Turning Red‘s 4-Town actors talk all about working with Billie Eilish, favorite bands they would love to see live, and more in this exclusive interview.
Pixar’s newest film, Turning Red, is all about growing up and dealing with puberty, but most of all it is about boy bands. In this heartwarming movie, Mei wants more than anything to go see her favorite band with her best friends — something many teens can relate to. In support of the upcoming Disney+ release, Mama’s Geeky spoke with the voices behind Turning Red’s boy band 4-Town.
We talked about what it was like working with Billie Eilish and Finneas, who wrote the three songs, which one is their favorite, how they relate to their characters, and so much more.
Participating Talent
- Jordan Fisher (voice of “Robaire”)
- Grayson Villanueva (voice of “Tae Young”)
- Josh Levi (voice of “Aaron Z.”)
- Topher Ngo (voice of “Aaron T.”)
How Do They Relate To Their Characters?
Director Domee Shi and Producer Lindsey Collins described each the 4-Town members during an early press day, and we wanted to know how close to these characters the voice actors are.
Aaron Z. Is The Sporty One.
“I definitely gravitated more towards music. My siblings are star athletes – now they wanna do what I do, which is music. So I know the language of sports and super athletic, but he might have got me beat a little bit.” – Josh Levi
Aaron T. Is The Goofy One.
“I might be the goofy one in some of my friend groups. In my own life I think I am kind of derpy and kind of a klutz, so let’s go with that.” – Topher Ngo
Tae Young Is The K-pop One.
“I love K-pop. BTS all day. My character is known as the one who is wholesome and rehabilitates doves on his own time and I have such a soft spot for animals.” – Grayson Villanueva
Robaire Is The Most Likely To Have A Solo Career.
“I’m the kind of person to not necessarily leave everyone for a solo career, but to leave everyone to go find a book and a cup of coffee. There are elements to Robaire that are kind of that. The first rendering I saw was of him at a café in France, because he can speak French, and I’m like that right there is my speed. I like doing the work and then going home.” – Jordan Fisher
Favorite 4-Town Song?
4-Town has three songs featured in Turning Red, and all of them are extremely catchy. U Know What’s Up is the confidence booster, 1 True Love is a love ballad, and Nobody Like U is the hit song that you can never get out of your head. Of course we had to find out if the boys had a favorite and they are split right down the middle. Jordan and Josh picked 1 True Love as their favorite 4-Town song, and Grayson and Topher say the better answer is U Know What’s Up.
Working With Billie Eilish
When asked about what made them want to be a part of Turning Red each and every one of them said the Asian representation, Pixar / Disney, and the opportunity to work with Billie Eilish. Josh Levi actually has known her for a while, and was happy to finally get the chance to work with her. When they were laying down the tracks for the movie, they all had their own booths, and Billie was there to give her input.
“All five of us had our booth next to each other. Billie was there, just acknowledging what was going on, giving some direction here and there. We all met and worked together on the same day.” – Josh Levi (Aaron Z.)
Related: Creating 4*Town: The Boy Band Of Pixar’s Turning Red
What Band Would They LOVE To See Perform Live?
As mentioned above, in Turning Red Mei wants nothing more than to see 4-Town live in concert, so of course we had to see if 4-Town themselves have a band they would have loved to see in concert. Jordan Fisher says that he was pretty much the only one in his family who was super into music, and by the time he hit that age, *NSYNC was fading into a thing of the past and Justin Timberlake had put out Justified. He really wishes he was able to see *NSYNC live in concert.
Josh explains that things were similar for him growing up. He never really had a musical role model to look up to when he was younger. It was just Gospel music for him for a while, but the first concert he ever went to was Chris Brown.
Topher actually has a similar story to Mei’s in Turning Red. He was an emo/screamo kid growing and loved metal, so he begged his mom to take him to see an industrial metal artist. He did get to go when his Uncle drove a “soccer mom minivan” to LA — and yes, he was a 13 year old moshing at the small show. Grayson also grew up as an emo kid, and he loved the band Daphne Loves Derby. In fact, they led him to want a musical career partly because the lead singer is Asian (representation is so important and this proves it). Unfortunately he never got to see them perform though because his parents would not let him go.
Full Interview With 4-Town
Be sure to watch the full interview with Jordan Fisher (voice of “Robaire”), Grayson Villanueva (voice of “Tae Young”), Josh Levi (voice of “Aaron Z.”), and Topher Ngo (voice of “Aaron T.”) for more fun.
NEXT: How Anime Inspired Pixar’s Turning Red
About Turning Red
Disney and Pixar’s “Turning Red” introduces Mei Lee (voice of Rosalie Chiang), a confident, dorky 13-year-old torn between staying her mother’s dutiful daughter and the chaos of adolescence. Her protective, if not slightly overbearing mother, Ming (voice of Sandra Oh), is never far from her daughter—an unfortunate reality for the teenager.
And as if changes to her interests, relationships and body weren’t enough, whenever she gets too excited (which is practically ALWAYS), she “poofs” into a giant red panda! Directed by Academy Award® winner Domee Shi (Pixar short “Bao”) and produced by Lindsey Collins “Turning Red releases on March 11, 2022.
