Anderson .Paak On Creating a New Vibe for ‘Shang-Chi’ Original Song Contender, ‘Fire In the Sky’

When the end credits started rolling for Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, I didn’t get up right away. Sure, we all know that we need to stay in our seats to get the latest sneak peek or jokey cameo when we attend the latest superhero film. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was a game-changer for the studio, but the sound of Anderson .Paak’s ‘Fire in the Sky’ was reason enough for me to dance around in my chair.

‘Fire in the Sky’ just puts you in a great mood. The piano starts the track, but it has that trademark sound that .Paak is so synonymous with–it’s no wonder that his collaborations with Bruno Mars have led to their Silk Sonic singles to play on repeat. Mars even gave .Paak on some advice with the hook of ‘Fire in the Sky.’

The Best Original Song category is always packed with admirable ballads, but why not change things up with a truly feel good track? It reminds you of summer nights and the possibility of promising love, and couldn’t we use a little more of that right now?

Awards Daily: When you find out that you’re writing a song for the new Marvel movie, what is your first thought? I feel like I would be so intimidated, but I’m sure a lot of people would be excited. 

Anderson .Paak: I was hyped. Finally something that would make my kids think I was cool. Any time you have a chance that can reach that many people, that excites me. Usually it comes with some parameters–which is fun for me too–I think that helps me so I have something to go with. I was excited to work with the director.

AD: What kind of ideas did they give you about the sound they were looking for? 

AP: I knew that it would be for the closing credits, but they couldn’t show me too much of the film. Marvel is a bit tight about that (laughs). I got a little overview, but I didn’t get a ton of details. My main goal was to create something that feels good. After watching it, I wanted to keep it that high. Maybe a love song. We went through to many different versions to find the right vibe to it. Later on, I saw the film without any of the effects, and I saw the characters going through the portal, I thought the music was able to keep that lightness. They made it at the end, and I thought the song really helped sustain that.

AD: I loved the movie, and I thought it was something we hadn’t seen before. I remember when the credits started rolling, I felt really good. It elevates the vibe and lifts you up as you leave the theater. 

AP: That’s exactly what we wanted.

AD: Did you have any major influences to help with that kind of playful tone of the song?

AP: Maybe it was my SoCal influence. It definitely has some driving around with the top down feel. Beach boy-esque a little. Imagining a summer evening and then you see a really hot chick pop up and you feel like you can spend a lot of time with her–that love for life kind of feel. That was the main vibe of it. It was the first time I worked with the producer Rogét Chahayed, and the chords he had were so beautiful. When we were playing with the drum groove when Bruno [Mars] starting working on it with us, he thought there were two things we should work on. Maybe he should do double time on the drums to make the verse really pop out, and we needed to make the hook pop. He knew that would lift it.

AD: How do you think working on the hook helped? 

AP: With this song, right when we started working on it, I started working on the Silk Sonic stuff. I was doing both at the same time, and Bruno asked me what I was working on. At the time, it wasn’t finished, and he thought the hook was good. He started playing out the chords on the acoustic, because it didn’t go there before. It was a continuous loop before.

AD: Works with the ten rings feel…

AP: Right. But I thought what he did was so dreamy, and it was able to go further on the hook. We vibed for that for a bit, and then we did the drums. It went through so many versions before it went to Bruno.

AD: Congratulations on the announcement of your label.

AP: Thank you, man. We are thrilled with the artists we have.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is streaming now on Disney+.