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.

I think every writer's had the experience of having a really good idea, waiting to write it, and then once you write it, you're like, "Oh I kind of got past the sell by date on this." I'm not connected to the initial spark that was the idea. A lot of that's about staying open.

I had friends who only listened to hip-hop. I had friends who only listened to musicals, and I stood proudly in the middle.

I went to a school where everyone was smarter than me. And I'm not blowin' smoke, I, my, I was surrounded by genius, genius kids. What's interesting about growing up in a culture like that is you go, "All right, I gotta figure out what my thing is. Because I'm not smarter than these kids. I'm not funnier than half of them, so I better figure out what it is I wanna do and work really hard at that because intellectually I'm treading water to, to be here."

I just remembered when I was an adolescent girl wanting to leave my island and find my calling.

My rhymes are gonna kill, so I suggest you write your will and leave your [expletive] to me.

I got the job [in Moana], and the next day I was on a plane to New Zealand, where the rest of the team was already doing research, and meeting with different choirs, and sort of really soaking up the music, the musical world of, the musical heritage of this part of the world.