For anyone missing that specific something in your life, it might be this pop-punk Disney album. “Pop-punk” and “Disney” are choice words that don’t usually go together, but there’s some merit to this new album that harkens back to the Punk Goes series of yesteryear.
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The album opens with New Found Glory’s rendition of “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid. A bit of a weak opener, as the original song is a bit too stylized to make a seamless transition to pop-punk. Still, New Found Glory gives a valiant effort, and it does prepare listeners for what the rest of the album is like.
Mayday Parade delivers a satisfyingly shreddy cover of “Remember Me” from Coco, although we’d rather have heard “Un Poco Loco” if we had a choice. The guitar goes hard on this song, which is fitting considering the importance guitar has in the movie. However, Mayday Parade employs shredding and wailing in a way that elevates the song beyond simple pop-punk. It’s more of a showcase of their unique sound, pulling from neighboring genres but always bolstered by signature pop-punk drums and vocals.
On “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” Simple Plan takes the Elton John classic and sends it back to the early 2000s scene. Simple Plan has that solid, steadfast pop-punk sound that hasn’t really changed since about 2002, when they released their first album. “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” is a surprising fit for the genre, with the chorus exploding into a tight exhibition of that recognizable pop-punk vocal styling.
Disney Releases Pop-Punk Album Featuring Simple Plan, Mayday Parade, and More
Magnolia Park takes on “I2I” from A Goofy Movie, which is already a banger of a song. This rendition ramps up in the chorus, but overall doesn’t do much to present something wildly different than the original. That’s possibly because “I2I” is already a rollicking rock song. Yellowcard and Chrissy Costanza, however, perform a beautiful rendition of “A Whole New World” from Aladdin. Costanza’s angelic vocals elevate the duet to new heights, and Yellowcard showcases their demure pop-punk sound with this cover.
Next up, We The Kings’ rendition of “Go the Distance” from Hercules adds lyrics that weren’t originally in the movie. The full song extends the narrative of Hercules’ journey, and We The Kings adds chunky guitar riffs that turn an already great motivational song into a pop-punk masterpiece.
The rest of the album includes Plain White T’s singing “Surface Pressure” from the recent film Encanto, Meet Me @ the Altar performing “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” from Toy Story, Boys Like Girls doing “You’ll Be in My Heart” from Tarzan, Tokio Hotel with “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas, LØLØ singing “Let It Go” from Frozen, and finally Bowling for Soup closing the album with “Friend Like Me” from Aladdin.
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