Disney’s newest film, Encanto, has enchanted the world, and viewers young and old alike have fallen in love with the soundtrack. With a story by Byron Howard and memorable music by Lin Manuel-Miranda, Encanto follows Mirabel, a member of a magical family who is the only one without a magical gift. When she realizes the candle that gives the family their gifts is in danger, Mirabel decides she must step up and figure out what’s wrong, even if it goes against her Abuela.
It wasn’t like Encanto was a surprise hit, but it seems to be even bigger than initially expected. In fact, the song, ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ has surpassed Frozen‘s hit, ‘Let It Go’ by becoming the highest-charting Disney song since 1995, when Pocahontas premiered. It’s not even just this song either — between being used as sounds on TikTok and the amount of streams Encanto has on Disney+, the music is speaking for itself, which is why it’s time for a ranking of all of Encanto‘s songs.
8. “Colombia, Mi Encanto”
First we have to say that there are no bad songs in the movie, so this isn’t a worst to best ranking it’s more like least best to THE best. At number eight we have ‘Colombia, Mi Encanto,’ which is played multiple times throughout the movie, or at least the melody is. The lyrics are all in Spanish, but viewers who only speak English can turn on the subtitles to see the translation.
A rough translation of the title is “Colombia, My Precious,” and the lyrics push that message through and through. While it’s more of a background song than a solo for one of the characters, it’s still catchy and is just the right pace to underly the celebration going on before Antonio’s door ceremony. With lyrics like, “Keep on dancing, happy in my paradise, and revealing miracles at every corner,” it’s showing the spectacle that is Casita as well as the Madrigals themselves. It’s a great follow-up song to ‘The Family Madrigal’ and an even better way to set up how important the ceremony is.
7. “Dos Oruguitas”
Probably the saddest song in the film is ‘Dos Oruguitas’, translating to English as “Two Little Caterpillars.” It tells the story of Alma (Abuela) and her late husband falling in love and the tragedy that struck them. It comes at the low point in the movie when we believe all to be lost after the candle goes out.
After learning the story of what happened to her Grandparents, Mirabel discovers that the miracle of the candle was her Abuelo’s legacy giving them strength. It’s a pivotal moment in the story and the song is beautifully tragic in all of the best ways.
6. “Surface Pressure”
The first solo song from the movie comes from Luisa, Mirabel’s older sister with the gift of super strength. She literally lifts bridges and moves them around. The song ‘Surface Pressure’ has sort of a dual meaning in talking about the pressure she feels when doing everything for everyone, but also the pressure she feels to be strong for her family. It’s a nice play on words and the song is catchy as ever.
While it’s a good song and represents Luisa well, it’s still low on the list due to the storytelling elements (and the weird dancing donkeys). It seems like Luisa losing her gift is going to be a big deal and maybe set up for the rest of the family to lose their gifts, however it’s never really explained why only Luisa lost her gift when many of the other family members felt the same amount of pressure.
5. “All of You”
Everyone loves a good finale song, and ‘All of You’ is a great example of one! It shows the whole family reconciling, along with Bruno’s awaited return and apologies to everyone he thinks he hurt. The thing that’s great about ‘All of You’ is that it not only shows how connected the Madrigals as a family are, but also how connected they are to their village even without their gifts.
Though we don’t get to see Abuela apologize for everyone she’s hurt or put too much pressure on, we do see some changed behavior throughout the song’s scene, which is nice growth. There’s so many small intricacies throughout the scene and song with each individual character that the movie just feels complete. It’s a sweet ending to a great family movie.
4. “Waiting on a Miracle”
After seeing Mirabel so graciously and excitedly tell the story of her family at the beginning and helping Antonio on a day when, she too, is feeling anxiety, we finally see her start to fall apart. She feels like an outsider in her own family which is heartbreaking, and “Waiting On A Miracle” only amplifies that. When her family took a photo without her in it, it all hit her at once and you could see and hear it the second she started singing.
This song is also the moment when the candle first shows signs of weakening, meaning the entire miracle is in danger. So, even in Mirabel’s darkest and weakest hour, she chooses to help her family who haven’t always been the best to her. It’s a song that deepens Mirabel’s identity as a character and reveals how she feels about herself, making it incredibly powerful.
3. “The Family Madrigal”
The opening song of the film is ‘The Family Madrigal’ which tells the stories of each member of the Madrigal family. It introduces the audience to the main character, Mirabel, as she sings and dances through town, explaining the different gifts and people to the village children, who are adorably nosey.
It’s a catchy song, but it’s also lyrically sharp. Instead of having to have multiple scenes dedicated to each member of the family, they throw it all into a catchy song so you can understand and remember who does what and how they’re all related.Even though in the movie Mirabel is singing to the children, it’s really just a simpler, more entertaining way to feed the audience information that they’ll need later.
2. “What Else Can I Do?”
Now we’re down to the top two songs, and it was very hard to decide. However, there are valid reasons why the top two ended up where they did. Isabela’s solo, “What Else Can I Do?” is a first-born child’s anthem. From lyrics about being perfect all the time to the desire to just be, it’s so blatantly calling out the perfect oldest child trope, which in a lot of families seems to be accurate.
One of the best parts of this song though is the mix of Spanish and English used throughout it. The lyrics, “Flor de mayo, by the mile” are stunning because who other than Lin Manuel-Miranda would think to rhyme something like that? Everything in the song flows so beautifully and its timing in the movie works so well for Isa and Mirabel’s relationship.
1. “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”
Finally, at number one, is the iconic ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno.’ There’s really no denying that this song should be number one. We’ve seen it on TikTok with character cosplays of each verse, and watched it overthrow Frozen‘s hit song. Not only that, but the aim of the song being to literally trash talk a member of their family for something he can’t control is so bizarre that it shockingly works.
The best part of the song, aside from Dolores’ quiet little breakdown about how she can still hear him in the walls, comes at the end when everyone’s verses sync up together and it’s all of their stories about Bruno colliding at once. From Pepa’s woes about her wedding day to Camilo’s overdramatic reimagining of his Uncle, there’s so much going on, and yet it all flows perfectly. It’s once again the magic of Lin Manuel-Miranda, and we can’t thank him enough for it.
