“Her journey was very similar to mine, and just coming to terms with the fact that, hey, when you feel this way, it’s okay to just take a step back and be like, ‘I am not just my work, I am not just all these things that people place on me, I can actually just exist on my own and be just as remarkable and have the same heart and love in my life,'” Jessica says. “And it was actually crazy to be able to record this during a pandemic. I think that’s why those themes were really resonating with me. And I felt so emotional throughout this whole process.”
As for all the amazing fans who also see themselves in Luisa, Jessica says, “I’m really just honored to be the vessel to be able to allow this experience for people, it’s a really important one. I grew up wanting to meet Disney characters that felt closer to me, felt closer to my family. And now it’s here and I’m doing it as an adult.”
5. “Surface Pressure” was one of the first songs that Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote for the movie. In November 2020, Jessica received the demo recording with Lin singing, and working with him on the song was a dream come true.
“What Lin actually ended up bringing out of me was, he really wanted me to lean into textures of my voice and really wanted me to focus on how devastating the lyrics are,” she said about the process of working on the song over the course of three recording rehearsals. “He’s literally the best. He’s like, ‘I know, you relate to this. Just give in to that, and really allow your voice to ride on the emotion, you don’t have to sound so perfect. Don’t worry about that, we’ll figure it out. Like, let’s just do this.'”
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