My children have informed me that I am not allowed to refer to a song as “a bop.” I am apparently too old to use any slang that was invented in the 21st century. Which is why I use it at every given opportunity.
So, without further ado: each song in this week’s blog post is a straight up bop.
The Best of Both Worlds (Hannah Montana)
Long before she was topping the charts with songs like “Flowers” and “Wrecking Ball,” Miley Cyrus was killing it at Disney’s Hannah Montana. The show was a phenomenon and launched Cyrus into stardom.
It told the story of Hannah Montana, a normal girl and student by day and international pop star by night. Written by Matthew Gerrard and Robbie Nevil, “The Best of Both Worlds” blends dance, rock, and country, the song’s lyrics and multiple styles perfectly capture the idea of living two lives.
As Gerrard later recalled, “It was a fun mixture, energetic pop that you can dance and sing along to. And then the concepts…I was trying to encompass what I thought the show was about from how they described it to me.”
Hannah Montana – The Best Of Both Worlds (youtube.com)
DuckTales Theme (Duck Tales)
For any kid who grew up in the 80s and 90s, one Disney theme song rises above the rest: the theme for DuckTales, written by Mark Mueller. With the song being used again for the DuckTales reboot which ran from 2017 through 2021, it’s safe to say a whole new generation will grow up with it as a part of their core memories as well.
Despite its iconic status, it turns out that Mueller was only paid $1,250 to write the piece. As he later recalled, Disney wanted the song to seem more like a pop song than a traditional cartoon theme.
“When people find out what I do for a living, they’ll always ask if they’d know one of my songs,” Muller said. “Sometimes they won’t know my pop hits. But almost everywhere I’ve gone, people know DuckTales. The reach of it is so mind-blowing.”
DuckTales – Theme Song | Disney+ Throwbacks | Disney+ (youtube.com)
Everything is Not What It Seems (Wizards of Waverly Place)
While it may be hard to imagine listening to “Lose You to Love Me” Selena Gomez actually started her show biz journey on Barney & Friends. She later auditioned for a part in Disney’s Wizards of Waverly Place and earned a starring role in February of 2007.
Gomez was cast as Alex Russo, the show’s main character. She also performed the show’s theme song “Everything is Not What It Seems.” It was penned by the team of Bradley Hamilton, John Adair, Ryan Elder, and Stephen Hampton.
Talking about her work on the series later, she recalled, “ “I tell people all the time I’ve never had that feeling that I’ve had with the whole Wizards crew, not just you guys…I felt like I was the happiest I had been my whole life.”
The song has continued to have an influence on the world of pop music, with Billie Eilish even admitting that it largely inspired her song “Bad Guy.”
Wizards of Waverly Place – Theme Song | Disney+ Throwbacks | Disney+ (youtube.com)
Call Me, Beep Me (Kim Possible)
Widely considered one of the Disney Channels greatest shows, it’s only fitting that Kim Possible should have an equally iconic theme song. “Call Me, Beep Me” written by Cory Lerios and George Gabriel is easily one of Disney’s catchiest title tracks.
The song was performed by Christina Milan, who was working at Disney as a correspondent for the mini-series Movie Surfer at the time. She was called in to discuss potentially performing the show’s theme song.
“I met the writer,” Milan recalled. “We sat down, and he created a song. And next thing you know, a week later, I went in the studio and recorded it. I never knew it was going to be what it ended up being.”
Looking back, she remains amazed by the song’s longevity and legacy.
“It’s so funny,” Milan said. I feel like I’ve been meeting a lot of people, and they’re all like … early 20s, and they’ve all been like, ‘Kim Possible! Kim Possible!’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, wow.’ It’s crazy how music is generational. I’ve literally walked past people, and I’ve heard it as their ringtone.”
Theme Song 🎶 | Kim Possible | Disney Channel (youtube.com)
That’s So Raven (That’s So Raven)
Another staple of the Disney Channel, That’s So Raven starred Raven-Symoné. An established child star before joining the Disney family (thanks to The Cosby Show and Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper), she auditioned for the show Absolutely Psychic in 2001. Though she didn’t audition for the lead role, she managed to earn the part and the show’s title was changed to That’s So Raven.
The theme song, which she performed with Orlando Brown, Adrienne Bailon and Anneliese van der Pol, was written by John Coda.The show’s soundtrack reached #44 on the Billboard 200 and eventually earned Gold Status (selling 500,000 copies).
Talking about the show (and theme) in later years, Raven-Symoné noted, “I will toot my own horn and say I was a part of Disney Channel years where the theme songs were epic…My generation of shows was bop. You know what I mean?”
When it comes to the legacy of the show, she’s notes that time has allowed her to see just how much impact it had.
“It didn’t impact me as much then as it does now because I was 15,” she said. “I was like, cool, I got my own show. It means so much now because I understand the [gravity] of what it means and the caliber of humans that I am in the pool with. I think it was kind of a good thing that I didn’t let it go to my head. It was just about working and wanting to create great content at the time.”
Make Mine Music 