It's got to feel, the pulse has to feel like this part of the world, the instrumentation has to be true to that, and so, between him, [composer] Mark Mancina and myself, we really chased that, while serving our story Moana].

I'm not going to hang out with celebrities, I'm not going to parties. I have two songs due for Moana next week, and I'm going to go and spend some time with Maui and Moana in the ocean, in my mind.

The people you're turning to for advice are all people making Disney movies, so we had these amazing meetings where you'd see John Lasseter, and then next to him is Jen Lee, the director of Frozen. Next to her is Pete Docter, who's working on Inside Out.

It's hard to pick. I mean, I think the one that is most emblematic of the collaboration that occurred is "We Know The Way." That's the first song we wrote for the movie [Moana]. We actually got it written that weekend in New Zealand, so we're all in New Zealand, we're all absorbing this culture, and Opetaia [Foa'i] brought it in.

Tuesdays and Thursdays, I didn't do any press, I didn't do any meetings, I just wrote all day, 'cause I'd meet, via Skype, with the creative team, at five p.m., and then I would have my seven o'clock curtain.

With every word, I drop knowledge.

I think I started writing because no one had ever told me you can write about the things you know in a musical. They don't have to come from some far off place.