Lemonade Mouth by Lemonade Mouth

Album cover Lemonade Mouth (2011)

2011 was 12 years ago. Huh. Hard to believe. Times have changed, yet one movie and its soundtrack have held strong in my head. That movie is Lemonade Mouth. The Disney Channel Original Movie, starring Bridgit Mendler, Adam Hicks, Naomi Scott, Hayley Kyoko, and Blake Michael, revolves around five high school students who meet in detention and make a band! High School Musical might have been the money maker, but Lemonade Mouth remains equally prevalent through its grounded characters and positive messages.

The soundtrack is amazing. It pulls on pop-rock styles, capturing the late 2000s/early 2010s feel of rock famously popularized by Avril Lavigne and many others. Lemonade Mouth also contains homages to the auto-tuned anthemic pop style akin to Lady Gaga and ‘Bad Romance’. What follows is an overly in-depth review of the ins and outs of what makes the soundtrack so good.

Lemonade Mouth opens with the first track on the album ‘Turn Up the Music’. Its production style feels very naturalistic, with every vocalist in the band heard. This is the first time we hear the band (in the context of the film, they are all bored in detention). It all starts with finger tapping on the desk, evolving to clapping, spray bottle spritzing, tossing of keys - and this all leads into the musical environment conjured, with melodies, harmonies, cohesiveness, oh my! A similarity that comes into my mind is the video of Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff thinking up the bridge to ‘Getaway Car’. If we take that into account, the magical building of music in the ‘Turn Up the Music’ scene can be tangentially realistic. Not much to say about the song, but I appreciate the wholesome atmosphere. Note: this is the only song with frequent references to music terms. Here we go into the crux of the movie. Next up is ‘Somebody’. The lyrics are delightfully simple, but the instrumentation and vocals prevent it from not becoming just another Disney song. 

The “villain” songs, ‘And the Crowd Goes’ and ‘Don’t Ya Wish You Were Us’ are undeniable bangers. Sure the lead singer is incredibly annoying in the film, but the band, Mudslide Crush, knows how to make such catchy songs. I love the contrast between Lemonade Mouth’s genuine lyrics and Mudslide Crush’s self-serving lyrics. Yet again, how profound are these lyrics in ‘Don’t Ya Wish Ya Were Us’: “You’re M.I.A, we’re V.I.P/ you’re L.O.L., we’re B.I.G”. Another amazing set of lyrics are “we’re gonna crash your birthday and eat your cake/ sorry but your train has left the station/ maybe you should try a permanent vacation”. It would be deeply concerning (and amazing) if someone did a deep analysis of these lyrics, picking out all the single meanings and rhyme schemes. Disney does not leave villains in the dust, as evidenced in their songs. I wonder who in the screenwriting team thought of a rebel band that is everything Lemonade Mouth is not, but does it as well as them. There can only be one! High school band culture was the peak for Mudslide Crush, I bet. It is a heavily subtle arc only hinted at in the title ‘Don’t Ya Wish Ya Were Us’.

Back to the main group, ‘Determinate’ subverts the foundation we’ve heard from the band so far in the soundtrack. As I said, Lemonade Mouth pulls influences from Avril Lavigne and Lady Gaga, both of whom were at their height of fame in 2011. The transition between the slow piano intro with Mendler’s voice to the immediate switch to the electro instruments sounds so cool. Sure, the rest of the song is amazing, but Adam Hicks’ verse is incredible. How does he rap so fast?? (Fun fact: He wrote the lyrics himself too) Looking at the lyrics, I now notice the references to the band’s name, clever. I got to say I am a sucker for those early 2010s songs with a rap verse into an anthemic chorus, which happens a lot. 

‘Here We Go’...not sure how I feel about this one. It makes excessive use of autotune in the chorus and doesn’t feel right. Sadly, this is the one forgettable song from the movie. The soundtrack is redeemed by ‘She’s So Gone’. What can I say about this song that hasn’t been said by everyone- Naomi Scott’s voice has this strength and rebelliousness that makes you see into Mo’s story. This is a song about a girl who has felt sheltered and unaccepted by her father. ‘She’s So Gone’ sounds cathartic, both in the context of the film and without. It’s also just a head-banging song :)

What I appreciate about this music is it finds moments of authenticity, one such moment is ‘More than a Band’. In the film, the band is at a moral low as Olivia (Bridgit Mendler) grieves her mom. Each member of the band sings, sans Olivia, to console Olivia, returning to the idea of everyone’s importance to the band. Olivia enters later during the bridge, with wholesome lyrics beware: “I never knew you could take me so far/ I’ve always wanted to hope that you are the ones I need”. Not trying to sound sappy over a Disney movie, but that made me so warm inside. Notably, this is the one song where all of the band members sing, including Blake Michael (Charlie).

After the band reacquires their strength, they perform ‘Breakthrough’. Listening to it now, the lyrics hit harder at age 19: “Roadblock, move it to the left/ get around whatever’s in your way”. Another lyric is “Life is a rollercoaster”. Of course, it melds with Disney’s brand of G-rated positivity, but it couldn’t be more resonant these days. (I have to admit: sometimes I get confused between Determinate and Breakthrough, probably due to their pop-punk adjacent styles and similar messages) Production-wise, I love the heavy guitar in the choruses; it feels incredibly forceful. Adam Hicks again steals the show, with a brilliant word rhythm. 

We have gotten to the final song of the soundtrack, ‘Living Through a High Wire’. Strikingly, it mirrors a structure from a country song, down to the cadences in the vocals. You can hear a vocal and musical evolution of the band through the soundtrack which finally reaches an apex here. Everyone could not sound more confident, including Mendler who stands fearless to bring out the power in the lines in the verses. The structure of Adam Hicks having rap verses doesn’t get tiring, does it? If anything, Hicks elevates the song to inject a load of energy, mirrored by Kiyoko, Mendler, and Scott. 

Lemonade Mouth is a product of its time. That is undeniable, with the similarities to Avril Lavigne, Lady Gaga, Carrie Underwood, Jonas Brothers, and many others who I can’t think of at the moment. Who knows what people will think of it in 10 years? I continue to come back to the soundtrack for nostalgic purposes and because it’s just so good.

I first watched the movie when I was 7 and it has never left my brain since. “Somebody” and “Breakthrough” have been in my family’s iTunes library since 2013 (posing a great resource for my radio show (Thursdays 9-10 pm)). I can’t describe the level of nostalgia for this movie and early 2010s music. I’ve been terrified to grow up ever since I was 6 and would always gravitate towards escapist music. The Lemonade Mouth soundtrack gave that to me, and it still does. My music taste has slightly changed over the last 12 years, but my appreciation for the movie still holds. The genuine message and amazing music warrant a re-watch.