By Abby Bullock
Even for those who haven’t seen the movie, they surely have heard some of the “Mean Girls” iconic quotes such as “That is so fetch” or “On Wednesdays we wear pink.”
Although the original movie was released in 2004, it has already become a staple and has been considered a “classic” to Millennials and to Gen Z. Even magazines like “The New Yorker” and “The Guardian” have published articles discussing how iconic the movie still is after two decades.
In fact, the original movie has become so iconic that it was adapted into a Broadway musical – “Mean Girls: The Musical” – that premiered at the August Wilson Theater in New York in early 2018. The musical was also incredibly successful, and according to the “Edmonton Journal,” it grossed nearly $125 million in roughly 830 performances. It recouped its investment shortly before the pandemic struck in March 2020. And since then, there have been two American national tours of the musical and the second one is still touring.
As a viewer of the Broadway musical, I can say that the musical itself is so incredible, with hilarious and clever writing and very talented actors and singers. Something I particularly fell in love with was the musical’s brilliant soundtrack. For those who want to give it a listen, it is available for free on platforms like YouTube and Spotify.
To me, pretty much every song is what people may call a “banger,” and all of them have each been stuck in my head at least once during my lifetime. If I had to pick, I’d say my personal favorites are “Someone Gets Hurt,” “More Is Better,” and “I See Stars.”
With the success of the Broadway musical, this eventually led the creator of “Mean Girls,” Tiny Fey, to pursue making the Broadway musical into a new “Mean Girls” film, but this time, as a movie musical based on the Broadway musical.
Well… supposedly.
I still haven’t seen the new “Mean Girls” movie that came out on Jan. 12, however, the new soundtrack became available to me immediately. After some of the interesting reviews that I heard from my theatre friends, I knew that I had to give the new soundtrack a listen ASAP.
I have to admit, my standards were already somewhat low, considering it had already been revealed to the world that several of the songs from the original Broadway musical were being cut from the movie, such as “Where Do You Belong,” “It Roars,” and one of the favorites I mentioned – “More Is Better.”
I couldn’t help but worry already that the people working on this movie weren’t handling this new movie in the way that they should. Or… at least the way that I wanted them to.
Listening to the new soundtrack made me feel even more so.
It has 13 songs, whereas the Broadway soundtrack has 21. I will start off by saying that the two are vastly different and not just because of the amount of tracks on the album. While the original Broadway soundtrack was a bit “pop-y,” it still had that wonderful Broadway touch that worked so well for it. The Broadway soundtrack even contained a full orchestra, and the Broadway performances had a live orchestra in the pit for every one of its shows.
This new soundtrack, however, was nothing but pop. In some situations, this would be fine. I can deal with pop. However, in my opinion, for a movie that I assumed was a “remake” of the Broadway musical, I feel like fully sticking with this choice of genre and using these types of instrumentals completely took away from the movie’s integrity.
I will give some of the tracks some credit – “Apex Predator” had some fantastic vocals from Auliʻi Cravalho and Jaquel Spivey, “I’d Rather Be Me” was wonderful, and “What’s Wrong With Me?” still had that Broadway touch.
However, I was immensely disappointed by numbers like “Stupid With Love” and “Revenge Party.” The instrumentals were lackluster at best, and I would say that songs like this are a big example of the makers of this movie trying to appeal to a more modern, non-musical loving audience. It all feels too simplified and some of the singing is just… not there.
This is something that upset me a lot about the soundtrack. Sure, some of the actors like Cravalho, Spivey and Rapp were very suited to their roles and to a musical, but some of the energy from the other actors/singers was just not meeting the standard that it should.
Also, the fact that Christopher Briney was cast as Aaron Samuels, I would argue, was stunt-casting because of his relevance right now. Why? Because he doesn’t sing a single note in the movie. I just can’t help but be a little angry at the fact that they would cast someone who doesn’t sing in a movie musical.
So, if you couldn’t tell, overall, I feel producers made some bad choices for this movie to appeal to a wider audience. Maybe I’m being a little harsh about all of this, and maybe I was being a little picky, but the entire thing is just not what I expected, and I was very disappointed.
When it comes to outside opinions, they were somewhat varied. In a Google Forms survey I sent out to all of my Instagram followers, it was almost 50-50 between who enjoyed the newest “Mean Girls” soundtrack and who didn’t, with 40% liking the soundtrack, and 60% saying that the soundtrack could have been better.
Karsyn Gregory, a Bellarmine student, said she was let down by the soundtrack. “It is incredibly dull, as the instruments are severely toned down to create a poppy, generic sound,” she said. “Lots of the vocals fall flat, are unenthusiastic, and required ‘opt-downs’ - which implies the range was not there to fulfill the songs as they were written.”
Bellarmine sophomore Kat Carter said she felt strongly that many movie viewers likely didn’t anticipate a new soundtrack at all. “[They tried] to hide it was a musical, and it took out good aspects of the songs,” she said. “Why were Damien's songs cut? Why were so many things changed? It was almost a fearful approach with a ton of autotune and GarageBand.”
Olivia Anderson, a Bellarmine junior, said she was concerned about musical aspects that were cut. “I'm sort of sad that the soundtrack cuts out that first section of ‘Sexy’ that Karen sings,” she said. “I always thought it was funny and it gives context as to where the whole world peace thing comes from, but it's gone from the movie soundtrack.”
Kaite Feduccia, a Bellarmine junior, said she believes that the music producers and actors took sleeping pills before going into the studio.
Would I recommend listening to it? I’m honestly not sure, and I would argue that it’s especially dangerous to look into if you have already listened to the “Mean Girls on Broadway” soundtrack (which, apparently, has gone up in listens and views since the new soundtrack came out). It’s up to you either way, and if you form some opinions on it, there are always some theatre students in Wyatt Hall who surely will be ready to discuss it with you.
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