In The ‘Turning Red’ Song ‘Nobody Like U,’ Finneas and Billie Eilish Channel 2000s Boyband Gold

Disney has released a new song from Pixar’s upcoming film ‘Turning Red’, in which siblings Finneas and Billie Eilish – the former as a member of the fictional boyband 4*Town (a tongue-in-cheek play on *NSYNC) – transport fans to the year 2002.

The song, titled ‘Nobody Like U,’ is an almost terrifyingly precise imitation of early-aughts pop music. It opens with washed-out vocals, clicky synth beats, and quasi-flamenco strumming before exploding into a frenetic bop propelled by powerful, modulated piano chords and stacked lead vocals.

“I’ve never met anyone like you / Had friends and I’ve had companions, it’s true / But they don’t flip my tummy the way you do,” the fictional 4*Town quintet, accompanied by Eilish on backing vocals, sings at the start of the obsessively cheesy, ultra-nostalgic ballad.

In Turning Red, Finneas voices Jesse, with Robaire (Jordan Fisher), Aaron T (Topher Ngo), Aaron Z (Josh Levi), and Tae Young (Grayson Villanueva) rounding out his “bandmates”.

On March 11, the film will be released internationally. It was originally intended for a theatrical release, but due to COVID-19’s Omicron variant, it was relocated to Disney+. ‘1 True Love’ and ‘U Know What’s Up’ are the other two songs Eilish and Finneas created for the soundtrack, with the latter credited solely for their instrumental versions.

“When we first started talking about Billie Eilish and Finneas – back before they’d won a billion GRAMMYs – we could see then how they had their finger on the pulse,” Lindsey Collins, the film’s producer, said in a statement. “We were big fans. We met with them and pitched this crazy idea of a boyband, asking if they’d be interested in writing and producing the songs. They were!” 

Turning Red is set in the early 2000s and follows 13-year-old Meilin “Mei” Lee, who has the unfortunate ability to transform into a gigantic red panda anytime she experiences strong emotions. Sandra Oh, Orion Lee, and debutant Rosalie Chiang feature in the film, which is directed by Domee Shi (who previously helmed the Pixar short Bao).

Finneas and Eilish, meantime, recently visited with US Vice President Joe Biden at the White House. Following their support for Biden during the 2020 US election, the musical siblings, together with their parents Maggie and Patrick, were asked to meet the US President.

—Aditi Manjunath