‘This Wish’: A New Kind Of Classic Disney Song

In October 2023, Walt Disney celebrated its centenary, marking 100 years of movies that changed the face of cinema and won the hearts of generations of filmlovers. Just a month later, the studio’s latest animated blockbuster, Wish, was released, a feature that saluted Disney’s rich heritage of landmark animations while embracing cutting-edge technology. But for Wish to be a true Disney classic, it had to have magical songs.

Disney’s Chief Creative Office Jennifer Lee (writer and co-director of Frozen and Frozen II and co-writer of Wish) called upon singer-songwriter Julia Michaels to write her first Disney songs. Though Michaels was an established pop star, best known for the huge 2017 hit “Issues,” she also had some serious pedigree as a songwriter for others, having written for Olivia Rodrigo, Selena Gomez, Gwen Stefani, and Justin Bieber. She also had a strong connection with Disney – one of her first gigs was as a 19-year-old singing backing vocals for the phenomenally successful Frozen song, “Let It Go.”

Buy Wish (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) on vinyl.

In November 2023, Michaels spoke to Forbes about taking on the job, “I grew up a Disney kid, so I think Disney is sort of ingrained in everything that I do… I often think about the legacy of Disney and what Disney songs and movies are. And they are all about believing that you can do something and trying and daring to try and wishing on things.”

Michaels and her frequent collaborator Benjamin Rice (best known as the producer of the soundtrack of 2018’s Lady Gaga-starring hit musical, A Star Is Born) began working on the songs immediately after being given a short brief by Tom MacDougall, president of Walt Disney Music. They hit gold the first time out with “This Wish,” with a little help from Canadian singer-songwriter JP Saxe.

Michaels later explained to the official Disney website, “This was actually the first song written for this film – and it was based off of a very short paragraph! It was a synopsis of the film, which essentially said it’s about a young woman who lives in a kingdom with an all-powerful king. He keeps all the wishes, and she finds out that he’s not as charming and kind as everybody thinks, which sparks her very courageous, very brave, selfless journey to get these wishes back for the people in her town.”

For Jennifer Lee, it was vitally important that the songs reflected the strength of Asha, the heroine of Wish. As she told Screen Rant, “Asha connects with every person. It doesn’t just have to be women. Everybody hits that point in life where you’re becoming adults and you’re confronted with a world that is not as idyllic as you thought. Parts of the world could be harming people, and are you going to stand up and how do you do it? How do you face the failures in that and the consequences?”

“This Wish” speaks to the determination and principles of Asha, arriving at the point in the story where the heroine is shaking off her fears to do the right thing (“My legs are shaking, but my head’s held high”). It begins in reflective, acoustic fashion, building up to an anthemic power ballad as Asha finds the courage for her convictions, voiced superbly by the actress Ariana DeBose. Lee cried when she heard “This Wish” – her vision for Asha had been perfectly realized. Here was a character to look up to, and a song that provided her with a stirring theme song.

Wish became an immediate favorite with Disney lovers and “This Wish” was a critical success, with a nomination at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards for Best Original Song – Animated Film. At the first time of asking, Michaels and her team had written a song that stood up alongside a centenary of Disney classics while speaking to today’s concerns. Wishes really do come true.

Listen to the Wish soundtrack on Spotify or Apple Music.