I recently had the pleasure of watching “Turning Red,” the new Pixar film. I went into the movie pretty blind and thus had no idea what to expect other than the one song I had seen going around TikTok. The plot of the film is that a young Chinese-Canadian teenager discovers a secret her family is hiding and has to find the balance between pleasing her family and having her own personality. A big safe haven for the main character, Meilin Lee, is her friends and their collective love for the boy band 4*Town. The sound I heard going around TikTok was the main song that 4*Town sings in “Turning Red,” “Nobody Like U.”
Sibling duo Finneas O’Connell and Billie Eilish wrote the three songs that 4*Town sings throughout the film: “Nobody Like U,” “1 True Love” and “U Know What’s Up.” They struck pop music gold on “Nobody Like U.” You know that scene in “Easy A” where Emma Stone’s character can’t stop singing “Pocketful of Sunshine” by Natasha Bedingfield all weekend after she got that birthday card? That’s been me with “Nobody Like U” since I watched the movie.
The highly talented Ludwig Göransson was responsible for the film’s score and he did an excellent job at making a Pixar film score (which are always top notch).
The film and its soundtrack really brought me back to my tweenhood of being obsessed with One Direction and feeling like my whole world was ending all of the time (which for Meilin, was somewhat true but that’s neither here nor there).
If you’re looking to reminisce on middle school in a more positive light or if you just want a cute movie to watch, I highly recommend “Turning Red.” Or at the very least let the earworm that is “Nobody Like U” grace your ears.
Until next time,
Caitlin
