Disney Music- Monica Cook

Disney’s Music Culture Influence

The Disney Corporation plays a major role in the lives of all Americans and is a worldwide empire. It has theme parks around the world and make movies like The Little Mermaid that teach us some important life lessons. It’s easy to imagine that such a monumental company would have other outlets of reaching their audiences around the world. There is no better way to connect people and draw them into Walt Disney’s magical world, than through music.

Over the decades there have been memorable soundtracks for movies like Tarzan, The Lion King, The Jungle Book, and Mulan. Many A-list stars like Phil Collins and Christina Aguilera have sung for the movies and the songs have maintained their popularity over the years. The demand grew for Disney Company to keep putting out popular hits for the tween generation of kids 8-12 years. In 1996 Disney launched Radio Disney from Burbank California, which was designed to cater to the younger crowd and provide music that was similar to what kids were hearing in the movies and on the shows Disney was already producing (Stogel 29) .

This paper will examine the Disney Company’s role in developing and shaping the identity of American tweens through the music industry. It will examine the effects that Disney actors have had as music artists in the industry. Also the effects that larger musical franchises like The Jonas Brothers, Hannah Montana, and High School Musical have had on its audience and the cultural identity that has been created surrounding Disney Channel Music on the television shows and in the movies.

Disney Stars as Artists

In the early 2000’s when shows like “Lizzie McGuire” and “That’s So Raven” were popular on the Disney Channel execs gave stars Hilary Duff and Raven Symoné a chance to try their musical talents. Both actresses were successful and this was the first time kids of our generation had seen multitalented stars that were able to act and sing and dance. This was the beginning of a surge of crossover artists. Actresses like Lindsey Lohan, and Mandy Moore were also some of the dual professionals that acted and sang in Disney Movies and shows. These multitalented young adults received a lot of fame early in life, most before the age of twenty. In the early 2000s the idea of an actor transitioning into the role of a singer was very new and Disney led in making it happen (Wikimedia). These transitions later led to other Hollywood singers and actors trying to play dual roles Beyoncé and Justin Timberlake are some of the singers that dabbled in acting and enjoyed it just as much as music. The switch is just as common both ways. According to Ronald Grover, “Disney has followed its patented tween-machine game plan: Use one franchise to promote the next (50)” They use the success of one star to promote the next and same applies when they want to release a new artist or band.

The crossover revolution of the 2000s set the stage for Hannah Montana, a show about a girl who lives a double life as a normal teenager that is an undercover superstar. This television show debuted in 2006 and is the perfect example of actress that was equally as talented as an artist. The show led to actress Miley Cyrus releasing three Hannah Montana albums, and three other albums as herself. The Hannah Montana franchise rose to an unimaginable height of popularity. Young girls wanted to look like Hannah and become Hannah. On her first world tour some parents were willing to go to any measure to ensure that their child could see the Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus Concert. Some fathers participated in high-heel relay races to get tickets to concerts. The Hannah Montana Franchise earned over a billion dollars in revenue before Miley Cyrus was sixteen. She has now branched out to a solo music career as herself and acting in other big screen projects. Her music consists mostly of girly anthems about hanging with friends, the struggle of being a teen, and the perils of a first heartbreak.

After Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus became household names, Disney used their strategy of channeling her success to promote their next project, the Jonas Brothers. Their first song was featured on Disney in Meet the Robinsons in 2007 (Wikipedia). They gained popularity and sky-rocketed to fame after opening for Miley on tour. After releasing their second album which was their first under Disney they also became extremely popular with tweens, and in 2009 landed a Disney Channel show of their own and a spot in Camp Rock, another Disney Channel movie. The formula seems to work very well for Disney’s artists. Most of the actors featured in shows and movies on Disney have had the opportunity to create music.

High School Musical was a Disney Channel Original Movie that featured six talented young adult actors and actresses as high school students divided over who deserved to participate in the spring musical. This Disney Channel movie had 17 million viewers the most viewers to ever watch a Disney Channel Original Movie. And the success of the second and third installment in the franchise did even better. The singing, dancing, and acting together create a successful blueprint for a series that teens all over the world can relate to, and they do: High School Musical has been launched on every continent excluding Antarctica and has gained fans in places all over the world.

Disney Music and Identity

What makes the makes the music that Disney Co. puts out so successful among their target audience of preteens and younger teenagers? The strategies that make their characters relatable and associable teenagers similar to the viewer. The music that Disney puts out in their shows with their stars always has a message. In High School Musical, “We’re all in this Together” was the final song and although all the different groups struggled to see eye to eye they realized “when we stand hand and hand, make our dreams come true.” There is a moral and lesson to be learned in what Disney is putting out in their music. They aren’t empty lyrics with little backbone. Miley Cyrus sings in “The Climb” for the Hannah Montana Movie, “It’s not about how fast I get there, it’s not about what’s waiting on the other side; it’s the climb. ” Although the song is a ballad for a superficial character its full of meaning that can be applied in everyday life for anyone who has seen the movie or heard the song. There is an uplifting message in the lyrics that the music company of Disney does a good job of creating.

The majority of the music that the Disney Channel releases is also played exclusively on Radio Disney. The genre is mostly bubblegum pop and classic pop but not limited to that genre. When I hear any song that is played on the Disney Channel from artists like The Jonas Brothers, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, or even Miley Cyrus the sound is all very similar even thought the artists have different styles. Bubblegum pop was created in the 1970s and was targeted at preteens some bands included The Partridge Family and The Monkeys . The sound is melodic and sometimes simple but it was often the record producers that created it, not original to the artist singing it (Phares n.pag). Although it may appear like a superficial genre bubblegum pop and label produced songs are often the most successful for young artists to perform that aren’t seasoned and are unfamiliar with exactly what their audience needs.

Some specific aspects of the music Disney Channel Stars have come out with feature classic band set up with guitar, drums some piano and catchy baselines. According to Dr. Chad Twedt, at the University of Texas Arlington” the arrangements utilized some aspects of Michael Jacksons music (86).” The most popular example of the sound would be “Party in the USA” by Miley Cyrus. The sound encompasses today’s idea of pop music that has a message: “I put my hands up, they’re playing my song and I know I’m gonna be okay. Yea, it’s a party in the USA.” The music gives off a party style atmosphere and you feel as if you can do the same if you are feeling under a lot of pressure. The appeal that Disney’s pop music has on the audience of youth has begun to create a lifestyle that young teens what to live by.

This particular style of music and genre are part of a market and lifestyle that the listeners feel that they can relate to. They have helped to form the identity of the young American teenager, a pop-utopia per say, an environment where there is mostly positivity and very little negativity emitted by the music that Disney releases and plays on their station. Young listeners want to live the lifestyle that is for the most part stress free as depicted in the music and where all their problems will be solve with just a little brain power. This is what the listeners want to become because that is the media message that they are bombarded with. The positive politics that Disney teaches young teens through their music is motivational however it is also not realistic in the real world, and that is where they fail to identify with their audience. When the young adults mature and the performers become too old to relate with their audience that is where Disney pop music is no longer fitting to the identity that the executives want to create. Disney can only encompass part of a generation and while the influence is positive it cannot be a child’s guiding compass for their entire life.

Works Cited

Radio Disney. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 1 Mar. 2010. Web. 10 Mar. 2010 .

Grover, Ronald. "A Star Is Born Disney Style." Business Week 21 Apr. 2008: 50-51. Web. 11 March .2010 https://auth.lib.unc.edu/ezproxy_auth.php?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=31629713&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Phares, Heather Allmusic: Bubblegum Pop. All Media Guide, 2004. Web. 12 Mar. 2010 .

Stogel, Chuck. "Whiteside Spins Synergistic Tune in New DisneyRecords Post." Brandweek 4 Oct. 2004: 29. Web. 10 Mar. 2010. .

Twedt, Chad. "High School Musical Book Review." American Music Teacher 56.4 (2007): 50-51. Web. 12 March. 2010 https://auth.lib.unc.edu/ezproxy_auth.php?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=31629713&site=ehost-live&scope=site.