“Hey Mark, what if I told you that Minnie Mouse is releasing a lo-fi hip-hop album?”
This was not the phone call I was expecting on Thursday morning. Or any morning.
But here we are: at the age of 94, the polka dot mouse has fallen in love with the eccentric, faded beats of a genre that has been dubbed “chillhop” or “study beats.”
Until now, Minnie’s main musical forays were all preschool songs with titles like “Wiggle, Wiggle Wiggle” and “So Many Pets.”
He achieved some cult success in 1983 when the Los Angeles duo Sparks recorded a quirky new wave pop song in his honor, containing the immortal lyrics: “You can say it’s just a mouse / The Taj Mahal is just a house.“
But while this new album marks a major new direction for the animated rodent, there’s a cunning logic behind Disney’s decision.
Low-fidelity, or lo-fi, music is recorded with intentional blemishes like vinyl crackle, miss-played notes, or ambient noises like page turning or raindrops.
Like a dream and largely instrumental, it supposedly activates the parts of the brain that help with focus.
Although it has been around for years, the popularity of the genre skyrocketed during the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly among younger listeners who used it to aid concentration and relaxation.
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Given the music’s emphasis on nostalgia and tranquillity, lo-fi producers have frequently chosen the most iconic Disney songs.
A collection of Disney piano covers by Japanese composer Kno has been streamed on YouTube 50 million times.
Followers of his account say that the music has helped calm anxiety attacks, while dozens of parents thank him for helping their babies sleep.
“Our whole family uses this after dinner to chat, relax and spend time together,” says another appreciative parent, while one student comments, “My dog heard this and is now doing my nuclear physics thesis.”
With that in mind, it makes sense for Disney to commission an official lo-fi remix album; which is exactly what he has done.
Available today on all streaming platforms, the album takes songs like Aladdin’s A Whole New World and The Lion King’s Hakuna Matata and repurposes them as glitchy lullabies.
The new versions have been “curated” by Minnie Mouse, who “commissioned” some of the biggest names in lo-fi, including American artist Purrple Cat, Dutch producer Eevee, and the magnificently dubbed harpist Hippo Dreams.
Minnie wasn’t available for comment (I checked), but here’s what Disney had to say in a totally relaxed press release.
“Disney and Minnie Mouse are a natural fit for lo-fi, especially with Minnie’s interests in creativity, music and wellness leaning toward lo-fi’s penchant for self-expression and its calming, meditative properties.
“What attracted us to lo-fi is the ability to reimagine our songs in a whole new way that combines the relaxing benefits of lo-fi with the wonder and nostalgia that Disney has to offer. Lo-fi and Disney are a great source of comfort, so the two make a perfect match.
The album is part of a long-established trend for House Of Mouse to mine their incredible catalog of music by fine-tuning it for modern listeners.
1979’s Mickey Mouse Disco turned tracks like Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah and Chim Chim Cher-ee into watered-down funk beats; while 2014’s Dconstructed tapped into the EDM trend with the trance remix of Frozen’s Let It Go that no one asked for and no one wanted.
Lo-fi Minnie: Focus works a little better than that, not least because Disney’s soaring, uplifting ballads fit the genre perfectly.
The album comes on the heels of the animation studio’s first UK number one single: the witty salsa number We Don’t Talk About Bruno, from the hit film Encanto.
Could these songs still make the charts? Probably not. We’ll all be asleep before we hit the snooze button.
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