Dwayne The Rock Johnson, aka Maui. Good to see you and your gorgeous wife Lauren. Hello. Good to see you. Okay, we are about to kick off some listening party down there in Hollywood right now celebrating all things Disney's Moana. Thank you so much for being here.

It's a special night. Cannot wait for you to hear these incredible artists. So thank you for coming.

Wait, before, I have to interrupt. I brought presents to inspire us. Each of you, you. I brought them for each of you.

Wow, thank you so much.

Who could have said yes if you would have waited too? Yeah.

I didn't. I didn't. These are all these are so beautiful. So much. Speedy necklaces. Now I have two medallions. You can wear them, not wear them, but it's inspired.

I would wear this. My neck is too thick for this. I have a feeling our children are going to steal these from us. I hope that's okay. Thank you very much. Of course, those necklaces, they're about creating nature, life, healing. You guys created an epic, powerful album.

Thank you for saying that. It is a it's a powerful album because every one of these artists have have delivered this these songs originally written for this particular project, but they all singing from their soul and you feel it. We have been talking about this project for years and this was Lauren's idea. And she said this idea years ago. I think after the I'm after the first Moana 10 years ago, I said that's a great idea, we should do that. Years went by, Moana 2 came out. She goes, remember that album idea? I said, I love it. And then when we started talking about live action Moana, she goes, now's the perfect time. I went to Disney, I had the meeting, they all went, we're in. We want to do that. We'll support the culture. We love this idea. We're so excited. We feel so lucky to be a part of this. These are artists who we listen to all the time. And there's so many folks here who may have not heard of them before. And these voices are so powerful. Their songwriting is powerful, their storytelling, you know, they're all independent artists. They don't have the big record labels behind them and the big machines behind them. Yet they continue to go out there and make incredibly quality music and really connect with people and connect with fans. So, uh, when we started working on the album, we went out to our favorite artists. Uh it was actually too many to to pick from. Um, but we really gave the creativity to them. We said, we want to hear from you and your words. What's your story that you want to tell? What's your connection to Moana, but it's really connection to culture, because Moana is all about culture and their culture. Um, and and they each went and found their own inspiration from the movie and from culture. Uh and this really is all them. They did this themselves. But I think they felt the energy from Dwayne and I and our co-executive producer, Tiana and Kayla. Um, and they knew like this is this is about depth. We're going to go deep and we're going to sing about things that are really important to us and uh and represent and have pride and it it's heard throughout the whole album.

Well, speaking of being co-executive producers, what is it like working together? Give me the nitty gritty.

What do you think? Answer this one first, too. Uh, let's see. It was um, well, for just imagine if you and your husband or your boyfriend or your wife or your girlfriend, if you guys were working on the exact same thing and you were looking at the same North Star, and you had to put whatever experiences and baggage you have aside. Honestly, it's been the best. I I I don't have a, we're never doing that again, kind of story, but it's been the best working with her. I've been around the block, I've I've done a lot of things in this world of entertainment in this world of um, creativity. And I will tell you that Lauren is one of my favorite producers. I'm not just saying this cuz she's my wife and she's sitting next to me, but truly because she's a she's also, she's she's an artist producer because she writes and she sings herself. So she has an empathy for when as an artist, you create this idea, especially if you're singing and you're writing and you're like, what about this? I want to sing about this. I think I should sing it like this. It that requires it's like a it's like you hear, oh, that man or woman is a an actor's director. So she has an empathy and she'll say, I love that idea a lot. I think we should explore that. May I offer something else? Now, there that's a difference. There's a difference between that and I don't know if that's going to work. Let me give you my thought. But she's been the best. So.

Well, it's been good. You know, you got to tell me something surprising about him. Come on.

Yeah, what what's Like something juicy or Oh, yeah, we're. You know, you know what? I think he and I, he's so, what you'll hear on this album, to say is, he's very egotistical. I come to him with an idea, he shuts me down. Five minutes later, though, it's like, hey, what's that idea again in your head? I wasn't going to say egotistical. You said that for me, so thank you. But no, I was I was going to say he's a very sensitive heart. He is a girl dad through and through. So Dwayne also got to sing a song on this album and co-write it with Ian Tunge for his uh song on the album. And I I think what would surprise people would probably be really how gentle he is. And um what a deep, caring, sensitive dad heart that he has, you know? Because they get to see the action hero and and the Rock and the mama and the and all all the but but no, like I and and you know, there were some songs that we were sent uh from other artists and when we heard them, we would cry. He cries. So, you know, we would be emotional. Listening to some of these songs because we know how much they mean to them and where they come from and they're so personal. So, I think um there there's been a lot of emotions throughout this project and it's been nice to connect in that way.

I know. And just to add, like I was saying, you know, with these artists, when when everybody hears the album, they really sing from their guts. Then we would get these songs at 7:00 a.m. I say, hey, I'll meet you in the office downstairs and we we'd listen at 7:00 a.m. And then be a crying party because it was just so emotional. So writing your dad, I wrote your dad with Ian Tunge, who of course won American Idol a couple years ago. I couldn't get through. Like I would help write and I'd say, hey, what do you think about this lyric? What do you think about? Oh, I love it. Send it to Ian. I'd send it to Ian via voice note and I would be like, you know, uh, you know, my whole life changed from the and I'm like, oh, sorry, man. I can't and I just get so emotional. No, it was just it was so, yeah.

I will say earlier this year, you were nominated for a Golden Globe Award. I say now, since we are creating, I think we're going to create a Grammy nomination for you next.

That'd be beautiful because it is nice to be acknowledged by other musicians, another creatives, you know, and other people who really connect and feel music, but I think even at the end of the day, just if the folks who are listening find a new artist and find a new voice and and like we could put these artists on more the way that they deserve. Um, we're just so happy. We're just so happy to see that type of success come through it.

And look, look, I we would love that. That that would be amazing, right? I went on the, you know, the awards campaign. I did that for Smash machine. It was an unforgettable experience. And I loved every moment of it. Yeah. Um, but something like this, I would love I would love that kind of recognition. That would be amazing. But also because it's like for them. Yeah. You know, and for the culture and for like all these little kids when you get their feedback of of when they watch live action Moana, their we hear from the parents, which is watching their kids watch Moana and go, hey, that's us up there. Whoa. I can't believe that. So same thing when they listen to the album, like, hey, that's us there. Connected to us up there. So it could be cool.

Yeah. Your voice is cool, so that could win the award too. Let's go. Thank you for this. This is so nice and thank you for that that the Grammy thing you just said. It was really nice. And when it's time to find home, we know the way.