rock this way

The Rock Can Do Everything, but Can He Sing?

How does Dwayne Johnson rank among other movie stars trying their hand at musicals for the first time?
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Courtesy of Disney.

Dwayne Johnson is a man of many talents. He’s taken over the worlds of wrestling, TV, and film with relative ease, powered by an unstoppable work ethic and the protein of a thousand cods. And in the upcoming Disney movie musical Moana, he’ll set his sights on a new realm: singing.

On Monday, a new clip of Johnson’s character crooning a song from the film shows us what he’s working with. Here he is, performing “You’re Welcome”—a new song written by Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda, a multi-hyphenate who wears as many hats as The Rock. Take a moment to listen, and then we’ll dissect it together as a class.

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So, there you have it: The Rock’s singing voice. It’s kind of exactly what you’d expect—conversational, charming, and certainly not too vocally demanding. The Moana track isn't as impressive as some of his past musical attempts, like that time he performed Sam Cooke's “You Send Me” on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (watch it here and be moved).

Though Disney musicals have a long history of casting stars with flawless voices (Idina Menzel in Frozen, for example), you don’t always need a vocal superstar in a supporting role like this. Sometimes, an actual superstar like Johnson will do. In other cases, the studio will tag team an actor with a famous singer, like Disney did with Bill Murray and Kermit Ruffins for The Jungle Book.

And hey, if nothing else: a singing Rock fares far better than, say, Pierce Brosnan did in Mamma Mia!, or Russell Crowe did in Les Misérables. It’s up to you to decide whether or not he's also better than Fast franchise co-star (and potential former candy ass) Vin Diesel, whose own dulcet tones set a pretty high bar.