The animated Disney picture officially won the three visual media categories with the help of the viral hit song from Encanto, which earned the golden gramophone for Best Song Written For Visual Media at the 2023 GRAMMYs. The Best Compilation Soundtrack and Best Score Soundtrack prizes went to Encanto as well.
Encanto, a colorful, sincere, and amusing film about family and self-acceptance that was released in November 2021, has become the first movie to win all of the visual media categories since the compilation soundtrack category was established in 1999.
The group song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, triumphed against compositions by Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Angélique Kidjo, Billie Eilish, and Finneas O’Connell. The realistic story of family strife reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in 2022, making it the second Disney song to do so (A Whole New World from Aladdin reached the top of the charts in 1993).
However, “Bruno” is far from the only popular song to come from the enchanted land of Encanto; the album’s soundtrack also gave rise to seven Hot 100 hits, including the Top 10 anxiety song “Surface Pressure.” Producer Mike Elizondo and Disney’s Vice President of Music Tom MacDougall collected the Best Compilation Soundtrack award, which the Academy voters gave to the CD as a whole. The films Top Gun: Maverick, “Stranger Things,” West Side Story, and Elvis were also contenders in the category.
The Best Score Soundtrack award Encanto received earlier in the evening may have been the most heartfelt and appropriate given the film’s revolutionary status. Mexican-American composer Germaine Franco claimed to be the first person of color to win the GRAMMY Award while holding her gramophone in her hand.
As many of the musicians performing on the Premiere Ceremony stage also performed on the soundtrack, Franco praised “all the musicians who spent all their time making that beautiful music for the world to be a better place.”
The triumph of Encanto at the 2023 GRAMMYs is an example of how soundtracks and their singles are once again emerging as a crucial component in the success of movies. Finally, it is possible to talk openly about Bruno.