The Princess Diaries Soundtrack Captured Teen Pop’s Golden Age
SGranitz/WireImage
By Yasmine Shemesh
A pair years within the past, after a cushy movie night at dwelling, the venerable teen pop singer Myra’s daughter grabbed her mother’s palms. They had factual executed staring at The Princess Diaries, which ends with Myra’s glittering 2001 single, “Miracles Happen (When You Take into consideration),” playing in a ballroom as protagonist Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi spins around in joy after formally accepting her position as princess of Genovia.
“Mom,” Myra’s daughter acknowledged, the singer recalled to MTV Files. “Are you in actual fact going to circulation on the the rest of your life no longer doing what you love?” The track’s issues of hope and perseverance had moved her to disclose Myra, who had stepped faraway from performing years earlier to raise her child and dash to varsity, to pursue her singing profession but every other time.
That’s the energy of the film and, extra particularly, its unforgettable soundtrack. Tailored from Meg Cabot’s contemporary of the identical title, The Princess Diaries follows 15-yr outmoded Mia (portrayed to perfection by Anne Hathaway in her first film) as she discovers from her estranged grandmother, the regal Queen Clarisse Renaldi (Julie Andrews), that she’s the sole inheritor to the throne of a shrimp, fictional European country. Additionally starring Mandy Moore, who performs mean-woman Lana, the film surveys individuality, self-fancy, accountability, and the importance of believing for your self the least bit prices.
Released on August 3, 2001, it used to be surely one of potentially the most liked films of the yr, launching Hathaway’s profession and invigorating Andrews’s after semi-retirement. It used to be furthermore Andrews’s first Disney showing since Mary Poppins in 1964. With the involvement of musical royalty be pleased Andrews and producer Whitney Houston — and furthermore Moore, then a serious pop well-known particular person — sonic fairy dirt used to be sprinkled on the venture from the start. But The Princess Diaries’s significant soundtrack stood out as something special, a time capsule that includes Backstreet Boys, Aaron Carter, Hanson, No one’s Angel, and B*Witched that tapped into a particular cultural second when teen pop dominated. The compilation grew to change into a trusty summer staple in heavy Discman rotation and reached No. 5 on Billboard’s U.S. High Soundtracks chart.
“I enjoy a gold document in my visitor room,” producer Debra Martin Creep says, smiling via the phone.
The impact is felt straight with “Supergirl!,” a frigid, piano-pushed banger by Krystal Peterson (née Harris) that opens the film with soulful vigor. “I’m supergirl and I’m right here to construct the realm,” Peterson sings. “But I wanna know, who’s gonna build me?” It’s an indelible introduction to down-to-earth, lawful-hearted, environmentally aware Mia, who is so painfully nervous when the viewers first meets her that she throws up on the prospect of public talking.
“I factual remember thinking, Neatly, that’s excellent,” Peterson tells MTV Files. “You start to witness her vitality enchanting off the bat in that movie, and I in actual fact just like the thoughtfulness. That is a gargantuan illustration of the track, and it factual works so well with the movie.”
Placement credit rating goes to music supervisor Daybreak Solér, who has it written in her tv contract that she will get to be music supervisor for any future Princess Diaries installments (“There’s rumor of a Princess Diaries 3,” she teases). “At that level, when we meet [Mia], she wasn’t in actual fact a supergirl,” Solér says. “But [the song is] foreshadowing that she would be.”
Peterson remembers writing “Supergirl!” in her slack teenagers, pulling the lyrics out of the journal she carried around to capture her emotions. It used to be surely one of potentially the main songs she wrote that technique. “It used to be a weak track for me to jot down,” she says. “That track used to be thinking about the issues that I used to be dreaming about liberating myself from at that age, even within the emotional realm. You potentially may perhaps perhaps perhaps judge too grand about what different of us need from you all of the time. You potentially also can be making an strive to forge your enjoy direction and fabricate a put of freedom for your self.”
Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Sequence via Getty Pictures
Krystal Peterson, then Harris, at The Princess Diaries premiere in 2001
Mia recoils in terror on the facts of her royal position by telling her grandmother that her expectation in life is to be invisible, and participants emotions stem from what most are doubtful of at some stage in that formative time in youth: themselves. Mia is challenged to include her identity, face her responsibilities, and develop a sense of self perception. And even though she does switch physically, Mia’s emotional transformation is the factual heart of the story.
“The Princess Diaries, to me, used to be all about empowerment,” Creep says. “The movie, at its essence, is about this apparently normal young woman confronted with unheard of circumstances, who finds the braveness and strength inner herself to rise to the occasion and triumph over all. And so, the music is usually most significant with regards to factual improving that message of believing for your self.”
Creep had no longer too long within the past near off govt producing Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella with Houston when she got The Princess Diaries manuscript. “On the time, the frequent recordsdata in Hollywood used to be that you may perhaps perhaps perhaps well also develop a movie for boys and women would dash, but you may perhaps perhaps perhaps well no longer develop a a hit movie for ladies,” she notes. But in 1998, Disney had struck gold with The Mother or father Entice remake starring Lindsay Lohan. The studio regarded to manufacture something past branded films be pleased Mr. Magoo, and without grand else within the building pipeline, they rapid-tracked The Princess Diaries and performed it at some stage within the route of a yr. Creep’s partnership with Disney made her the first Sad woman to enjoy a production deal at a serious studio.
Courtesy Debra Martin Creep
Vital particular person Anna Hathaway with producer Debra Martin Creep
Meanwhile, music supervisor Solér had previously assembled the iconic soundtrack for the arriving-of-age drama Now and Then, even though her first of many films with director Garry Marshall came with some spirited conversations. “Garry used to be skeptical due to this of he had worked with a pair of music supervisors prior,” Solér says over Zoom, talking from her dwelling in Thousand Oaks, California. “I may perhaps perhaps scream, ‘Oh, let’s put some music right here.’ And he’d be be pleased, ‘Daybreak! When the actors are doing their job, no music!’ So, I watched all his previous movies, and the factor that I spotted about him, when there used to be music, it used to be very, very intentional.”
The soundtrack used to be main to Marshall. The Princess Diaries used to be confirmed almost weekly to Girl Scouts and youth teams, which used to be a most significant step to witness how the music resonated. “We would take a seat leisurely the theater and look the viewers and the motion of them and the feel,” Solér remembers. She pulled inspiration from a pair of issues: “Concerned with Mia in San Francisco, being form of a geek,” to boot as what extra or less music used to be standard with teenagers on the time.
Despite the indisputable fact that the fashioned soundtrack is packed with gargantuan pop music, its energy is within the enchanting curation of the songs and subtlety of the pickle, which collectively work to focus on Mia’s emotional touchstones, to boot as the ebbs and flows of her dash. Pick Hanson’s “Wake Up.” It’s the morning after Mia learns she’s a princess, and the camera flashes to her getting ready for school within the morning, a tiny disheveled, cocking her eyebrows in her mattress room replicate. With the breezy guitar riff playing quietly within the background, the viewers peeks in on a non-public second. “We always approached the songs as if [the movie] used to be a musical, so that it will most likely perhaps be the narrative in a particular person’s head, which can perhaps develop sense within the storyline,” Solér explains. “To me, I judge that’s what makes potentially the most spirited track use.”
Lyrics to “The Hotfoot” by Mpulz, “You are going to safe your wings on the enchanting time, even birds must learn how one can cruise,” be aware Mia as she sprints, abdominal turning, out of debate class. “Exiguous Bitty Rather One,” Aaron Carter’s sweet camouflage of Bobby Day’s ‘50s traditional, performs as Mia frantically yanks on her pantyhose within the backseat of a limousine on her technique to etiquette classes. No one’s Angel, Tammy Phoenix, and Lil J’s rendition of Salt-N-Pepa’s “Ain’t Nuthin’ But a She Thing” blasts as grandmother and granddaughter cruise over the Golden Gate Bridge at some stage in an time out that bonds them. “Crush” by 3G’s affords a dreamy backing for a slack dance between Mia and her longtime crush, standard Josh Bryant (Erik Von Detten).
Meanwhile, Robert Schwartzman, frontman for Rooney, handles the position of Michael Moscovitz, the brother of Mia’s most spirited buddy, Lilly (Heather Matarazzo); venerable Rooney individuals Taylor Locke and Ned Brower furthermore briefly seem as Michael’s band Flypaper. They produce “Blueside,” which can perhaps launch Rooney’s 2003 self-titled studio debut. One other standout is “What Makes You Varied (Makes You Ravishing)“ by Backstreet Boys, which scores the aftermath of the sea bound occasion. There’s loads going on in that scene, including Moore’s iconic performance of “Tiresome Cupid” and Mia’s eventual humiliation in entrance of interested paparazzi. As BSB’s ballad performs, a foil to the pep of “Tiresome Cupid” earlier, its message serves as external reassurance that Mia doesn’t want to strive and be somebody she’s no longer to be frigid or standard. Her energy is inner.
Moore recorded “Tiresome Cupid,” the film’s second ‘50s pop camouflage, especially for The Princess Diaries at Marshall’s recommendation. “When I discuss the issues I learned from Garry Marshall, it used to be how one can develop the movie out: how one can employ moments within the script, flesh it out, elevate it, develop it fun, and receive ways to develop it in actual fact pop,” Creep says. “This sea bound occasion used to be no longer before every thing scripted to enjoy this musical quantity. But he noticed a possibility.”
Solér says there weren’t in actual fact any assign requirements from Disney to incorporate artists from their in-house roster. That allowed Peterson, who sever her tooth as a young session singer in Indianapolis and had no longer too long within the past signed to Backstreet Boys’s Okay-BAHN assign, to land a key position on the soundtrack. Rapidly after transferring to Los Angeles and starting to document her debut, Me & My Piano, “Supergirl!” used to be positioned within the film. Peterson says being connected to BSB positively helped launch the doors to Disney. The boy band offered Peterson a gap slot on their world Sad & Blue tour — “Quite extra or less them, in actual fact” — to help promote her document. “Because the track grew to change into extra standard, I may perhaps perhaps stand up onstage and be aware of us enjoy been singing along with me,” Peterson says. “And that used to be the largest impact to me, to be in a position to in actual fact abilities that togetherness with of us.”
One artist straight connected to Disney used to be Myra, potentially the main teen signed to Walt Disney Files, earlier than Hilary Duff, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, and Selena Gomez. “I’m Hispanic,” Solér adds. “Attempting to search out alternatives for Hispanic ladies has been something that has always been most significant to me, due to this of I judge it be a extraordinarily, very underserved market.”
After making a title for herself singing Mariachi around Sonoma County, Myra signed to Disney and released her first single, “Magic Carpet Hotfoot,” on the La Vida Mickey compilation. Rapidly after, “Dancing within the Avenue” used to be featured in Recess: College’s Out. “It used to be so frigid to witness the map in which it all took house,” she says. “And a range of work. I had a gargantuan crew. I in actual fact quiet enjoy a pair of chums up at Disney Files, and it be so good to be all in favour of spite of every thing these years. There are lawful issues about the switch.”
When she heard “Miracles Happen (When You Take into consideration)” — written by Pam Sheyne and Eliot Kennedy, songwriters within the help of hits for S Club 7, Spice Ladies, and Christina Aguilera — it resonated straight. “I always wanted to manufacture something to contact lives and contact hearts and develop a incompatibility, and that track used to be factual up my alley entirely,” Myra says.
The track used to be nominated for an American Latino Media Arts (ALMA) Award for Outstanding Tune in a Motion Exclaim Soundtrack and used to be promoted as the theme track of The Princess Diaries. “Supergirl!” grew to change into an unofficial theme for the film, too, and its music video functions Anne Hathaway serving burgers with Peterson in a diner dubbed the Good Girl Grill.
“It in actual fact did no longer even in actual fact feel be pleased work,” Peterson says of the diner scene. “It factual felt be pleased joy.” Backstreet Boys Kevin Richardson and Howie Dorough enjoy sneaky cameos, too. “It is one factor to enjoy artists beef up you, it be one other factor to enjoy them disclose up for your video. It used to be a terribly, in actual fact thoughtful factor for them to manufacture for me.”
One of the most significant largest highlights that day used to be meeting Houston, who dropped by the position. “She put her arm around me and used to be factual such an encourager. I used to be feeling nervous around that time, potentially for surely one of potentially the main times in my life, as a singer or an artist. She used to be be pleased, ‘Right here’s gargantuan, you sound gargantuan.’ And I used to be be pleased, ‘OK! Whitney says I’m all enchanting, so I’m beautiful!”
Pop music has always made a defining impact on youth tradition, but on the flip of the contemporary millennium, teen pop’s snort made it extra prevalent than ever. “It used to be all about romance and love and feeling lawful about your self,” describes Creep, who furthermore produced The Cheetah Ladies, the Disney Channel’s first musical, in 2003. “It used to be upbeat. It used to be dawdle. There used to be an innocence and a freshness to it.” Myra, too, friends teen pop with an all-around wholesomeness: “All the issues down from the clothes to the style to the lyric to the music to how you offered your self.”
Good on the cusp of Napster and ascendent MP3 downloads, the teenage listening abilities used to be quiet largely curated by grab out radio stations (be pleased Radio Disney, which catered to its young viewers), labels, and magazines. Right this moment’s sweeping accessibility thanks to streaming companies and products in actual fact obscures how teen pop is defined. “Whereas you uncover at teenagers nowadays, due to this of they’ve unlimited entry, I don’t judge teen pop has a possibility due to this of teenagers are listening to every thing,” Solér says. “My [16-year-old] daughter rarely listens to what you may perhaps perhaps perhaps classify as teen pop. But she loves Backstreet Boys; she loves the throwback music due to this of she has entry. And teenagers are very weird and wonderful and they’re looking out to interrogate.”
Courtesy Daybreak Solér
Song supervisor Daybreak Solér with well-known particular person Julie Andrews
For Peterson, the pop-music world didn’t in actual fact feel reliable to who she wanted to be as an artist. She at final found herself toeing the road between what she hoped to manufacture and what used to be happening within the industry of her music. “I judge a range of the kids that enjoy been within the switch for the time being enjoy been wrestling with that, in actual fact,” she adds. It’s a sentiment echoed by Jessica Simpson in her memoir, Birth Book, which candidly most significant components the pressures and demands feminine pop stars veritably confronted within the switch, and Hanson, who, as documented of their 2005 film Tough Ample To Break, furthermore left a serious assign to develop music independently on their enjoy terms.
Within the discontinuance, Peterson selected to trip faraway from Hollywood. She dealt with an “existential disaster” about singing — “Why like a flash fabricate I be pleased and abominate something that has been such an improbable, magical reward?” — but took a protracted break and at final started attending native concerts and giving negate classes. Right this moment, she lives in Cincinnati and performs with the Queen Metropolis Band, a jazz sextet, and as a solo artist. She has a contemporary single, “Abundantly,” and, as she turns 40, she’s extra infected than ever about the music she’s making. “Instructing helped me heal, furthermore, due to this of I spotted but every other time that music has energy,” she says. “And I did learn how one can build me, for what it be price,” Peterson adds, referencing the lyrics to “Supergirl!”
The Princess Diaries is among a handful of movies from the early aughts — be pleased Legally Blonde, Josie and the Pussycats, Coyote Gruesome, and Blue Crush — that challenged the cultural climate by bridging buoyancy with a depth that champions feminine empowerment. “It is miles a perennial now,” Solér says. “Having a daughter and, for who I am, the largest factor is feminine empowerment. And it begins in actual fact young. It has to start in actual fact young due to this of of the pressures of society and factual the pressures that we now enjoy got each day. So, I judge that Princess Diaries is usually a share that you may perhaps perhaps look anytime and in actual fact feel that.”
“The true fact that 20 years later the film quiet resonates, it be quiet liked, it be most significant to of us, formula loads,” Creep says. “It holds up, and that’s the reason a substantial deal.”
Admire staring on the movie, listening to the soundtrack by no formula fails to develop you feel lawful about your self. Myra quiet will get messages from followers about how “Miracles Happen (When You Take into consideration)” has helped them safe via every thing from chemotherapy to grieving the loss of a liked one. Those interactions enjoy made her incredibly contented with the track and deepened her enjoy connection to it. And that’s furthermore why, for Myra, Peterson’s “Supergirl!” has always stayed along with her.
“I will be succesful to not overlook it, due to this of those are moments and songs that in actual fact impacted my life as a young teen,” she says. “Any track that has to manufacture with ladies empowerment, I be pleased, I learn, and I by no formula overlook.”