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Agatha All Along (song)

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"Agatha All Along"
File:Agatha All Along title card.png
Title card for the Agatha All Along series
Song by Kathryn Hahn, Robert Lopez, Eric Bradley, Greg Whipple, Jasper Randall & Gerald White
from the album WandaVision: Episode 7 (Original Soundtrack)
ReleasedFebruary 23, 2021 (2021-02-23)
GenreSoundtrack
Length1:02
Label
Songwriter(s)Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
Producer(s)Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez
Video
"Agatha All Along" theme song and title sequence, from WandaVision's Twitter

"Agatha All Along" is an original song from the Marvel Studios Disney+ series WandaVision. Written by the series' theme song composers Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez for the seventh episode "Breaking the Fourth Wall", the song was performed by star Kathryn Hahn, with Lopez, Eric Bradley, Greg Whipple, Jasper Randall, and Gerald White serving as backup singers. The song drew inspiration from the theme songs from The Munsters and The Addams Family and went viral after appearing in "Breaking the Fourth Wall". "Agatha All Along" was officially released on February 23, 2021, as part of the WandaVision: Episode 7 (Original Soundtrack).

Background and production

In December 2020, Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez were announced to have written theme songs for some of the episodes of the Marvel Studios Disney+ series WandaVision.[1] The seventh episode of the series, "Breaking the Fourth Wall", was released on Disney+ on February 19, 2021, ended by revealing that Kathryn Hahn's character Agnes was actually Agatha Harkness and the manipulator of Wanda Maximoff's idyllic suburban lifestyle inspired by American sitcoms in Westview.[2][3] The reveal was accompanied by a title sequence for the series Agatha All Along which featured Anderson Lopez and Lopez's theme and sequences showing moments Agatha had been behind.[4][5][6] The credits for "Breaking the Fourth Wall" listed the song's name as "It Was ______ All Along".[7][8][9]

"Agatha All Along" was similar to the theme song for The Munsters and "The Addams Family Theme" from The Addams Family. The couple were drawn to the past monster-centric series' music in order to give Agatha's theme song a "witchy, ghoulish feeling" with "a little bit of an Oompa-Loompa tenor feel to it too".[8] Hahn is the lead singer on the theme, with Lopez singing backup along with Eric Bradley, Greg Whipple, Jasper Randall, and Gerald White, the other male backup singers from previous theme songs.[8][10] Lopez and Anderson-Lopez produced the song,[11] which was arranged and orchestrated by Dave Metzger.[7]: 32:37 

The song begins in E minor before moving to B-flat in the bass, which is a tritone interval, with a bridge centered in G major and a "Shave and a Haircut" ending.[12] The tritone is the same interval used by Anderson-Lopez and Lopez in the final two notes of their four-note WandaVision motif used in their other theme songs.[8] The song includes "a big-band horn riff",[13] "kitschy organs, cheery baritones",[9] a "'clap-clap, clap' snare",[12] and is sung in "kooky-spooky voices", with lyrics that reveal how Agatha had been behind all of the show's tragedies.[13][10]

Release

"Agatha All Along" was released digitally by Marvel Music and Hollywood Records on February 23, 2021, as the second track on the WandaVision: Episode 7 (Original Soundtrack).[14][15] The soundtrack was originally scheduled to be released on February 26, with The Verge speculating the release was moved up due to the popularity of the song.[15]

Reception

Upon the release of "Breaking the Fourth Wall", "Agatha All Along" went viral, with viewers particularly drawn to the theme,[11][2][3] creating various remixes, memes, and TikTok videos in the following days.[10][6][16][15] By February 23, the hashtag for the song had become a trending topic on Twitter, with Disney linking the hashtag to their Agatha emoji.[17]

Commentators called the song "catchy",[18][6][12][16][2][19][9] with "delicious" lyrics,[16] and likened it to "Toss a Coin to Your Witcher" from The Witcher Netflix series, which also went viral.[10][15] The song was also called "the official song of summer 2021",[10] the song of the year,[19] and a song that would be requested at celebrations and night clubs following the COVID-19 pandemic.[19][13][10] Alex Zalben at Decider expanded on why this theme appeared to be more popular than the past WandaVision themes, saying that emulating The Munsters theme allowed it to have "a catchy riff that works, a tried and true earworm" and adding that songs for villains, as seen in many of Walt Disney Animation Studios' films, are more fun and let the villain "ham it up".[10] The Los Angeles Times' August Brown agreed with Zalben's that "Agatha All Along" was WandaVision's villain song, describing it as "a meme-able, deliciously vampy single that gleefully twisted the plot of the show" and one that would "likely live on outside it as entrance music for anyone looking to stir chaos". Brown called Hanh's singing perfect with "brassy conviction".[13] Antonio Ferme of Variety called "Agatha All Along" "the greatest character introduction song of all time" and "arguably the most aggressive earworm" of the WandaVision theme songs.[3] Writing for Polygon, Joshua Rivera felt "Agatha All Along" was Anderson-Lopez and Lopez's "finest moment" of WandaVision, calling the song the series' "first real earworm: short, sticky, and extremely meme-able".[9] Collider's Gregory Lawrence felt the theme was an "objectively great surf-rock banger" with "pitch-perfect aping of '60s surf rock [and horror sitcom theme] tropes".[12]

Upon release, "Agatha All Along" peaked at number one on iTunes' Soundtrack chart, and by February 24, 2021, reached fifth on iTunes' Top 100 singles chart.[20]

References

  1. ^ Taylor, Drew (January 4, 2021). "Each Episode of 'WandaVision' Will Have a Different Theme Song Written by 'Frozen' Songwriters". Collider. Archived from the original on January 4, 2021. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c Garvey, Marianne (February 24, 2021). "Marvel releases catchy 'Agatha All Along' song from 'WandaVision'". CNN. Archived from the original on February 25, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c Ferme, Antonio (February 23, 2021). "Marvel Releases 'Agatha All Along' Theme Song From 'WandaVision'". Variety. Archived from the original on February 23, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  4. ^ Purslow, Matt (February 19, 2021). "WandaVision: Season 1, Episode 7 Review". IGN. Archived from the original on February 19, 2021. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  5. ^ Agard, Chancellor (February 19, 2021). "Wandavision recap: Good for her". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on February 19, 2021. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  6. ^ a b c Gomez, Patrick (February 22, 2021). "WandaVision's "Agatha All Along" gets the trap remix it deserves". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on February 23, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
  7. ^ a b Squires, Cameron (February 19, 2021). "Breaking the Fourth Wall". WandaVision. Season 1. Episode 7. Event occurs at 34:28. Disney+.
  8. ^ a b c d Paige, Rachel (February 22, 2021). "'WandaVision': Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez Break Down the TV Theme Songs". Marvel.com. Archived from the original on February 23, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
  9. ^ a b c d Rivera, Joshua (February 24, 2021). "WandaVision's catchiest song works because it finally lets us all in on the joke". Polygon. Archived from the original on February 25, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Zalben, Alex (February 22, 2021). "'WandaVision': "Agatha All Along" Is the Song of the Summer". Decider. Archived from the original on February 23, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
  11. ^ a b Barnhardt, Adam (February 19, 2021). "WandaVision Fans Can't Get Enough of Agnes' New Theme Song". Comicbook.com. Archived from the original on February 20, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
  12. ^ a b c d Lawrence, Gregory (February 22, 2021). "You Can Finally Listen to That Devilishly Catchy 'WandaVision' Song on Its Own". Collider. Archived from the original on February 23, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
  13. ^ a b c d Brown, August (February 24, 2021). "'Wandavision's' 'Agatha All Along' theme song is the new 'Werewolf Bar Mitzvah'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on February 25, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  14. ^ "'WandaVision' Episode 7 Soundtrack Album Released". Film Music Reporter. February 22, 2021. Archived from the original on February 23, 2021. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  15. ^ a b c d Gartenberg, Chaim (February 23, 2021). "You can now listen to WandaVision's latest spoiler-filled bop on Spotify and Apple Music". The Verge. Archived from the original on February 23, 2021. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  16. ^ a b c Romain, Lindsey (February 22, 2021). "Everyone's Obsessed With WandaVision's 'Agatha All Along'". Nerdist. Archived from the original on February 23, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
  17. ^ Barnhardt, Adam (February 23, 2021). "WandaVision's "Agatha All Along" Gets Its Own Emoji As Fans Craft Hilarious Memes". Comicbook.com. Archived from the original on February 24, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  18. ^ Bui, Hoai-Tran (February 22, 2021). "It Was Kathryn Hahn Singing Agatha's 'WandaVision' Theme Song All Along". /Film. Archived from the original on February 23, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
  19. ^ a b c Romano, Nick (February 23, 2021). "What WandaVision song just dropped on streaming? It's been 'Agatha All Along'". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on February 24, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  20. ^ Morona, Joey (February 24, 2021). "Cleveland actress Kathryn Hahn scores hit song with 'Agatha All Along' from 'WandaVision'". Cleveland.com. Archived from the original on February 25, 2021. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
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