LET’S TALK ABOUT THE MEAN GIRLS MOVIE SOUNDTRACK
BY KATHERINE CHUNG (SHE/HER)The new adaptation of Mean Girls is so fetch! This new movie is inspired by the 2004 chick flick featuring music from the original Broadway show. Starring Renee Rapp as Regina George, it serves as a cautionary tale re-written by Tina Fey.
The soundtrack for this new adaptation features a total of 13 songs, with 11 of them being sourced from the original Broadway soundtrack. These 11 songs underwent a creative transformation, being rewritten and restructured to align with the contemporary high school pop music genre of 2024. The intent is to seamlessly blend elements of both musical theater and current pop music, paying homage to the Broadway show while incorporating today's musical styles.
The soundtrack's opening title song, "A Cautionary Tale" sung by Auli’i Cravalho and Jaquel Spivey is so grool! Auli’i, portraying Janis, the lesbian outsider at North High begins to narrate this iconic moment from the original Broadway show. Her opening line, “It's a cautionary tale of fear and lust and pride/ based on actual events where people died,” encapsulates what it means to be in high school. Janis is letting the audience know that this tale includes danger. She warns you that you might get hurt or be the one hurting someone. In the following lyrics, we meet our second narrator, Damian, Janis’ best friend. Damian is known as the outcasted boy in school who is ‘too gay to function.’ His lyrics, “No one dies! But how far would you go to be popular and hot?” are timeless and summarize the movie.
One of the original songs, “What Ifs?” was written for Angourie Rice’s character, Cady Heron. The lyrics depict her experience transitioning to a public school, breaking free from the confines of a sheltered homeschool environment. The last song on the soundtrack, “Not My Fault”, is a bonus track performed by Renee Rapp and Megan Thee Stallion. The introduction to this track, “You know what?/ It's not my fault you're in love with me or something!” is special because Lindsay Lohan, who played the old version of Cady Heron, said the line in the original movie. This song perfectly describes what it means to be one of The Plastics or popular in the Mean Girls universe.
The movie soundtrack also stands out because Cady Heron gives space to her queer narrators. Auli’i, openly shared that she is bisexual on TikTok during the pandemic. The role of Janis is originally written as a goth closeted girl in the 2004 movie. However, in this version, Auli’i is portraying an openly lesbian character who is proud of her pride, she even shows it in her clothing statements. In a recent Gay Times interview, Tina Fey said, “I think young women are just more comfortable being who they are. When I wrote the original movie in 2004, I was writing about my teen experience in 1988. I had so many gay friends and everyone was out in our friend group but nobody took a same-sex date to the dance. Everyone was closeted.” Janis' storyline is going to show girls that they can run the world and be queer. Now more than ever. It's crucial to spotlight queer women in Hollywood and pop music.
The movie’s second narrator, Jaquel Spivey, is a young black man with a strong self-awareness. During a recent ETalk TV interview, Jaquel expressed sentiments that echo Tina Fey's message in the latest adaptation. “I think in film and television, queerness always has a certain look, and it was nice to show that there are plus-size people who are fun, joyful, and jolly. And they are not getting slammed into lockers or running to the bathroom crying and eating a sandwich. There are fun times for us too. We enjoy it. We have the queer experience. But it’s not just about that. It’s not just a movie about queer kids. It’s about kids who happen to be queer.”
Apart from Janis' and Damian’s storylines, Renee Rapp who plays Regina George, also came out as bisexual during the pandemic. She has said in multiple interviews that she supports a fan theory suggesting that Regina could be a lesbian. This theory is based on the observation that Regina sings exclusively to girls she is interested in, rather than the boys she tries to date. What are your thoughts on this theory?