Songs for a Cartoon Boy Band is Topping Charts

A few months after its first lyric release, the new original song Nobody Like U from Disney/Pixar film Turning Red is still going strong.

The Music

In true boy band fashion, Nobody Like U is a love song. And, as young teens sing it, it’s tame but catchy. It is the first song from a Pixar film to hit the Hot 100. Performed by 4*TOWN, the fictional boy band, the song debuts on the Billboard Hot 100 (dated April 2) at No. 50.

The song is performed by the fictional boy band 4Town, the first Disney/Pixar has ever had. Members of the band are Robaire (voiced by Jordan Fisher), Jesse (voiced by Finneas O’Connell), Aaron T. (voiced by Topher Ngo), Tae Young (voiced by Grayson Villanueva), and Aaron Z. (voiced by Josh Levi).

The song’s debut is driven largely by its 10 million official U.S. streams (up 129%) in the March 18-24 tracking week, according to Luminate, formerly MRC Data. It also opens at No. 19 on the Streaming Songs chart.

The film’s score was composed by Oscar-winning composer Ludwig Göransson, known for his work on Black Panther and The Mandalorian.

Nobody Like U was written by Oscar, Grammy, and Emmy-winning singer-songwriters Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell. Other original songs from the duo for the film include 1 True Love and U Know What’s Up. Watch the music video embedded on YouTube, here.

Marketing Music

The producer of Turning Red applied an impressive marketing strategy. By merging elements from the fictional world into the real world. An actual website for 4*Town, the fictional boy band from Turning Red, was launched, much like the university website for Monsters University.

If you’d ever visit the site, you are greeted with a short clip of the song Nobody Like U. While you may not be able to purchase any more tickets for its World Tour simply because it has all SOLD OUT, its tagline merges reality with the fiction with the tagline inviting us to “Come back to watch, listen, and become a true 4 Townie 4 eva!” Click here to view.

Dating to Billboard’s chart 1958 launch, other fictional characters that went the same route include The Archies, The Banana Splits, The Chipmunks, both Ernie and Kermit from Sesame Street, The Heights, The Partridge Family, The Simpsons, 2gether and The Wonders.

Coachella

As voted on by Finneas O’Connel’s Twitter fans last week, he took to the stage during his set at Coachella and played a brief acoustic version of Nobody Like U.

Merchandise

Turning Red OST is now available on vinyl. Its tracklist is as below:

Side 1:

1. Nobody Like U (From “Turning Red”/Soundtrack Version)
2. 1 True Love (From “Turning Red”/Soundtrack Version)

Side 2:

1. U Know What’s Up (From “Turning Red”/Soundtrack Version)

Order the vinyl now from Disney Music Emporium, here.

Storyline

Turning Red is a movie about a 13-year-old girl named Mei Lee, voiced by Rosalie Chiang. Mei is a spunky, confident girl who loves hanging out with her friends and excelling at school.

But normal life goes out the window one day when she wakes up as a giant red panda. This ‘quirk,’ according to her mother, apparently has been in Mei’s family for generations, and now she has to deal with it along with the complexities of growing up.

This wouldn’t be so bad if she didn’t keep turning into the red panda every time she feels strong emotions, like excitement or stress. Will she be able to handle this new ability or lose control of it? Turning Red premiered on March 11, 2022, only on Disney+.

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