Disney karaoke is our jam. As soon as my daughter and I realized that was a thing on the Disney Cruise Line we blocked out our schedules for those nights.

The music is one of my favorite parts about Disney Animated movies. So naturally as soon as the Moana soundtrack hit the shelves we put it on repeat.

One our Disney Cruise last year my daughter and I sang “Hakuna Matata” but I next time around I’m hoping they add some songs from Moana to the song list.

Before Moana, some of my favorite Disney songs were: “I’ll Make a Man Out of You”, “I Can See the Light”, “Part of Your World”, “Colors of the Wind”, “Friend Like Me”, “When We’re Human” and “Belle”.

Wow… That’s a lot right off the top of my head. The Disney station is out go-to on Pandora and name that tune is always happening when Disney tunes are playing.

Nothing beats a good villain song like “Poor Unfortunate Souls” or “Be Prepared” and Moana didn’t miss the opportunity for a great bad guy song.

The main “villain” didn’t talk, much less sing, but an evil crab obsessed with gold and sparkly things part way through does manage to steal the show with his son “shiny”.

The first week that was my daughter’s favorite song but now she seems to have moved on to “How Far I’ll Go”. It’s one of my favorites too but not my #1.

Here are my top 5 songs from Moana:

5. Where You Are: Love love love this song and I couldn’t stop smiling the moment it came on. It was precisely the moment I knew I was going to love the movie.
4. I Am Moana: Closer to the end, this song gives me chills, especially during the film, but even listening to it in the car. It’s definitely belt-worthy, and sure to be a karaoke favorite.
3. How Far I’ll Go: I personally like the Auli’i Cravalho version but the Alessia Cara version is pretty sweet too.
2. You’re Welcome: I can not hear this song enough–I say that now but ask me again in a few months. I think this has the potential to be as worn out as “Let it Go”.
1. We Know the Way: From the first time I saw it and every time I hear it. I don’t know all of the lyrics to the first verse yet but I think that’s ok. You know–Like that first part of “Circle of Life”. It’s all good, I’ll get it eventually. It’s such a beautiful song and I love the imagery and discovery during that part of movie. If you haven’t seen it yet here you go:

While in L.A. for the Moana press trip I got to be a part of an interview with Opetaia Foa’i, who co-wrote the music with Lin-Manuel Miranda, and happened to provide the beautiful vocals for my favorite song.

“My ancestors would be proud of this movie,” Opetaia told us during the interview. “Chants, Lot of drums and of telling of the stories of ancient Polynesia. Yeah, those are the three elements that I always push, you know.”

Throughout the soundtrack you’ll hear lots of beautiful chants, drums and references to the wonderful navigators that are their ancestors.

Opetaia and I share our favorite song, and the desire to follow our passions. And look where it got him!

“I’ve traveled the world and people got sick of me talking about these people that are the best navigators, best sailors in the world,” he said. “And to be honest, I thought I’d reached the end of my run, and I was ready to, you could say, hang up my horse unless the opportunity came up. So it’s just extended it a little bit more.”

I’m glad Disney discovered him and his wonderful music, and now we can enjoy it on our favorites list and they can go down in history on the Disney karaoke list ‘til the end of time.

Have you seen Moana yet? Do you have a favorite song?

Tags: disney, Moana