We Had To Talk To Dallas Musicians About ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’

While the music news cycle continues to be hijacked by Kanye West’s “Ima let you finish”-style public meltdown – stories about his using Instagram to flame his ex Kim Kardashian and her current boyfriend Pete Davidson trended ahead of the Super Bowl – every other person not involved in that shit sandwich has flocked to the most wholesome of musical content.

For the third consecutive week, Disney is holding the No. 1 spot on the Billboard charts with “We Don’t Talk About Bruno.”

The song is from the animated film Encanto, about a family named Madrigal that has magical powers and lives in an enchanted (and enviably picturesque) house in a Colombian town. The song was written by almost-EGOT winner Lin-Manuel Miranda, but it’s still a surprise hit: There hasn’t been a No. 1 Disney hit since Aladdin gave karaoke-loving couples the bit of foreplay known as “A Whole New World.” Not even with anything by Elton John from The Lion King. And as much as kids loved bad-screaming Idina Menzel’s “Let It Go” from Frozen, you really just imagined it was playing everywhere.

It’s also entirely unusual for a No. 1 spot to belong to a track with six vocalists. Actors Carolina Gaitán, Mauro Castillo, Adassa, Rhenzy Feliz, Diane Guerrero and Stephanie Beatriz are all on the song, which is about how much a family member named Bruno supposedly sucks. The chorus “We don’t talk about Bruno-no-no-no” is undeniably catchy. Thematically, it’s much like Beauty and the Beast‘s “Belle” in which an entire village sings about how “peculiar” Belle is because she likes to … read.

But the last years have taught us that anything is possible, even for a Latin-flavored Disney showtune to become a hit.

The song’s success, however, has prompted the weighty analysis of NPR and other publications, so we turned to local experts for their professional opinion.

Christian Valdés, a Colombian-born pianist, composer and musical director who plays in various Dallas-based bands, says, “I can see how it is catchy and how songs from Disney movies get so popular just by how much kids listen and watch them over and over.

“I do not like the song so much, though – at least I would not purchase it to listen to it on my favorite playlists,” Valdés says. “I do like the fact that something with Latin American components gets popular around the world. That to me is something to be proud of as Latin Americans.”

Valdés says that he does find the song “is well produced, like everything done at that level of industry.”

“I like a lot the fact that it incorporates several Latin American elements,” he continues. “In musical terms. it is a slow song, almost like a cha-cha. Similar to the song ‘Havana’ by Camilla Cabello, which is a slow cha-cha with some pop elements which make it more digestible by most non-Latin Americans, or even for Latin Americans that have not grown listening to some of the other more complex styles like salsa, merengue, rumba, guaguancó, et cetera. They are all much harder to dance to, and to digest, still beautiful and rich in many ways, but more complex musically.”

Miranda, who is best known for making a worldwide hit out of an unlikely subject with the musical Hamilton, has a veteran nurse-like ability to read the pulse when it comes to current musical tastes, as Valdés notes.

“This song also uses things like pop chord progressions and rap, which are also things that the newer generations relate a lot to,” he says. “So all these elements combined make an attractive product for kids and some adults.”

Kierra Gray, a musician and Disney scholar whose band often sells out venues such as The Kessler Theater by performing Disney songs for nostalgic adults, also compares “Bruno” to Cabello’s 2018 hit.

“When trying to tell a story, thespian writers often refer to other compositions for inspiration,” Gray says. “‘We don’t Talk about Bruno’ features the same chord progression as the chart-topping hits ‘Havana’ by Camilla Cabello and ‘Smooth’ by Carlos Santana. The structure of this song has already proven to be successful. It’s not my personal favorite Disney tune, but that doesn’t really matter because I’ll never forget it – a secret to hit-making that Manuel understands and uses to his advantage.”

Victor Rimach, a Peruvian-born musician and promoter who’s expanding the Latin music soundscape in Dallas, says he’s only heard the song twice and hasn’t been able to finish the movie.

But a great song should stand on its own outside of the film’s context. Rimach knows this, and compares the sloped no-no-notes in “Bruno” to the low-dipping chant of “low, low, low, low” in a hip-hop and club classic.

“The first time I heard the song, first thing to came to mind was the resemblance of the ‘no, no, no, no’ part to ‘Get Low’ by Lil Jon,” he says. “It made me think of how commercially successful songs tend to have catchy melodic phrases that resemble other previous successful songs. It’s definitely a song that lingers in your head – great recipe for repetitive plays. I guess my final opinion is: great commercial song.”

“We Don’t Talk About Bruno” may have won the popular vote among listeners, but the Academy favors its more traditional sister, the song “Dos Oruguitas,” which is up for a Best Song Oscar. Rimach says that song reminds him of an old track called “Harmony” by Spanish band Conexión.

Regardless of the inspiration behind Encanto‘s spellbinding soundtrack, it has a fan in RC Williams, Erykah Badu’s musical director.

“Definitely one of the best Disney songs,” Williams says of “Bruno.” “It kinda like brightens your day listening to it, super well produced, love the animation, the song is so catchy, and the vocals parts are mixed very well. Love the breakdowns in certain moments of the songs and the dynamics.

“I can see why it’s going No. 1, love the lyrics and definitely the hook, I heard the song and it made me want to see the movie. Disney did a great job with this song.”