"Remember Me" is a song from the 2017 animated

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

Pixar Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney ...

film ''

Coco Coco or variants may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Coco'' (2009 film), a French comedy film * ''Coco'' (2017 film), an American animated fantasy film * '' Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle'' (), a 2020 Japanese anime film ...

'', written by

Robert Lopez Robert “Bobby” Lopez (born February 23, 1975) is an American songwriter for musicals and playwright, best known for co-creating '' The Book of Mormon'' and '' Avenue Q'', and for co-writing the songs featured in the Disney animated films '' ...

and

Kristen Anderson-Lopez Kristen Anderson-Lopez (born March 21, 1972) is an American songwriter. She is known for co-writing the songs for the 2013 animated musical film '' Frozen'' and its 2019 sequel '' Frozen II'' with her husband Robert Lopez. The couple won the Aca ...

. The song is performed variously within the film by

Benjamin Bratt Benjamin Bratt (born December 16, 1963) is an American actor. He is known for playing Paco Aguilar in '' Blood in Blood Out''. He had supporting film roles in the 1990s in ''Demolition Man'' (1993), ''Clear and Present Danger'' (1994) and '' ...

Gael García Bernal Gael García Bernal (; born 30 November 1978) is a Mexican actor and filmmaker. He is known for his performances in the films ''Amores perros'' (2000), ''Y tu mamá también'' (2001), ''Bad Education (2004 film), Bad Education'' (2004), ''The Mot ...

, Anthony Gonzalez, and

Ana Ofelia Murguía Ana Ofelia Murguía (8 December 1933 – 31 December 2023) was a Mexican actress. She was best known, in the English-speaking world, for voicing the titular character of the 2017 animated film ''Coco.'' Life She was born in Mexico City. Her e ...

Miguel --> Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to: Places * Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands *São Miguel (disamb ...

and

Natalia Lafourcade María Natalia Lafourcade Silva (; born 26 February 1984) is a Mexican singer and songwriter who performs in genres such as pop rock, jazz, and folk music. Since her debut in 2002, she has been one of the most influential singers in Latin Americ ...

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

Carlos Rivera Carlos Augusto Rivera Guerra (born March 15, 1986) is a Mexican singer who rose to fame by winning the third generation of ''La Academia''. He has released four studio albums and participated in six theatre productions. Early life Rivera w ...

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. The song was performed live by

and Federico Ramos on guitar. This song was featured in ABC's 2020 television special '' The Disney Family Singalong: Volume II'' performed by

Christina Aguilera Christina María Aguilera ( , ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter, actress and television personality. Recognized as Cultural impact of Christina Aguilera, an influential figure in music and having received Public imag ...

and Mariachi Divas de Cindy Shea.

Context

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

) most "popular" song. The song was originally written by his partner Héctor Rivera (

), and was first introduced as a

mariachi Mariachi (, , ) is a genre of regional Mexican music dating back to at least the 18th century, evolving over time in the countryside of various regions of western Mexico. The usual mariachi group today consists of as many as eight violins, two ...

arrangement, as a plea from Ernesto to his fans to keep him in their minds even as he tours in other places. It next appears as a lullaby from Héctor to his daughter Coco. It is then used as a nostalgic song to connect an older Coco (

) to an earlier time in her life and is sung by Coco and her great-grandson Miguel ( Anthony Gonzalez). It finally appears in a pop version played during the end credits, sung by singers

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, editor and writer. He is best known for his work with animation studio Pixar, which he joined in 1994 as an editor before being credited as a co-director on ''Toy Story 2'' ...

had admired them since they wrote ''

Finding Nemo – The Musical ''Finding Nemo: The Big Blue... and Beyond!'' 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 ...

'' 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. He specialized in the musical genre of ranchera. His posthumous album "Fiesta Mexicana Volumen II" has been ranked by critics at No. 163 on t ...

Pedro Infante Pedro Infante Cruz (; 18 November 1917 – 15 April 1957) was a Mexican ranchera singer and actor whose career spanned the golden age of Mexican cinema. Infante was born in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, and raised in nearby Guamúchil. He died on 15 Apri ...

. 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 h ...

- 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 Film industry, motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who h ...

(with this win, composer

becomes the first ever double

EGOT EGOT, an acronym for the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards, is the designation given to people who have won all four of the major performing art awards in the United States. Respectively, these awards honor outstanding achievements in telev ...

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. The award notably recognizes not only songwriters but also performers as recipient ...

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. Alan Menken has won five awards (out of nine nominati ...

Certifications

References

External links

Deadline article
{{Navboxes , title = Awards for "Remember Me" , titlestyle = background: lightblue , list1 = {{Academy Award Best Original Song {{Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Song 2017 songs 2017 singles 2010s ballads Pixar songs Songs written by Robert Lopez Songs written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez Songs about death Songs in Spanish Miguel (singer) songs Natalia Lafourcade songs Best Original Song Academy Award–winning songs Walt Disney Records singles