Everyone is talking about "Bruno."
"We Don't Talk About Bruno," the Latin pop earworm from the soundtrack to "Encanto," is a surprise smash on the pop charts, where it was No. 4 on last week's Billboard Hot 100 tally. That makes it the highest-charting track from a Disney animated movie in more than 25 years, topping even "Frozen's" inescapable "Let It Go," which peaked at No. 5 in 2014 (and tangentially gave us this wickedly bizarre John Travolta moment, which will never not be funny).
"Bruno" has now tied the chart position of Elton John's "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" (from "The Lion King") and Vanessa Williams' less memorable "Colors of the Wind" (from "Pocahontas"), and only one Disney song has climbed higher on the Hot 100: Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle's "A Whole New World," which reached No. 1 back in 1993. And if Adele's "Easy on Me" would just back off for a second — it has spent nine non-consecutive weeks at No. 1, which is plenty — "Bruno" might climb its way to No. 1, ensuring even more people will talk about him.
Who is this Bruno guy? You have to watch "Encanto" to know, and a lot of people are watching "Encanto." The film was a modest success in theaters, earning $93 million after opening over the Thanksgiving holiday and spending two weeks at No. 1 at the North American box office. But it has exploded since its Dec. 24 arrival on Disney+, yet another indicator of where and how people watch movies these days.
The "Encanto" soundtrack topped Billboard's albums chart in early January, knocking Adele's "30" from its No. 1 perch, and "Bruno" has been climbing steadily ever since. It has racked up more than 66 million streams on Spotify, more than 20 million more than the next most popular "Encanto" offering ("Surface Pressure," which is currently No. 14 on the Hot 100), and it's topping the list of Spotify's most-streamed songs in the USA, a chart which is usually dominated by hip-hop tracks, not songs from kids movies.
On YouTube, the "Bruno" video — an excerpted scene from "Encanto" — has 125 million views, and earlier this month Disney posted a video that shows how the song has been translated into 21 different languages.
What makes "Bruno" so popular? It's a phenomenally catchy track, blending hip-hop, dance-pop, Broadway and Cuban music elements, and it's penned by Lin-Manuel Miranda (it's credited to six members of the "Encanto" voice cast), the "Hamilton" superstar who also wrote songs for Disney's 2016 hit "Moana." "Bruno" is very much of its soundtrack, meaning that its subject matter does not cleanly translate to a world outside of what happens on screen in "Encanto," which renders its current chart success that much more impressive. It's like if upon its release, the "Cats" number "Mr. Mistoffelees" would have bumped up alongside Air Supply and Toto on the radio.
"Encanto" tells the story of the Madrigals, a family of not-quite-superheroes who reside in a small village in the mountains of Colombia. They all have magical powers, but they use them to keep their community together, not fight crime. They're the steadfastly domestic, working-class Incredibles.
Bruno, who is voiced by John Leguizamo, is the black sheep of the family, and "We Don't Talk About Bruno" is about why the rest of the Madrigals don't talk about Bruno. He's a clairvoyant but he supposedly brings bad luck, like ra-i-i-n on your wedding day, and he's seen as a malevolent force, ugly and covered in rats, etc. Other than singing about how they don't talk about him, they don't talk about him. He's bad news.
Except he's not really bad news, but that's not covered until later in "Encanto," and his redemption arc is not a part of the song. But there is a part of the song that says "time for dinner!" which makes sense in the movie, but is kind of like a "tin roof, rusted!" non-sequitur outside the context of the scene in which it plays.
All of which makes "We Don't Talk About Bruno" an oddball pop hit, but it's an odd time in the world, so it fits. Also odd: "Bruno" will not be competing for Best Original Song honors at the upcoming Academy Awards, as it did not make the shortlist of 15 songs that will eventually be whittled down to five nominees. Rather, "Encanto's" "Dos Orugitas" will go for the gold, which if it wins would give Miranda the last piece of the puzzle he needs to complete his EGOT.
If Miranda gets it, the award could be considered a consolation prize for "Bruno," which is a bigger hit than all the other songs that will be competing, Billie Eilish's James Bond theme "No Time to Die" included. In a sense, it would be fitting, and in keeping with its theme: like the song says, we don't talk about Bruno. Even though we can't stop talking about him.
