and it really shows. Great analysis again Astor! Would love to see you tackle "At All Costs," especially considering the original lyrics and context of the song.

Personally, the only song that I actually like in the movie is "At All Cost" And even then, the problem with it is that they took what is obviously a love song. And gave it to Magnifico and Asha. A villain/hero song could work. But since it was intentionally a love song from the start. It just sounds like they were singing it to each other and it felt so weird. Julia Micheals is definitely a talented songwriter for stand alone pop music and it's obvious that love songs are her strong suit. But even then, Disney screwed her over They got rid of the romance in the movie but they didn't want to get rid of the love song they wanted to play at weddings. That's the money hungry mindset Disney has that's causing them to fail

The lyrics, the singing, the rhythms, its all so pop it hurts

When I was in the theater watching this movie, I remember leaning over to my sister and saying "This song feels like it has too many syllables." I couldn't put it into words, but the song in general felt like the auditory version of tripping over yourself. I appreciated the way you laid things out in this video. It was like you were putting words to all the thoughts I couldn't articulate.

"Throw caution to every red flag." "There's no such thing as a caution flag, do you mean a caution sign?" "Then how about I change it to warning sign?" "Perfect. The song's due in 20 minutes."

This is a really weird sidenote but something I loved so much about The Bobs Burgers movie is how imperfect a lot of the characters singing voices are, they aren't smoothed over and they work because of how well they fit into the character's theme and personality. There is so much more charm to Sunny Side Up Summer than anything found in Wish.

i'm sure you're aware already, but i think part of the reason Lin Manuel Miranda does those rhymes in lines is because of the Sondheim influence in his work! Sondheim (at least in the works he did solo, less sure about his collaborative works) very much would rhymes in lines (see "while her whithers wither with her" from Into the Woods as the easiest example to pull from here). i do think Lin Manuel Miranda does overuse this a lot ("so I'm the oldest and the wittiest and the gossip in New York City is insidious..." is a great line from him, the Bruno rap from "All of You" in Encanto is not) but there's at least purpose behind it. it feels like Julia Michaels did these internal rhymes without going into why LMM does it or the influences behind LMM's work outside of him being "oh he's the Broadway guy that does rap". do i think Wish would've been better if she had explored more of the musical theatre canon that LMM, the Lopezes, and Alan Menken were influenced by? probably not, but i think it might've at least forced the songs to go through at least one more draft.

Honestly, the whole movie felt like a first draft. I don't claim to be an expert writer but there were so many moments where the dialogue or exposition felt clumsily written, like they scribbled down what they wanted the characters to say but weren't given any time to go back and make it sound natural, or rephrase it to fit the character's personality more effectively. It's really noticeable in some of the early scenes.

It feels like it wasn’t sung in its’ original language. This sounds like a decent dub at best.

This has been the most difficult movie to talk about with people. The people who like it because of how simple it is can't find any fault in it. I could hardly comprehend any of the words in these songs because it felt like there were 25 words per measure.

Can't believe the girl who expected her wishes to come true because of a star instead of working hard or appreciating the things she had *gets what she wants* Tiana made her wish come true yeah but she got what she needed: *love* I love Tiana's song and I want her to succeed but I want her to notice what she needs( same can be said with other animated characters they want something but they need something else that is better for their lives and health ) . Unlike other I want songs this feels... weird not only because of the reasons you mentioned but because Asha is so boring and with no personality. That's the reason this song didn't resonate inside me, maybe with others did but for me no Anyways good video as always

What I caught is how they ignore the doubles. Like when Asha sings about running and doesn't start running. Or when she sings about something coming down but _thats_ the high note. This adds to the whole disconnect between song and movie even further. "More than this" is then the extreme case of it. Because they don't show how "this" is bad. Someone sweeping their courtyard isn't negative. And you cant have a whole song about how great the city of Rosas is and how happy people are to live there.... And then don't elaborate on what the "this" in "more than this" is.

Nice video, thanks for making. And at 10:40 I think we get a glimpse of why Julia's lyrics are so sketchy. She says there that the protagonist wants to 'fight for things that she found immoral'... Yeah, you don't fight FOR things you find immoral, you fight against them, and FOR things you want to see in the world. It's a nitpick, and likely just a slip of the tongue, but it suggests her command of language isn't everything it could be.

That bit where Julia talks about what Disney gave her to go off with to make this song really answered something I've been wondering for a while now, cause ever since listening to Wish's sountrack, I've been listening to lot of the Disney Channel Original Movies' soundtrack, because while they may not be everyone's cup of tea, they do have their own charm, and I'm wondering what they made them work (not saying the Disney Channel formula would've worked for Wish. I highly doubt it honestly). Now I realize, for the most part, you can tell that either the songs were made specifically with the movies in mind, or they wrote stories out of the songs. Either way, they had synergy. One was made for the other. This Wish meanwhile was made with a vague prompt that Disney decided to insert in the final product that really doesn't fit what the song is going for.

The way Lin is managing to get used as a good example in this video tells a clear thing, You cant jsut use a song writer because they've worked on other things that have become popular, they have to understand and their music has to fit your vision of what your making. He worked for Encanto, he saw the vision and connected in a way to make songs that worked The same didn't happen when he worked on Little Mermaid. and obviously the music writers of Wish had no connection because they had quite literally never written a musical before and so had no idea what they were actually doing, they just wrote pop songs with the vague concepts given to them.

It's so weird how accurate it is to say that this is a pop song, because this definitely does not feel like it fits in with the Broadway repertoire. It's almost as weird as my compulsion to subscribe to you now after having watched a couple of your analysis videos

I can’t wait to see you do At All Costs. Which is my personal favorite of the soundtrack and I cannot take it seriously in context. Because it wasn’t written for the specific context.

A huge issue with Disney is they haven’t quite realized how much streaming has changed the game. People aren’t going to spend money to see “safe” movies in theaters because they know it’ll just end up on streaming in a couple months. Innovative movies where you can’t completely predict what’s going to happen is what will get people to come to the theater to watch the movie.

THANK YOU - I was looking for an explanation/analysis for why this song felt so awkward. I'm a (casual) musician and it was so difficult for me to detect a pulse until the chorus, where the use of duplets throws the pulse off for me. It took me looking at a transcribed score for me to figure out its time signature, and even so it kind of felt like stretch. While it might be a skill issue, the rhythms are super awkward and make zero sense to me. I would be really interested in seeing a behind-the-scenes look into the production of this soundtrack, because it would be great to develop my breadth as a musician and fully understand the motivations behind these musical choices. I am however actually going to watch the movie tomorrow so maybe something will be revealed there 👋😭

Anything that gives Tangled the series more praise makes me happy

I have to say that I LOVE Waiting on a Miracle... It might even be one of the most relatable I Want songs I've ever heard, Stephanie Beatriz's tone makes it feel like Maribel starts as lamenting and ends up demanding, making a stand, I feel like she understands things better as the song progresses. And ending in a sad point is so special in a story where the conflict is toxicity within family. Regarding I Can Go the Distance, rather than becoming a hero (which he didn't know he had to do until after he spoke with Zeus) I think it's ultimately about fitting in, and the will to do whatever it takes to find his place. I guess it's interesting that these two, as well as My Reflection, are basically my favorite examples of I Want songs. I like it when there is a deeper problem latent behind the words, like an underlying theme that speaks to the characters individually.

As a spectator that has very little knowledge in creating music, I feel like This Wish and This is the Thanks I Get were placed in the movie to be similar to We Dont Talk About Bruno in most every way. The thing that made that specific song a good radio hit along with being a good song for the movie was that it was unable to be placed sooner or later in the story. It is a neat form of exposition that transitions the audience from Mirabels dad finding out about the shards to right when dinner starts with the family and Isabela's boyfriend while also staying interesting throughout by giving prominent family members and a few towns floks opinions on a character that was actively being avoided by the story and changing the tone of the music with every major opinion being shared.And then once the setting changes for the next scene mid song, they continue with the final verse while setting up the table and having the prominent family members sing their verses again but together in a singing technique that i heard was called a "Madrigal". It stays intresting not only while listening to it but while researching why its so good and catchy. Wish was made to emulate it without the reasoning for the songs to be in the script.

It sounds like if someone genuinely started singing in the woods with no prep

Here for any and all analysis of Tangled the Series' music. It's so slept on and it's so very good.

Usually an I Want song is supposed to specify what the character actually wants, and "more than this" does not say anything. And the lyrics are so clunky it's impossible to understand wtf she's saying ⅓ of the time

It's so wild that they're chasing another chart-topper by making a vague and "universal" pop song, when "We Don't Talk About Bruno" is one of the most specific and musical theatre-y songs the Disney canon has had in a decade.

I also really liked the line "If I could just be pointed in any given direction on where to go and what to do". Nice and ranty. It seems they knew she didn't have a clear goal and just ran with it which is what made her such a weak protagonist

Tangled animated series had no business being that good and yet it IS. Seconding the waiting in the wings 🔥

It’s so crazy to me that they kept the music vague so it could be played on the radio when We Don’t Talk About Bruno is so plot-specific but was a huge hit

“So I make this wish” Girl, what wish? I don’t know what you’re wishing for?? You haven’t said???

When pointing out the odd time signatures, I think it's important to note that How Far I'll Go had a 4/4 time signature change because it wanted to show how regimental and boring Moana felt taking on the role as chief would be. It's made even clearer by the fact that when she returns to the original time signature, she sounds so excited and happy (because ocean woo) whereas in Wish it just sounds... Messy?

Disney peaked with their I want songs with Bufords song from Phineas and Ferb. It goes like: *IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII* *WAAAAAANT* nothin'

honestly I'm really worried for the future of animated musicals.. if Disney can't even get it right anymore, idk...

I like that point about For the First Time in Forever being entirely context-dependent. It just reminded me how good Frozen 1's music was. To this day 'Do you wanna build a snowman' becoming a popular hit still baffles me because that song is not structured like a pop song at ALL but the Lopezes are just such talented songwriters that it worked.

I never knew people hated Lin Manuel Miranda songs 😭

11:17 The way her hair keeps magically coming back on her shoulder, it's killing me. 😂😂🤣

OH GOD THANK YOU I swear I thought I was losing my mind. So many people cited this as the "good song" from Wish but it's just so incredibly awkward and sounds overly wordy at times. I didn't have the full knowledge to explain it all, so I'm glad someone like you can break it down like this! I also think the demo version of the track sounds a bit better, I think the type of vocal artist they used for the demo suited it more and made it seem a touch less awkward (albeit the issues are still present, just less notable to me)

in defense of lin-manuel, when he rhymes things together, he actually takes note of how the song progresses in melody, what to put emphasis on, how many syllables there are per beat, and it flows well because of it. wish doesn't really do that, and constantly breaks any patterns it tries to set up with melody, rhyme scheme, emphasis. so much so that i just end up lost, and wondering what they were even going for in the first place.

Honestly what drives me insane about the omnipresent guitar is that in Encanto it at least feels natural because the community is in Columbia and the guitar seems to follow what the characters are singing as if it was part of their vocal chords like Moana, but in Wish it feels like the guitar was crammed down Asha’s throat with the grace of stampeding elephants and I *hate it.* It’s so forced and corporate like the rest of the movie that I’m kind of surprised that the villain wasn’t some twisted Bob Iger analogue ala Shrek.

Even AI couldn't make something this bad, it had to be Disney

What did I miss, that people tend to hate Lin so much? He's really good with rhythm and lyrics. He's perfect for musical stuff, no? And the songs he made for Moana and encanto are not just catchy, but suit characters and story really well

It's interesting - and perhaps a little scary - to me that this film is so lacking in self-awareness. It's a film with a villain whose entire schtick is making the populace bland and generic, and then it's written in a way that seems to believe "mass appeal" comes from expressing feelings but never events, contexts, or memories. That is, it assumes the masses it's attempting to appeal to are the kind of society you'd get when the villain was winning.

holy SHIT when you popped back to "how far I'll go" for the time signature change I GASPED 😂 you're so good at articulating certain issues with songs that untrained ears or those of us with little musical knowledge could *hear*, but not explain. Your videos are so satisfying because you voice a frustration that I have with a lot of these modern disney songs but could never really properly explain. So many of us grew up adoring disney musicals that still absolutely hold up because of how well written and composed they are-- and the huge dip in quality over the years sometimes feels maddening. I've been binging your videos for the past couple days and I'm super looking forward to listening to whatever you'd dissect next!

Spot-on analysis as usual, Wish is so utterly tragic as a 100th year anniversary film for Disney it's heartbreaking. Another thing I noticed about the transition into the "Grand chorus" like Moana was the running animation at 9:36 is also almost a 1 to 1 copy of a similar scene in How Far I'll Go when Moana starts running lol. This level of copying was understandable for Robin Hood when the company was in dire financial straits but they have NO excuse today. Not that you're lacking in Disney content to analyse lately but have you considered checking out the 'competition' that is starting to crop up in fanworks online? Things like Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss with their big theatrical 'Broadway' musical numbers etc? I'd also recommend Gildedguy's work but most of his animations are only set to existing songs rather than original works so might not be as worthy of analysis from a songwriting perspective.

I’m so happy you mentioned “Waiting in the Wings.” Tangled: The Series has some great songs! 😃

Going back to Disney's old roots, Alan Menken would've been the natural choice. Plus he's the king of reprises.

Bob Iger intentionally sabatoged Wish for no reason and he said that this honors Walt…………….Screw Bob for saying that garbage. This would have made Walt furious. Walt would want Disney to go forward. Not backwards.

YES! DIG INTO THIS ONE LETS GOOOOOOO

FINALLY someone talking about metre in music!!! all the discussion about the music in this movie seems to be coming from people who don't know why the good songs are good -- they just say it sounds 'AI generated'. But what they mean is, it doesn't sound natural because the lyrics are poorly composed. The poetry just isn't there. Thanks for making this video!

After the disaster of Wish, I WISH people will now stop complaining about Encanto. Because at least the damn movie had good songs for everyone. We Don't Talk About Bruno now makes more sense as to why it was everywhere back then... BECAUSE IT WAS A GOOD SONG (Every song that is good WILL be overly-played and it just makes sense that people will end up disliking it soon after) Encanto was more of a musical at one point, and I do understand the disappointment of basically "no villain" in it, but at least they made a great job at their songs and... generational trauma 💀

The amazing reverse I Want song from The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals, "What Do You Want Paul?", perfectly explains why a protagonist needs a clear goal/want, which is what the I Want song is for: "So what do you want Paul? What's that one, concrete goal that motivates all your actions?" "I don't think I have one of those!" "Well then, how is anyone supposed to SYMPATHISE with you Paul?"

My theory "This Wish" doesn't sound as good and why the artist wasn't involved is because the plot kept changing so many times throughout development that they couldn't really even decide on what leads up to that 'I want' song so they just commissioned a vague one so if they changed the plot for the millionth time, they wouldn't need to commission a rewrite. I think that goes for ALL the songs in Wish, because At All Costs is clearly a cut love song from when the star was a whimsical boy Asha had a romance with, but they kept it because they realized they needed to find a way to use all the generic songs they commissioned so they made this weird as hell context where Magnifico and Asha are romantically singing about the wishes??? I dunno, this movie screams corporate meddling at every turn.

Great videos, if you continue these analysis of wish you should analyze “At all cost” and how it actually succeeds at being a love song…. Which in turn means it fails entirely because it’s a duet between the hero and the villain (who is both older and married) towards some floating orbs It’s kinda a weird reverse “let it go” situation, where it started as a villain song but how it ended up made them change the film entirely but here it’s the opposite situation

I've been on a weird binge of critical takedowns of Wish and this is hands down one of the best song breakdowns I've seen yet. Well researched, well scripted and well edited! Will be watching more from this channel.

Can I marry your brain? Your analysis is always so detailed yet clear and understandable. I just love the way you hand communicate and the addition of your emotional tone communicates your feelings on the song and what you are talking about.

This whole situation reminds me of Show Yourself from Frozen 2 - it was a beautiful song and felt empowering to listen to, but it never decided what it was actually about. Even in behind the scenes videos, every person responsible for the song seemed to have a different interpretation of what the song was about and what the fifth spirit was intended to be. Frozen got away with it because it had beautiful musical direction and you know, is Frozen, but Wish didn't have much going for it even before it came out. The lyrics are vague and rhythmically awkward and the melody sounds like the first draft you write while listening to a backing track, not the final version.

I just want to say that the architecture of the tower the main character is singing on at 8:03 makes as much sense as the structure of this song. I had to pause the video and do a double and triple take of this tower. Why is there a random archway that comes down in the middle of the stairs? Why is there a narrow room in the tower that facilitates such a weirdly placed window? Where do those stairs on the left go to? Why is the roof positioned so that rainwater and debris will immediately fall onto the balcony and the people walking on it instead of extending over the railing? At another angle the tower seems to be rather book shaped, so what is its possible purpose? Why does it look like the railing on the right doesn’t go along the stairs coming up? This architecture is as half baked as this movie.

My first time hearing this song was Ariana DeBose singing this for Disney's Christmas Day Parade (which is hardly a parade, but I digress). She was surely giving it her all, but I couldn't help to think to myself "this song sounds really awkward" and it felt half finished. Thank you for breaking down and putting into words just why this song fell so flat!

Wow every time you cut to a different song I have whiplash from how much better they are

I almost wonder if they intentionally set up Wish to fail, as a way to say "see look the more traditional disney movies dont sell well". But thats just a theory, a film theory!

The Moana comparisons make me feel validated when I hear This is the Thanks I Get as a cheap knockoff of You're Welcome.

The Monkey's Paw joke at 6:14 actually had me laughing xD

The parallels between how far I'll go had be chuckling so hard I've never been into music but I've really been enjoying the breakdowns on this channel

I feel that the ultimate issue with the song is that the protagonist’s (I forgot her name) is vague and abstract that the song feels almost pointless. Moana wanted to explore the seas, Quasimodo wanted to go outside, Hercules wanted to become a hero and the protagonist of Wish wants… her grandfather’s vague wish to be granted. Every other character’s desire is clear and tangible while being something the audience can understand and relate to. But the desire of a unclear and murky wish, is entirely unrelatable because it isn’t rooted in any desire that can realistically be achieved.

The lyrics of the songs in this movie are so bad. Come back Howard Ashman! We need you!

You made a really good point in regards to the song not being specific enough to the story. I've actually had it on repeat for a few weeks now, not because I'm super into it (although I do quite like how it sounds), but because it reminds me of my OCs. It reminds me a lot of the story I've crafted for them and what they're going through, so I often listen and imagine they're singing it because it's so easy for me to insert their story into it. Thing is, I've never really been able to do that with the other Disney 'I Want' songs (the closest I've come is Waiting On a Miracle but even then that's just bits and pieces) because it's so hard to divorce them from their original context. So while I do enjoy listening to the song and thinking about my characters, you are right that it sounds more like a pop song about a generic situation than a musical song about something specific

Disney has stained Julia's reputation! She was tasked to write this song when the plot wasn't even developed so she had not much context to go on. The demo she wrote literally drove Disney in making decisions for the plot. She is a great songwriter and the best there is but she was set up to fail.

I never thought I'd see the day... this is the first Disney movie that I am afraid of even seeing in English. Every translation I understand and have heard of Wish's songs just elevates this movie. I remember listening to This Wish for the first time, super happy because I love Ariana DeBose in West Side Story, and it was so... underwhelming. Not only was she rushing and having difficulty setting the rhythm from the 1st line, but in her live performance at Disney World I was even flabbergasted at how weird she sounded! She probably felt the necessity or was told to sing like that, but on the "started running" line all I could think was "girl, the guitar is there, you don't need to sing its part too 😆". I also felt that she was adding unnecessary emphasis the whole time, but I hadn't seen the movie. I guess now I understand she tried to add emphasis because there was none. How do you drive home a point you can't actually make through the lyrics? So far, I love Italy and Spain's translations best. In Italian, Asha says that a "wish lit up inside [her]". It's not the most creative, but I think is a lot more poetic, that she didn't know she had a wish to make in the past and the happenings around her led her to that. I feel that's kinda how wishes work and it sounds really beautiful In Castilian, Asha wants to "give our wishes their power" and I feel this is the most amazing translation and, in part, helps write out some of this movie's flaws. Magnifico is keeping their wishes captive in a way, but if you wish to help those around you, shouldn't you be allowed to? If you wish to invent something new that helps people, shouldn't you be able to? Sure, a better lesson would be to wish, but also to work to towards achieving your wish, but I can't say that past movies have gone that deep on their lessons either 😅 I feel this translation especially ties it all very beautifully during the reprise. The whole town wants to feel their wishes have power, that they're not just whims to ask stars or rulers.

I love how well you try to both deliver constructive criticism as well as explain parts of songwriting to someone like me wouldn't fully understand such things normally. I also love the 'I will find my way' acknowledgement since I see a lot of people commonly gloss over it. I would be interested to hear your take on the show Centaurworld 🤔

Also, We Don't Talk About Bruno went number 1, and they literally just sing exposition at you in that song.

This video has filled the Sideways-sized hole in my heart❤❤❤, thank you for another great analysis!

Even I want songs that are a little more vague still have enough information to tell you what the character really wants. People make fun of Belle’s “I want adventure in the great wide somewhere” but the line that follows is way more telling, “and for once it might be grand to have someone understand”. She wants to meet someone she relates to, who doesn’t see her as odd because they understand her. And the lyrics before that are her venting about how much she hates Gaston. Even out of context it still makes sense

I still contend that Poor Unfortunate Souls is one of the greatest Disney songs ever written. It compartmentalizes and beautifully showcases the ENTIRE “devils bargain” sequence of little mermaid. The fact that Alan menkin and Howard ashman are such bosses that they can introduce an entire villain, have her explain her plot, make us believe both characters motivations for entering into the contract are justified while giving us a banger of a tune is just peak classic Disney storytelling. Then there’s wish. The songwriter didn’t even know what the story was other than the character was an activist. Disney is a frail shadow of what it once was.

The more I look back at Wish and the more I learn about it's music, production, etc. the more you can *really* tell the writing (both of the story, characters, and songs) where made for like two or three different movies that then just sort of haphazardly was thrown together into one. Every song seem to have multiple themes and I can't tell if the song writers wasn't told what the movie was about, given a rough outline of the themes which then kept changing and they had to keep adapting the already written song to the new theme, or just had no idea what to do with the songs in general. A lot of this doesn't fall into a case of the writers being more used to pop songs, because most pop songs also have a consistent theme and at least cohesive lyrics and beats. The more I look in behind the scenes, the more... off it all feels.

The way you structure your video is just *chef’s kiss* i love music analysis videos that explain how songs work narratively (or don’t). Your work reminds me a lot of Sideway’s old videos. Keep it up!

To me. Most songs need a kind of “if I hear a few words i should be able to guess the next one.” Through logic and reasoning you follow in your head with the Rhythm, I wish is bad due to that. For example, “I throw caution to the…” wind, right? Doesn’t it fit, not the larger song but logically? How bout caution sign, doesn’t feel right. If you can guess the next word as you sing along, it helps you remember and follow along much easier. It helps it be an ear worm because you in your head “helped” complete the song in your head. All of Wish’s song miss in that piece that I feel no one notices, but definitely feel.

i hope people never stop bashing this movie. maybe it'll finally force disney to stop the direction they've been going in and actually put heart in their movies again

I remember almost straining my ears while watching the movie because one side of my brain was like "Oooo pretty melody" and the other side was like "What is this girl TALKING about?!"