High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (soundtrack)

High School Musical: The Musical: The Series: The Soundtrack is the soundtrack album for the first season of the web television series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, which was released on January 10, 2020 by Walt Disney Records. The program itself was first distributed on streaming service Disney+ on November 12, 2019; following a preview simulcast on ABC, Disney Channel and Freeform on November 8, 2019.

High School Musical: The Musical: The Series: The Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by Cast of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series
Released	January 10, 2020
Recorded	February–June 2019[1][2]
Genre	Pop teen pop musical theatre
Label	Walt Disney
High School Musical chronology
Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure (2011) High School Musical: The Musical: The Series: The Soundtrack (2020)
Singles from High School Musical: The Musical: The Series
"The Medley, the Mashup" Released: November 1, 2019

The soundtrack for the series features new songs and renditions of songs from the original High School Musical film.

Background and composition

Series creator Tim Federle originally pitched High School Musical: The Musical: The Series for Disney+ with the idea of developing original songs to complement the franchise's back catalogue.[3][4] The first season contains ten original songs, with one new piece of music featured in each episode.[3]

Composition

The soundtrack features new recordings of songs from the original High School Musical film; "Start of Something New", "What I've Been Looking For", "Breaking Free", "Stick to the Status Quo", "Bop to the Top", "When There Was Me and You" and "We're All in This Together".[5] The songs were "revamped" for the series.[4] Steve Vincent, who worked on the original films, served as the musical supervisor for the series and sourced several composers to write new music.[3][4] He also received submissions from songwriters based in Los Angeles.[4] Cast member Olivia Rodrigo wrote an original song for the series, "All I Want"; and co-wrote "Just for a Moment" with Joshua Bassett and music producer, Dan Book.[6][7]

Lucas Grabeel, who played Ryan Evans in the original films, appears as featured artist in the song "Role of a Lifetime" alongside cast member Kate Reinders.[8][9] Federle confirmed that a cast member from the original film would make a cameo appearance in the series through a fantasy sequence.[10][11]

Kelly Lawler of USA Today suggested that the original songs echo "2019 high-energy pop music", referring to "I Think I Kinda, You Know" and "Wondering".[12]

Songs and lyrical content

The song "I Think I Kinda, You Know" details the relationship between characters Nini and Ricky.[13] Rodrigo elaborated, "it was the song that Nini played for Ricky before they broke up."[13] "Wondering" is a piano duet performed in-series by Nini and Ashlyn, written to potentially be included in their version of the musical.[4][14] The lyrics relate to Nini's romantic involvement with Ricky and E.J.[14] "Born to Be Brave" is described an "empowering" track resembling "We're All in This Together" from the original film.[4] "A Billion Sorrys" is a song written by E.J. in the series as an apology to Nini for stealing her phone and reading her messages.[15]

Promotion

Release

The first song from the soundtrack, "The Medley, the Mashup" was released as a single on November 1, 2019, with an accompanying music video on the DisneyMusicVEVO YouTube account.[5][16] The track is presented as a mashup of the original film's songs.[17]

Pre-orders for the soundtrack were opened on November 8, 2019.[5] In the lead-up to the album's release, selected tracks were made available weekly to correlate with the episodes being distributed.[6] After the preview telecast of the series, the songs "I Think I Kinda, You Know" (Duet) and "Start of Something New" (Nini Version) were released.[5] On November 12, "Wondering" was released at the same time as the program's Disney+ premiere.[5] This was followed by "A Billion Sorrys", which was added to the pre-release on November 19, and the release of "What I've Been Looking For" (Nini & E.J. Version) and "All I Want" on November 26.[15] "Born to Be Brave" was made available on December 3, followed by "When There was Me and You" (Ricky Version) and "Truth, Justice and Songs in Our Key" on December 10, and "Out of the Old" on December 17. On December 24, "Role of a Lifetime" was released, while "Just for a Moment" and the performance versions of "Get'cha Head in the Game" and "Stick to the Status Quo" were added to the soundtrack on December 31.

Live performances

The cast of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series performed "Start of Something New" and "We're All in This Together" at D23 Expo on August 23, 2019 and on Good Morning America on November 8, 2019.[18][19]

Reception

Megan Vick of TV Guide commended Rodrigo and Julia Lester's vocal abilities in the song "Wondering".[14]

Track listing

High School Musical: The Musical: The Series track listing[20]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Performer(s)	Length
1.	"I Think I Kinda, You Know" (Nini Version)	Michael Weiner Alan Zachary	Olivia Rodrigo	1:16
2.	"Start of Something New" (Nini Version)	Matthew Gerrard Robbie Nevil	Rodrigo	1:41
3.	"I Think I Kinda, You Know" (Ricky Version)	Weiner Zachary	Joshua Bassett	1:57
4.	"Start of Something New" (E.J. Version)	Gerrard Nevil	Matt Cornett	0:36
5.	"Start of Something New" (Gina Version)	Gerrard Nevil	Sofia Wylie	1:18
6.	"I Think I Kinda, You Know" (Duet)	Weiner Zachary	Rodrigo Bassett	2:52
7.	"Wondering"	Josh Cumbee Jordan Powers	Rodrigo Julia Lester	3:45
8.	"Wondering" (Ashlyn & Nini Piano Version)	Cumbee Powers	Rodrigo Lester	2:30
9.	"Stick to the Status Quo" (Rehearsal)	David Lawrence Faye Greenberg	Cast of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series	0:43
10.	"A Billion Sorrys"	Jeannie Lurie Gabriel Mann	Cornett	1:48
11.	"What I've Been Looking For" (Nini & E.J. Version)	Andy Dodd Adam Watts	Rodrigo Cornett	2:05
12.	"All I Want"	Rodrigo[6]	Rodrigo	2:57
13.	"Bop to the Top" (Nini & Kourtney Version)	Randy Petersen Kevin Quinn	Rodrigo Dara Reneé	0:35
14.	"Born to Be Brave"	Tova Litvin Doug Rockwell	Cast of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series	3:09
15.	"When There Was Me and You" (Ricky Version)	Jamie Houston	Bassett	1:38
16.	"Truth, Justice and Songs in Our Key"	Lurie Mann	Cast of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series	2:17
17.	"Out of the Old"	Cumbee Powers	Rodrigo	2:48
18.	"Role of a Lifetime" (featuring Lucas Grabeel)	Lurie Mann	Kate Reinders Lucas Grabeel	3:07
19.	"Get'cha Head in the Game"	Raymond Cham Greg Cham Andrew Seeley	Cast of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series	2:21
20.	"Stick to the Status Quo" (Performance)	Lawrence Greenberg	Cast of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series	1:57
21.	"Just for a Moment"	Bassett Dan Book Rodrigo[6]	Rodrigo Bassett	3:17
22.	"Breaking Free" (Nini, Ricky & E.J. Version)	Houston	Rodrigo Bassett Cornett	2:37
23.	"We're All in This Together" (Cast)	Gerrard Nevil	Cast of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series	3:52
24.	"We're All in This Together" (Curtain Call)	Gerrard Nevil	Cast of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series	2:26
25.	"I Think I Kinda, You Know" (Acoustic Video Version)	Weiner Zachary	Cast of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series	2:48
26.	"Wondering" (Acoustic Video Version)	Cumbee Powers	Cast of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series	3:42
27.	"Born to Be Brave" (Acoustic Video Version)	Litvin Rockwell	Cast of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series	3:24
28.	"We're All in This Together" (Acoustic Video Version)	Gerrard Nevil	Cast of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series	3:51
29.	"The Medley, the Mashup"	Raymond Cham Greg Cham Gerrard Greenberg Houston Lawrence Nevil Seeley	Cast of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series	2:57
30.	"We're All in This Together" (Wildcat Chant)	Gerrard Nevil	Cast of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series	0:35
Total length:				1:10:44

High School Musical: The Musical: The Series digital release additional tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
31.	"Bop to the Top" (Instrumental)	Petersen Quinn	1:36
32.	"Stick to the Status Quo" (Instrumental)	Lawrence Greenberg	0:33
33.	"I Think I Kinda, You Know" (Instrumental)	Weiner Zachary	2:52
34.	"Wondering" (Instrumental)	Cumbee Powers	3:44
35.	"A Billion Sorrys" (Instrumental)	Jeannie Lurie Gabriel Mann	1:48
36.	"All I Want" (Instrumental)	Rodrigo[6]	2:56
37.	"Born to Be Brave" (Instrumental)	Litvin Rockwell	3:09
38.	"Truth, Justice and Songs in Our Key" (Instrumental)	Lurie Mann	2:16
39.	"Out of the Old" (Instrumental)	Cumbee Powers	2:48
40.	"Role of a Lifetime" (Instrumental)	Lurie Mann	3:07
41.	"Just for a Moment" (Instrumental)	Bassett Dan Book Rodrigo[6]	3:18
Total length:			1:38:51

Charts

Sales chart performance for High School Musical: The Musical: The Series

Chart (2020)	Peak position
Australian Digital Albums (ARIA)[21]	22
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[22]	38
US Billboard 200[23]	31

See also

• High School Musical (soundtrack)

References

1. Petski, Denise (February 15, 2019). "'High School Musical': Disney+ Sets Cast, Starts Production On Streaming Series Reboot". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 16, 2019. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
2. Booth, Ali (July 2, 2019). "Olivia Rodrigo & Cast Wrap on 'HSM: The Musical' Series". Tiger Beat. Archived from the original on July 2, 2019. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
3. O'Keeffe, Kevin (November 7, 2019). "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Creator Talks Inspiration, Punctuation and more". Primetimer. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
4. Weatherby, Taylor (November 11, 2019). "High School Musical Graduates: How the New Disney+ Series Pays Homage With Modern Twists". Billboard. Billboard-Hollywood Media Group. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
5. "Disney+ to Release High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Soundtrack". BroadwayWorld. November 7, 2019. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
6. Gans, Andrew (November 7, 2019). "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Soundtrack, Out in January, to Feature HSM Classics and New Tunes". Playbill. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
7. Sorren, Martha (November 13, 2019). "Olivia Rodrigo From High School Musical Wrote Her Own Songs For The Show". Bustle. Bustle Digital Group. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
8. "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (Original Soundtrack)". Apple Music. Apple Inc. November 1, 2019. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
9. Sorren, Martha (November 13, 2019). "Who Is The HSM Alum Cameo On High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Going To Be?". Refinery. Retrieved November 14, 2019. The series' soundtrack contains a listing for Lucas Grabeel
10. Swift, Andy (November 8, 2019). "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series: Grade It! Plus, Find Out What to Expect From Season 1 (and Beyond)". TVLine. Retrieved November 10, 2019. At no point did anyone from Disney Channel or Disney+ tell me...
11. Wang, Jessica (November 8, 2019). "The High School Musical Series Will Feature An OG Cast Member Cameo". Bustle. Bustle Digital Group. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
12. Mancuso, Vinnie (November 11, 2019). "Disney+ review: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series is nostalgia done right". USA Today. Gannett Company. Retrieved November 14, 2019. Note: Lawler refers to the "two original songs" from the "first two episodes".
13. Bell, Breanna (November 11, 2019). "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Cast Talks New Music". Variety. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
14. Vick, Megan (November 13, 2019). "This Sneak Peek of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Next Original Song Is Out of This World". TV Guide. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
15. Fuentes, Tamara (November 20, 2019). "Exclusive: E.J. Tries to Get Back on Nini's Good Side with New Original Song in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series". Seventeen. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
16. Palmer, Roger (November 1, 2019). "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Medley Mashup Released". What's On Disney Plus. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
17. Gibson, Kelsie (November 7, 2019). "The HSM Series Cast Bop to the Top With a Catchy Mashup of the Film's Hit Songs". PopSugar. Group Nine Media. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
18. "Go Wildcats! Disney+'s High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Comes to D23 Expo 2019". D23. August 23, 2019.
19. "The Cast of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Performs on GMA". BroadwayWorld. November 8, 2019. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
20. High School Musical: The Musical: The Series: The Soundtrack (Liner notes). Netherlands: Walt Disney Records. 2020. 00050087438999.
21. "ARIA Australian Top 50 Digital Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. January 20, 2020. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
22. "Canadian Albums: January 25, 2020". Billboard. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
23. @billboardcharts (January 21, 2020). "Debuts on this week's #Billboard200: #31, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Soundtrack" (Tweet). Retrieved January 22, 2020 – via Twitter.