Composer Opetaia Foa‘i has spoken about the importance of weaving Pacific Island languages into the music of Disney's Moana franchise, describing the effort to introduce Pacific culture to a global audience as "a huge win". Having written music for the original Moana, Moana 2 and now the live-action remake released in cinemas on Friday, he argues that singing in Polynesian languages lends the films a sense of authenticity that resonates with listeners even when they do not understand every word.

Foa‘i, who was born in Samoa and grew up in poverty, credits music as a source of joy and a means of storytelling for his people. He leads the band Te Vaka, meaning "The Canoe", which features his children, performs in four languages, tours internationally and has appeared at the Olympics twice. The group sings, chants and drums across all three Moana soundtracks, and recently completed a recording week for the live-action film. The interview was originally conducted for Cricket Media's Spider magazine by Delores Lee and Hayley Kim.