Tim: YES I KNOW BUT BEAR WITH ME so some got excited for The Mandalorian, others for Falcon & Winter Soldier, but me, nope. Well, maybe a bit. But the main thing at the Disney+ launch for me? Easy. High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. Obviously.
Tom: Obviously. I don’t have any of the background required to understand what’s going on in it, but I’m glad you’re enjoying it.
Tim: Happily, the series has ended up so far being really, really good – incredibly funny, touching storylines and, to top it all off, great music. For example:
Tim: So, ignore the context, and try and tell me that wouldn’t sound amazing coming out of Demi Lovato, Little Mix, or any other strong female artist. And you can’t, can you? Because it’s brilliant.
Tom: It’s very much the Disney Channel style of pop, aimed both at teenagers and their parents. In that context, yes, it’s pretty good.
Tim: The lyrics are strong, inspirational, right down in ‘get out there and do it’ territory.
Tom: I guess? Although “like my phone’s navigation was turned off” is a genuinely appalling lyric, because it sounds clunky at first listen and then makes no sense when you stop to think about it. But I understand what they’re going for. And rhyming ‘throne’ with ‘kingdom’ is questionable at best. And that chanted middle eight is awful. And “castles in the sky” is a term for unrealistic dreams that will never be achieved, so that doesn’t really work either.
Actually, no, I’ve talked myself out of it now, the lyrics are awful.
Tim: Oh, they’re fine. The music is big, powerful ‘listen to what I’m saying’ stuff; the production is flawless; basically, this song is, as a piece of pop music, absolutely top notch. I love it.