Directed by Academy Award winner Domee Shi and produced by Lindsey Collins, Turning Red is the newest entry into Disney's Pixar universe. After Shi's outstanding work on the Pixar short Bao, Pixar has now entrusted her with the direction of the March release.
Centered around a girl who discovers things about herself once hitting puberty - but those things happen to be her turning into a giant red panda whenever she gets upset - which, for the character, is said to be very easy to do. Included in the newest trailer for the movie is Pixar's first boy band - 4*Town - which includes the vocal talents of Jordan Fisher, Grayson Villanueva, Josh Levi, Topher Ngo, and Finneas O'Connell.
A team was assembled, including Billie Eilish and FINNEAS, both Grammy-award-winning musical artists, to write the music for three 4*Town songs. Director Shi explained why it was essential to include a boy band in this coming-of-age story and also expressed her love for the composer.
"We needed our character Mei to be obsessed with something that her mom would not approve of. 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.
I've been a fan of [Grammy-, Oscar- and Emmy-winning Swedish composer Ludwig Göransson] for a while. We were drawn to his versatility — he's a composer, but he also produces pop music. We knew he would help us create a very unique sound."
Meanwhile, producer Lindsey Collins added the following regarding teaming up with musical artists Billie Eilish and FINNEAS to write the songs for 4*Town in the movie.
"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. 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!"
Are you guys excited for Turning Red? What do you think of Pixar's first boy band? Regardless of your take, be sure to check out the trailer and synopsis for the film and leave your thoughts in the comments!
Disney and Pixar’s “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!
Disney and Pixar's Turning Red releases on March 11, 2022.