Ranking the Disney “Zombies” Movie Trilogy Songs
This post has been updated on 8/11 to include the songs from Zombies 3, as well as a couple tweaks to the originally published rankings
We have taken a renewed interest in Disney Channel musicals because well, our kids are 8 years old, and they love these musicals, especially Descendants and Zombies.
‘Zombies’ follows a classic formula: base your soundtrack on pop songs with an irresistible hook and ground your movie with a message of inclusion and equality.
It also, unfortunately, follows a tried-and-true casting habit that we’re not fans of (more on this later), but for now, we’re going to focus on the positive. The music is as catchy as any other Disney Channel movie, and we also like most of the casting in the movie; it’s generally diverse, and Milo Mannheim is a delight in every scene he is in. His small-screen charisma is through the roof.
Also, cheerleaders are an easy antagonist in most movies. Zombies somehow made them super fun and likable: not an easy stunt to pull off!
But you came here for a ranking of Zombies songs from both movies right?
A couple of notes on songs we included and songs we did not:
1) All three movies has a few remixes of songs sung earlier in the movie. We did NOT include these, with one notable exception…
2) We decided to include both the regular version of “Someday” as well as the ballad version from the first movie, but did not include the cast ballad version from the 3rd movie. The reason? Depending on the mood you are in or the playlist you are building, there would be reasons to include one version or not the other. They are different enough to really warrant different evaluations; it is possible to really like one version, but not the other.
But outside of the performers, there is no real distinction between the ballad version of “Someday” in the first and third movies. Look, this song was sung FOUR times over 3 movies, its silly to include all 4 versions in the rankings!!
Without further ado,
The “Skip It”s
These are songs that you listen to a couple times, and afterward you skip every time it comes up (if your kid allows you to)
21. The New Kid in Town (Zombies 2 Soundtrack, not in the movie)
20. Flesh and Bone (Zombies 2)
19. Gotta Find Where I Belong (Zombies 2)
Out of the two movies so far, we only found 3 songs that we would not include in a theoretical Disney Channel Music playlist, and 1 of them did not even make the movie.
Out of 21 songs, that is not bad, even though we have no idea what the appeal of “New Kid in Town” is on any level.
The Spaced Outs
These are songs that are played, but you are spacing out thinking of other things without regretting it
18. Stand (Zombies)
17. One For All (Zombies 2)
16. Someday (Ballad) (Zombies)
15. I’m Finally Me (Zombies 3)
14. Exceptional Zed (Zombies 3)
13. I’m Winning (Zombies 2)
12. Alien Invasion (Zombies 3)
We surprised ourselves by ranking “I’m Winning” this low; after all, the debates in the Broadway musical ‘Hamilton’ were two of our favorite tracks. But, while it was not lacking in effort, it was missing something lyrically to make it special.
We also have a feeling we’re going to anger some fans with out ranking of Alien Invasion, well maybe one particular 8 year old fan in our household who plays it on loop. For me this was a weird song that has some catchiness, but was missing either some cohesion to the lyrics or a bit more dramatics to reflect the aliens coming down to earth.
The “Keep it On”s
These are songs good enough to play it to the end every time it plays in the album queue
11. Ain’t No Doubt About It (Zombies 3)
10. We Got This (Zombies 2)
9. Call to the Wild (Zombies 2)
8. Do it Like the Zombies Do (Zombies 2)
7. Come On Out (Zombies 3)
6. Someday (Zombies)
5. Nothing But Love (Zombies 3)
A few new songs in this group, so let’s discuss a couple of the new songs to this list first.
With “Come On Out”, the first 30 seconds or though portend a potentially awesome Halloween-esque song, with the wolves on the hunt in a menacing way. Of course, this is Disney, so we’re not totally surprised they played it safe with this song. It is still disappointing because this was the one song that stood out from the others as far as the beat and rhythm.
“Nothing But Love” is our favorite song of the album, even though it blends with a few other songs from other movies. That’s our main critique of the Zombies 3 album, as you can see with the rankings; most of the songs had good hooks and were catchy, but there wasn’t much that made them distinct, from either other Zombies songs, or just other pop songs in general.
We particularly like “Call to the Wild” for the part in the song where Willa jumps in and calls out Addison for trying to whitewash her way into the wolves (more on this later).
Why do we have this version of Someday ahead of the ballad version? Simply, this version works better in the movie. It’s lighter and captures the energy of a new young couple not disillusioned by how society really is. It’s one of those songs that captures the nostalgia of what young love can feel like.
The All Stars
These songs make any playlist with other hit songs from movie musicals
4. My Year (Zombies)
3. Fired Up (Competition version, Zombies)
“My Year” is one of the best “Opening Exposition” songs we have heard in a musical, laying the foundation for the movie’s future plotting in a fun catchy manner. (One day we will do a definitive ranking of the opening exposition songs across all musicals)
Why the competition version of ‘Fired Up’? We liked this version better than the original due to the little girl leading off the song (a great touch for the movie) and the better chorus arrangements.
The “Play it on Loop”s
This is for songs you can’t get enough of once you hear it
2. We Own the Night (Zombies 2)
We played “We Own the Night” in our household on loop for three straight days. The hook in the chorus is unbelievable. However, this brings up Chandler Kinney, and we must talk about her: well not her exactly, but Disney’s overall villain problem stretching into their Disney Channel musicals. (As we know, Disney has a villain problem for the MCU that is well documented)
This is a different villain problem than the MCU though; do Disney Channel villains have to be black facing off against lily-white heroes?
We will forgive Disney for casting China Anne McClain as Uma in Descendants 2. She is super talented, would not have worked as one of the 4 VKs, and she turned out a hero by the end of the trilogy.
But, with that in mind, let’s look at the first Zombies movie; it cast a black female (Kylee Russell as Eliza) as a character very willing to launch a revolution against the societal order (always scary to white privileged folks). In Zombies 2, a black female was cast as a direct initial antagonist (Chandler Kinney as Willa); this is not only unimaginative but kind of problematic, especially as part of the plot in Zombies 2 involves a white cheerleader trying to take her position as the alpha of the diverse wolves.
The true alpha of the wolves has to be a white woman? (Note: this was disproven by Zombies 3, but as of Zombies 2, this appeared to be the case)
We know Willa and Eliza do not stay villains for long, and Eliza is mostly sympathetic and overall delightful so you never really dislike her, but, as long time OnStage Blog readers would guess, we are not a fan of consistently casting BIPOC actors as antagonists opposing white heroes at any point in the movie.
Hey Disney, BIPOC people are not inherently scary!!
1.Bamm (Zombies)
Bamm is our #1 song, and no other song was seriously considered. We admit it’s not a terribly complicated song, but we love the techno beat, how smooth the lyrics flow, and the interplay between Milo/Eliza/Addison in the pre-chorus. Plus, the dancing in the movie absolutely rocks, and picturing it while listening to the song only enhances the listening pleasure.
As an aside, Kylee Russell should have gotten another song or two as the main lead. She excelled in every song she was in, and we wanted more. Its a shame she wasn’t able to fully participate in Zombies 3, because there was definitely an opportunity for her to shine again.
(As another aside, I don’t know how you watch the Bamm music video and only get 51 million views, which significantly trails other videos from Zombies. What, can everyone dance like that now??)
In the meantime, you’re at OnStage Blog, I’m at OnStage Blog, we’re at OnStage Blog, thanks for reading, BAMM.