Why WISH's “Welcome To Rosas” is worse than you thought (video essay)

Let's talk about musical opening numbers! And how with Wish's "Welcome TO Rosas" Disney Animation totally... ehh... dropped the ball... And it should be said, we're HUGE Disney Animation fans here, so all this WITH LOVE!

Video Essay by our video essayist @astorrhymemaster
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We're big fans of Disney and Disney Animation, and everything they have done. But this... this was not it... what do you think?
This video is a deep dive video essay into Wish's opening song, titled "welcome to rosas" and yes... it's not great... Let us know if you have more questions and what songs you'd like to see broken down next!

Background Music by Epidemic Sounds

#disneyanimation #disneywish

[lilac]

also in comparison to “the family madrigal” there’s conflict in that song. The whole song starts because mirabel doesn’t want to answer the question about her gift because she doesn’t have one! so she deflects to talking about her family instead! there’s also lines that hint at her jealousy towards them too! so whilst it’s a fun upbeat introduction that sets up the universe and mirabels character it’s already hinting at the conflict that’s going to happen.

[waywardh]

Nooo The "eighteen/ceremony" rhyme has the vibe of an elementary schooler making up a song 💀💀💀

[sumsumplays]

Can i just jump in and say that for a city called rosas which clearly drives from the spanish word for “rose” and also close to “pink” to they’re really lacking in anything like a bunch of roses or pink ect. If anything looks like a pretty dull average kingdom which the whole song is trying to suggest its unique which the only thing it got going is literally just the king making wishes

[eamonclark]

Everything “The Family Madrigal” from Encanto gets right is everything that “Welcome To Rosas” from Wish gets wrong. When Mirabel sings “The Family Madrigal” she has a peppy, optimistic and enthusiastic personality that makes her a fun person to be around and to hang out but Ahsa is just dorky and awkward

[rebeccagroot]

Also can we talk about the fact that plague-ridden Paris in Hunchback looks way more populated than Rosas. Rosas looks EMPTY. Like they ran out of money and time to animate the extras

[PyxeledGenesis]

Something I've noticed is how incredibly VAGUE all of Wish's songs are. We don't get specifics, we don't get hyperbole, everything is just "i did this" "this thing happened" "i wish for more", like please give us SOMETHING

[supernovamike]

10:10 "Wish feels like a musical made by executives who think musicals just exist to shut up their kids" is probably the best summary critique I've heard.
With young kids, my primary metric for whether a Disney movie gets a pass or fail is whether I'm okay with my kids watching it. Wish passed that test so initially I was very happy with it.
But when evaluated for quality on its own merits, it's missing quite a lot. Definitely a movie that was made just for the sake of making a movie, and one that checks a whole bunch of corporate requirements, but doesn't really have a soul of its own.

[serenitythesiren]

The only lyric I actually like in the original song is. ‘You won’t even miss it when you say goodbye’.
Idk. It gives a very cult like feel and shows that even people like Asha have been tricked and manipulated into thinking it’s okay to give part of your literal soul up. (Considering how dull and sleepy people come, it’s basically like taking a piece of them).

[Omnipotentmonkey]

The difference in energy level in the animation between "Madrigals" and "Rosas" is also incredibly stark, as an animation guy I could already tell Encanto was going to be something special just from how Mirabel and the scene MOVED, the knocking on the doors in different ways to the beat, the hopping in place to keep up with the "treadmill" that the house is doing for Luisa, that electric way she sashays out of the way for presenting Alma on the lyric "Abuela runs the show!" the sharp cuts or camera movements on the "Woah"s

It feels like there's a very strong audiovisual synergy,
Rosas... Asha just kind of walks through the scene while singing, there's little character in how she moves, the attempts for the movie to "dance" with the music are flat to say the least,

[eatatjoes]

The whole song feels like a clunky conversation someone’s having rather than a tour guide giving a tour of the city.

[aidansheehan]

When I listened to this song for the first time, I just thought “this is really how we’re going to start off the hundredth anniversary film huh?”.

[SweenyTodd]

It felt like it was trying to be like "The Family Madrigal" from Encanto but it didn't really work.

[perrilewis]

I wish Asha's personality was more serious. If she's trying to be the apprentice of the king she should be poised. Or kinda manipulative because she's getting taught by the evil king. She puts on a performance of being adorkable.

[acesinger]

I saw a video today on this guy’s channel called “Jonah Who Two” where he actually rewrote some of the lyrics in Welcome To Rosas and made it sound a bit better and more cohesive! To top it off, he made a cover of his version at the end and it sounded SOOOO Like man his voice is amazing!

[rascaljoy]

I suddenly understand why this is literally the first encounter I’ve had with ANY music from the Wish soundtrack (no, I have not seen the movie, and don’t really plan to)…

[danielmalinen]

The song "Welcome to Rosas" is also a nightmare for dubbed translations and it doesn't translate well. For example, in the Finnish dubbing, the translation of the song "Tervetuloa Rosasiin" doesn't even fit into the original rhythm because they needed to add extra syllables to the lyrics so that the message of the song doesn't suffer or get distorted. And in order for the extended words to fit into the song, the singer who dubbed the translation had to rush the lyrics and the end result is not of high quality. At least not the kind of quality that can be expected and demanded from Disney songs.

[jcarr]

Totally agree with this. Also it should have been her 18th birthday and her wish ceremony but she chooses to not give her wish thus making magnifico curious and wanting to meet with her about being an apprentice.

[Victoria-_]

This movie had so much potential… and Disney butchered it at almost every turn!

[cathygrandstaff]

If it were me I think the song should have been a duet between Asha and the townspeople, in the same way as Belle was. The townspeople would be singing about how great it was to have a king that could grant wishes and how much they’re looking forward to having their wishes granted while Asha’s segment would be a mix of hope that this time her grandfather’s wish will be granted and growing frustration that it hasn’t been.

Alternately if they wanted to change the story they could establish that Magnifico grants wishes, but as a cost to staying in the city you have to give your wish to Magnifico. Asha hasn’t done this yet because she was a kid, but since she’s come of age she will be expected to hand over her wish at this year’s ceremony. However she’s finding out she doesn’t want to entrust her wish to Magnifico. This would set up a conflict where she has to either hand over her wish or face exile.

[matityaloran]

2:49, you’d think they’d have gone with “where your dreams are something you can realize”