{"id":985,"date":"2022-01-05T20:16:31","date_gmt":"2022-01-05T20:16:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/?p=985"},"modified":"2022-01-11T23:50:16","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T23:50:16","slug":"lets-take-a-sledgehammer-to-the-patriarchy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/lets-take-a-sledgehammer-to-the-patriarchy\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Cinderella\u2019: Idina Menzel and Laura Veltz \u201cTake a Sledgehammer to the Patriarchy\u201d With Their Song \u201cDream Girl\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The tune from Amazon\u2019s musical retelling of the fairy tale aimed to show that Cinderella\u2019s stepmother, played by Menzel, has both a vulnerability and “a rage and frustration with the world that she was given,” says Menzel. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Idina Menzel<\/a> is no stranger to the Academy Awards<\/a>, having performed two Oscar-winning songs \u2014 Frozen<\/em>\u2018s \u201cLet It Go\u201d and Frozen 2<\/em>\u2018s \u201cInto the Unknown\u201d \u2014 at the ceremony. But this year, she may have the chance to showcase her own songwriting during the live broadcast as her song \u201cDream Girl,\u201d from Amazon\u2019s Cinderella<\/a><\/em>, has landed on the shortlist for best original song.<\/p>\n

\u201cDream Girl,\u201d co-written with Nashville-based two-time Grammy nominee Laura Veltz, is the standout number for Menzel\u2019s Vivian, the stepmother to Camila Cabello\u2019s Cinderella. In writer-director Kay Cannon\u2019s version of the fairy tale, Vivian isn\u2019t just the canonical wicked stepmother \u2014 she is a product of her time, a woman who was forced to give up her dreams in order to marry and find security in a patriarchal society. \u201cDream Girl\u201d is a feminist anthem, born out of anger and rage, that perfectly encapsulates Vivian\u2019s inner life and contempt for Cinderella, who prioritizes her creative pursuits over romance.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Menzel and Veltz spoke with THR<\/em> about their collaborative process and how Menzel\u2019s acting experiences have empowered her as a songwriter.<\/p>\n

Idina, what were your initial thoughts on your character, and how did they make their way into \u201cDream Girl\u201d? <\/strong><\/p>\n

IDINA MENZEL<\/strong> Kay wrote the role with humanity, humor and complexity. It wasn\u2019t the stereotypical, cliched version of the stepmother that we\u2019ve seen a million times. I would have taken the role whether I was able to write a song or not, but Kay was always supportive of me having the opportunity to be artistically involved. I knew I couldn\u2019t do it on my own \u2014 I needed someone like Laura, who helped find this cool edge. We wanted [Vivian] to have a vulnerability deep down, but have a rage and frustration with the world that she was given. People always assume that I\u2019m going to sing this empowering song, but this was going to be empowering in a different way. We weren\u2019t going to be like, \u201cCome on, everybody, rise up!\u201d This was like, \u201cCome on, everybody, let\u2019s get pissed. Let\u2019s take a sledgehammer to the patriarchy. Let\u2019s fucking get real.\u201d<\/p>\n

What were your initial conversations like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

LAURA VELTZ<\/strong> Super fast and furious to begin with. This song had an opportunity to illustrate something important \u2014 the efficacy and absurdity of systemic oppression. The parent feels oppressed, they pass it down to their child, the child feels oppressed, they pass it down \u2026 I mean, it\u2019s extremely effective. [For Vivian,] this is the moment to say, \u201cYou must get in your place, you must fall into line. Society says you can\u2019t, so you can\u2019t.\u201d Idina, you said you\u2019re used to singing these empowering songs, but I find this to fall in that same spot. The lyrics are all written from this perspective of the voice in our heads. And if we don\u2019t dig around [to figure out] what\u2019s wrong with the world, then how are we ever going to fix it?<\/p>\n

MENZEL <\/strong>The actor in me was also focusing on the pain of this woman. Kay wasn\u2019t afraid to go there. And the day when she said, \u201cYou know what, you guys wrote the song. I think we need to add to it,\u201d every female character in the movie got to join in. And it was amazing. Like Laura said, [it\u2019s] been planted in us what we can or cannot do. Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy. We don\u2019t always have to blame the patriarchy. When I was shooting the film and thinking about the character, [I thought of] those moments when I let all the shit that people have said to me in the past contribute to me not being my best, greatest, kick-ass self. When all is said and done, [that\u2019s what] I was singing about.<\/p>\n

For me, it was the next natural progression in my career. [I\u2019ve been involved in] originating so many roles in musicals, but to actually get to write the lyrics and the melody \u2026 Melody is even more important to me sometimes because, as a singer, that\u2019s how I communicate with the world. When the melody doesn\u2019t feel like it\u2019s coming from the right place, emotionally, then as the actor it doesn\u2019t feel like it all comes together. When you have someone that can reach inside you like Laura and help manifest [that], it\u2019s just the greatest feeling in the world. And to have people recognize the song and to be a writer on it \u2026 this is one of those milestones for me.<\/p>\n

Was it empowering to write this big showstopping number yourself, rather than singing someone else\u2019s lyrics?<\/strong><\/p>\n

MENZEL <\/strong>It\u2019s my job to take anyone\u2019s words and melody and find a way to sing them literally. That\u2019s what I love. I\u2019m an interpreter, but I am a songwriter deep down. I haven\u2019t had the chance to show what I can do \u2014 or at least people haven\u2019t seen it as much. My acting experience [enables me] to get at what feels right cosmically, spiritually and musically for a moment. It\u2019s an intangible thing. Having stood at the piano with amazing composers and watching them work, I\u2019ve started to build up my confidence as to what I have to offer. Laura is the craftsman. I hear all these melodies, and then she\u2019s like, \u201cThat\u2019s the hook!\u201d She picks up the guitar and finds this amazing groove.<\/p>\n

VELTZ <\/strong>When someone understands what they want something to feel like, now we\u2019re cooking with gas. Idina is so freakin\u2019 fantastic at that. She came in with so many ideas, so many delicious emotional details \u2014 she thought through who Vivian was. She\u2019s a songwriter at the core. [To Menzel:] And I hope that continues in your career. I\u2019m biased because I\u2019m a songwriter, but it\u2019s such a beautiful thing to write something and know that your thoughts, your words turn to melodies, and now someone is singing along. Idina surely has a future in that if she wants to just do that \u2014 she\u2019s so skilled.<\/p>\n

Interview edited for length and clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The tune from Amazon\u2019s musical retelling of the fairy tale aimed to show that Cinderella\u2019s stepmother, played by Menzel, has both a vulnerability and “a rage and frustration with the world that she was given,” says Menzel. Idina Menzel is no stranger to the Academy Awards, having performed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[64,61,65],"class_list":["post-985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","tag-64","tag-cinderella","tag-dream-girl"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/1fea_playbook-music_MAIN.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Srnq-fT","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=985"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1061,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985\/revisions\/1061"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}