"Remember Me" is a song from the 2017 animated

Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...

film '' Coco'', written by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. The song is performed variously within the film by

Benjamin Bratt Benjamin Bratt (born December 16, 1963) is an American actor and producer who has worked in film and on television. He had supporting roles in the 1990s in such box office hits as ''Demolition Man'' (1993), ''Clear and Present Danger'' (1994), ...

Gael García Bernal Gael García Bernal (; born 30 November 1978) is a Mexican actor and producer. He is best known for his performances in the films '' Bad Education'', '' The Motorcycle Diaries'', '' Amores perros'', ''Y tu mamá también'', ''Babel'', '' Coco'', ...

, Anthony Gonzalez, and

Ana Ofelia Murguía Ana Ofelia Murguía (born 8 December 1933) is a Mexican actress. She was born in Mexico City. Her early well known roles were in ''The Queen of the Night'' (1994) as Doña Victoria and as Doña Amelia in ''Nobody Will Speak of Us When We're Dead ...

. Miguel and

Natalia Lafourcade María Natalia Lafourcade Silva (; born 26 February 1984) is a Mexican pop-rock and folk singer and songwriter who, since her debut in 2002, has been one of the most successful singers in Latin America. Lafourcade's voice has been categorized a ...

perform a pop version of the song that is featured in the film's end credits.

Carlos Rivera Carlos Rivera Guerra, better known as Carlos Rivera (born March 15, 1986), is a Mexican singer. He rose to fame by winning the third generation of '' La Academia''. Rivera has released four studio albums and participated in six theatre product ...

recorded a cover version of the song, titled "Recuérdame" for the film's Spanish-language soundtrack album. It won Best Original Song at the

90th Academy Awards The 90th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2017, and took place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. The ceremony was held on March 4, ...

in 2018. This song was featured in ABC's 2020 television special '' The Disney Family Singalong: Volume II''.

Context

The song is used in a variety of contexts throughout the film. It is known as Ernesto de la Cruz's (

) most popular song written by his music partner Héctor Rivera (

), and is first introduced in a mariachi arrangement, as a plea from Ernesto to his fans to keep him in their minds even as he tours in other places. It then appears as a lullaby from Héctor to his daughter Coco (which reveals that song was written for her), when he has to travel far as a traveling artist. It is then used as a nostalgic song to connect an older Coco (

) to an earlier time in her life and to reunite Miguel ( Anthony Gonzalez) with his great-grandmother. It then appears in a pop version played during the end credits, sung by singers Miguel and

. The piece is the "tie that binds multiple generations in the shared love of music".

Production

'' Frozen'' team Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez were hired for the project. Director

Lee Unkrich Lee Edward Unkrich (born August 8, 1967) is an American film director, film editor, screenwriter, and animator. He was a longtime member of the creative team at Pixar, where he started in 1994 as a film editor. He later began directing, first as ...

had admired them since they wrote ''

Finding Nemo – The Musical ''Finding Nemo – The Musical'' is a live puppet and musical stage show based on Disney/Pixar's 2003 film ''Finding Nemo'', located at the Theater in the Wild in DinoLand U.S.A at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Walt Disney World in Orlando, Flori ...

'' in 2006. The film developed into a musical, but not a "break-into-song" type. A challenge with the song was in crafting lyrics that would pivot in meaning depending on the context in which they were sung. The team researched popular Mexican music, and wanted to write a song that could have been sung by

Jorge Negrete Jorge Alberto Negrete Moreno (; 30 November 1911 – 5 December 1953) was a Mexican singer and actor. Life and career Negrete was born in the city of Guanajuato and had two brothers and three sisters; his father was a Mexican Army Colonel who f ...

Pedro Infante Pedro Infante Cruz (; 18 November 1917 – 15 April 1957) was a Mexican ranchera music singer and actor, whose career spanned the golden age of Mexican cinema. His popularity spread across Latin America. Infante was born in Mazatlán, Sinalo ...

. They wrote it as a

bolero Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It has ...

- ranchero style song, knowing that it could also work if performed as a quiet ballad. Robert wrote the music, and Kristen wrote the lyrics. She wanted to explore the idea of remembering people when they are far away, and explained "the power of music to bring people back to life, literally and figuratively".

Accolades

"Remember Me" won the

Academy Award for Best Original Song The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who have composed ...

(with this win, composer Robert Lopez becomes the first ever double EGOT winner). The song also won the

Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Song The Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Song is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Broadcast Film Critics Association. Winners and nominees 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s See also *Academy Award for B ...

and was nominated for the

Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song The Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song is a Golden Globe Award that was awarded for the first time in 1962 and has been awarded annually since 1965 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The award is presented to the songwriters of a ...

and the

Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media The Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media (including its previous names) is the Grammy Awards awarded to songs written for films, television, video games or other visual media. Recipients * Each year is linked t ...

Certifications

References

External links

Deadline article
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