Apr 28, 2025
This is your reminder that AJ Holmes and Kaley McMahon of Twisted have been writing music to some kind of Snow White musical adaptation and you should go listen to it because the music is fucking amazing
seen from Canada
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from Spain
seen from Switzerland
seen from United States
seen from Canada
seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from Australia
seen from Russia
seen from Türkiye
seen from China
seen from Spain
seen from Saudi Arabia
seen from United States
seen from Canada
seen from Germany
This is your reminder that AJ Holmes and Kaley McMahon of Twisted have been writing music to some kind of Snow White musical adaptation and you should go listen to it because the music is fucking amazing
Do you know Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier (2013) ?
Yes, I’ve been in it/worked on it
Yes, I’ve seen it
Yes, I’ve listened to it
No, but I’ve heard of it
No, never heard of it
Hey if there's any Starkid fans who are also fans of Hilda, the song Bottom of the Sea from season 3 episode 4 was written by AJ Holmes and Kaley McMahon!
There will never be a more clever evil reprise in a musical than changing “I Follow the Golden Rule” to “I follow the Gold and Rule”
CHILLS
We really need to appreciate Kaley McMahon more.
For those who don't know, she was the lyricist for Twisted.
'But if I hide to save my life, what has my life been for?'
'Do not be fooled by appearances, even though it may seem hard
The power to love one another, is the greatest power of all'
'Simple reciprocity is always my philosophy
You get back what you give'
'Perhaps its not too late, to change the course of fate,
Coz after all I must be pretty great, if you believed in me'
You see what I mean? These words are so heart touching and powerful.
She's a goddess and very underrated.
The Music and Lyrics of Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier
I am obsessed with the complexity of the musical and lyrical composition of Twisted as both a standalone piece of theatre and a work that parodies and honors the music of traditional Disney music so I decided to make a separate post talking about a few of the highlights. Enjoy my ramblings!
“Dream A Little Harder”
This entire sequence is an obvious parody of the opening sequence to Beauty and The Beast, ‘Belle’. It is absolutely not subtle at all and that’s exactly why I love this number so much. As the song progresses and the ensemble sings together more, it sounds more like a generalized version of the classic Disney musical sound, with its whimsical notes and pure tones (looking at you, sopranos) and I have to give major kudos to AJ Holmes for not only this song but the entire score because it’s hard enough to make your own music but it’s even harder to make a song sound like another song from a different and very well-known composer without making it sound exactly the same and getting sued because of it
“Everything and More”
The Princess’ solo is hilarious and way more subtle in its Disney references in that it sounds like a general solo but musically and lyrically mirrors “Part Of Your World” from The Little Mermaid which becomes more and more noticeable with each listen of the recording
“A Thousand and One Nights”
Not only is this a perfect musical duet between Ja’far and Sherrezade, the title references the source material for Aladdin, which is a nice nod to the original tale
You know that StarKid are true Disney kids when they take the most memorable song from the show, which happens to be a romantic duet with the main character and their love interest, and turn it into a playfully overdone pop version that’s sung over the credits by two famous people - in this case Brittney Coleman and Carlos Valdes, who I’m 99% percent sure are actually reincarnated 90’s pop stars with those vocals (both hilariously accurate while also incredibly well-sung)
“Happy Ending”
One of my favorite things that musicals do are numbers where each character sings their own individual melody line all together with other characters and it ends in gorgeous harmonies (ex. “One Day More” from Les Mis) which is really hard to write for and Holmes and McMahon executed it so well that listening to this song makes me tear up sometimes and I’m not ashamed
Ja’far’s solo sections are a musical reference to “The Wizard and I” from Wicked which is both a great general musical theatre reference and a lovely nod to the other half of Twisted’s plot inspiration > Lyrics from “And one day the Genie will say to me, ‘Ja’far you’re a man of such virtue” to “I’d like to bring back your bride” - Twisted, lyrics from “And one day he’ll say to me, ‘Girl who is so superior” to “If I de-greenify you?” - Wicked
“Take Off Your Clothes”
Anyone who attended middle school and/or had an internet connection in the 2000s was made aware of the many supposed instances is subliminal messaging in Disney cartoons of the 90s and early 2000s, especially the one about Aladdin’s line when he goes to Jasmine’s window at the palace before “A Whole New World”. Instead of being heard of as “Good tiger, now take off and go”, many people believe Aladdin actually says “Good teenagers, take off your clothes”, and used this as an argument that Disney was polluting the young minds of innocent children (x)
This song also references the supposed subliminal message that a reference to the special effects department of The Lion King, in which a puff of smoke reads ‘SFX’, actually spells out the word ‘sex’ (x)
The fact that they made an entire song about this proves that these kids are actually Disney fans, 10/10
“Twisted”
The introductory notes also feel like a Wicked reference with the use of electric guitar and strings together, very strong Stephen Schwartz and Alex Lacamoire vibes
As I mentioned earlier, it’s super hard to write original music and lyrics for a show during any given production and it’s also just as hard to musically and lyrically reference someone else’s music without risking copyright infringement. This absolute banger of a song manages to do both, while also doing the musical thing where people all sing different things at the same time while sounding great and making me almost cry with how pretty everything is
They parody The Little Mermaid with Ursula’s introduction, The Lion King with Scar, and Beauty and the Beast with Gaston’s entrance without actually sampling the music from their respective movies
“The question then is whether 'tis nobler in the mind/To be well liked but ineffectual, or moral but maligned?” poetry, I don’t even need to explain myself
Those lyrics are from the same person that wrote “We’ll remember Achmed, the tiger-fucking man!”
The duality of it all is beautiful
Overall, Twisted has incredible music and lyrics and I would die for AJ Holmes and Kaley McMahon, thanks for coming to my TED Talk
30 DAY MUSICAL SONG CHALLENGE
25. A song that makes you laugh
No One Remembers Achmed - Twisted
TIGER FUCKER! TIGER FUCKER! TIGER FUCKER!
Runner up: I’m Not A Loser - SpongeBob SquarePants, The Musical
Previous | All | Next
Brian’s greatest analogy?