Shrek Is More Than Just A Movie. For Me, It’s A Way Of Life.
What is the defining soundtrack of your life? Perhaps it’s Remain in Light by Talking Heads, an album by a band who redefined rock music in America with their genre-bending new wave hits. Or it could be Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black, another era-defining work of art by a voice and talent so impossible to replicate that there’s a whole movie industry devoted to trying. If your favourite album is Morning Glory by Oasis, I’ve likely not met you, as I tend to avoid people who bring guitars to parties.
For me, though? It’s obvious. Painfully so.
It is the soundtrack that accompanies the 2001 cinematic masterpiece starring the inimitable actor and icon, Mike Myers. It, ladies and gentlefolk, is Shrek.
I’m not alone. As if compelled by Puss in Boots himself (or forced by Lord Farquard), Spotify has just released the listening data on the soundtracks for both Shrek 1 and 2. The results? Either horrifying or emboldening, depending on how you feel about irate ogres. Shrek 1 has racked up a sickening 133 million streams in Australia alone.
While you might be thinking this enormous listenership is attributed to Smash Mouth’s ‘All Star’ alone, you would be sorely mistaken. From Ricky Martin’s ‘Livin La Vida Loca’ to Rufus Wainwright’s heart-wrenching rendition of ‘Hallelujah’, the classic feel-good movie magic hits of the early 2000s are all here.
What’s not to love? While it might seem banal, or even old hat, to be divulging a love of Shrek in the written form, it is important.
Shrek + Donkey. Image credit: Dreamworks
In recent years, Shrek obsession has been disparaged as a millennial pursuit, as though being born before the year 1996 and feeling an allegiance to a green monster is something that ought to be snuffed out, like the stench of an outhouse after Shrek’s had his post-dinner blow-out. Brittany Broski first voiced these allegations on TikTok back in March, and truthfully it did sour my relationship to Shrek for a hot minute. I did not want to be seen as stale and dried up. I realise now that my fears are unfounded – I see my age as a blessing as it means I was alive in the era of Mike Myers.
If there’s one thing that Spotify data doesn’t do, it’s lie. The evidence is written on the wall for the sequel’s soundtrack, too – Shrek 2’s album boasts 101 million streams, 0.1% of them surely mine alone. ‘Accidentally in Love’ by Counting Crows reigns supreme with 25 million streams. It’s unsurprising really, given I listened to it 3,000 times last year whilst recovering from an unrequited crush on someone with a sparkling personality and juicy bunda. I didn’t want to share his name, but in the interest of transparency and in case any other woman out there has been ghosted by the conniving trickster… it’s Donkey. Some say he never replied to my messages because he has hoofs for hands but if he wanted to, he would.
Still, the beat goes on and on. Especially the beat of ‘Bad Reputation’ by Half Cocked, a rock anthem the likes of which are difficult to replicate post-Shrek. All in all, the hits are endless, and they help underscore a sensation of life that courses through my veins as I search for and find at my fingertips, the music that made Shrek so special.
Image credit: @frooomes Instagram + Punkee