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"Of course, he quoted Hamilton..."
This week, Encanto broke yet another record — the smash hit "We Don't Talk About Bruno" is now the No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100, and it's the first Disney song to reach this milestone since 1993's "A Whole New World" from Aladdin.
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🎶 SEVEN FOOT FRAAAAME, RATS ALONG HIS BAAAACK. 🎶
Of course, it's not surprising that the music is so successful — not only is the cast incredible, but the tunes are written by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Grateful grateful grateful grateful grateful grateful grateful to all of you, ALL of you -LMM #Encanto https://t.co/khhXIDhG5l
One of the songs that really resonated for Lin was "Surface Pressure," which was actually inspired by his older sister — and when BuzzFeed spoke to Jessica Darrow, who voices Luisa, she shared a pretty wonderful story about how working with Lin on it was actually a full-circle moment.
Long before anyone even knew about Hamilton, Jessica went to go see a production of In the Heights in Miami when she was in high school, and she tearfully approached Lin for a picture.
Courtesy Jessica Darrow
Fast-forward to working on Encanto, and Jessica was on a Zoom call with her idol recording "Surface Pressure." During a break, she couldn't resist showing Lin their iconic picture together.
Astrid Stawiarz / Getty Images for Disney
"I obviously was like, 'Hey, I just gotta show you something.' I pull up my phone. I have a photo and I put up to the Zoom and he's like, 'Oh my God,'" she said.
When Lin saw it, he had the most perfect response. "Of course he quoted Hamilton and he goes Look at where you are, look at where you started."
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The lyric comes from Eliza's song, "That Would Be Enough," from the musical. Honestly, the look on Lin's face as Hamilton is what I looked like when I heard this story.
But Jessica isn't the only Encanto cast member with a cool past connection to Lin. Director Jared Bush shared an amazing story about someone asking for a selfie with Lin during the team's research trip to Colombia — and it turns out, that someone was Carolina Gaitán, who voiced Pepa.
TRUE STORY: 3 years ago we took a life-changing research trip to Colombia. On Lin’s flight back, a passenger got a selfie in the airport. 2 years later, that passenger auditioned for #Encanto. Only after she got the part did she tell us. That passenger: TÍA PEPA @CGaitanOficial🤯
And in case you were wondering, working with Lin absolutely lived up to all the hype. "He really made me feel so held the whole time...he's very clear in his direction and very generous with his time and his direction," Jessica said, adding, "The fact that I have the blessing to be immortalized through his words is insane."
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