Johnson lends his vocals to “Your Dad,” one of the new tracks on the companion album to Disney’s live-action ‘Moana’
Credit: Dwayne Johnson/Instagram
NEED TO KNOW
- Dwayne Johnson is among the executive producers of Moana: Voices Across the Ocean, Disney’s new companion album with new music inspired by the live-action Moana
- He co-wrote with Iam Tongi, and performed, the personal track “Your Dad,” inspired by Johnson’s three daughters
- “The things that have taught me the most about being a man are my daughters,” Johnson tells PEOPLE
Dwayne Johnson had one mantra guiding him through the new song he wrote and performed for his daughters: “Just sing from the heart.”
Recording “Your Dad,” the Moana actor-producer, 54, tells PEOPLE, “I kept telling myself that.” In addition to working as a co-executive producer of Disney’s new companion album, Moana: Voices Across the Ocean, Johnson joined his fellow Pacific Islanders in contributing original music.
“I’ve been lucky, over the years, to be able to do a lot of stuff that I love to do and that a few folks out there have enjoyed,” says PEOPLE’s former Sexiest Man Alive. “But this one is really, really special.”
Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty
“Your Dad” is a collaboration between Johnson and Hawaii-born Iam Tongi, the 2023 winner of American Idol. “I said, ‘I had this idea about writing a song for my daughters. What do you think?’” recalls Johnson, calling Tongi, 21, a “deep” and “soulful” artist.
In early drafts of the song, he reveals, Tongi wrote from the heart about the loss of his own father, calling it “My Dad” — which resonated with Johnson, who lost his father Rocky in 2020 at age 75. “His pen game, his writing game, is beautiful.”
Ultimately, what inspired Johnson were daughters Simone, 24, who he shares with ex-wife Dany Garcia, and Jasmine, 10, and Tiana, 8, who he shares with Lauren Hashian, his wife since 2019. “Between my wife, my job, my experiences around the world with people, the things that have taught me the most about being a man are my daughters,” says the Jumanji star.
Credit: John Nacion/Variety via Getty; Tommaso Boddi/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty
“There’s a line in the song that says, ‘A deeper love that I never knew. You took my heart and you pulled it through.’ Our 10-year-old asked me the other night, when I was putting her to bed, ‘What does that mean?’”
Johnson recalls telling Jasmine, “‘Sometimes life can be challenging and you have challenges in life. You don’t feel it now — maybe you do a little bit being 10 — but one day you’ll feel it. You’ll just feel the pressure of life.’”
Admitting to his daughter that he doesn’t “like to talk about that,” Johnson says he told her, “‘Without you even knowing, you took my heart and you pulled me through just by being who you are. So I want to empower you with that. That’s what that line means.’”
“She was like, ‘Wow,’” recalls the actor with a smile.
Credit: Walt Disney Records
Johnson, Hashian and Moana choreographers Tiana Nonosina Liufau and Kayla Faʻamaligi are the co-executive producers of Moana: Voices Across the Ocean, which features Stan Walker, Dinah Jane, Maoli, Fatai, Paula Fuga and more in addition to Johnson and Tongi.
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Hashian, 41, calls her husband “very musical,” adding, “I think Moana finally gave him a chance to show his musicality through Maui and ‘You’re Welcome.’ But this was the next step.”
“Your Dad,” says the singer-songwriter, shows “the more sensitive side of him as a girl dad. And he’s the best girl dad.”
The album Moana: Voices Across the Ocean is out as of July 31. Disney’s live-action Moana, starring Johnson and Catherine Lagaʻaia, is in theaters now.
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