How pro wrestling helped prepare The Rock to sing in 'Moana'

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson unveils his onscreen singing chops as the song-belting demigod Maui in Disney's animated Moana (in theaters Nov. 23).

But Johnson has sung before — in the professional wrestling ring, usually before delivering a signature "people's elbow" to a foe.

These wrestling songs were helpful in preparing Johnson's showcase tune You're Welcome, according to John Musker, who directed Moana with Ron Clements.

Songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda (Broadway's Hamilton) studied The Rock's ring performances before composing. The songs helped him create the "Key of DJ," as Johnson called it on Twitter.

"We looked at clips of him singing at his WWE events. He would pull out a little ukulele and do a little singing," says Musker, who adds that Johnson also sang about being Franchise Viagra when hosting Saturday Night Live in 2015. "Lin had a sense of (Johnson's) vocal range and his register ... (and) kept that in mind. And The Rock sings well."

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Miranda wrote You're Welcome featuring Maui and his magical fish hook's impact on the South Pacific culture. As legend has it, Maui slowed down the sun, pulled up whole islands from the sea and battled monsters. So he is due for some thanks.

The song's patter rap is similar to the style Miranda invoked for Hamilton. 

When Miranda recorded a demo and sent it to Johnson, "I think he put it on non-stop play in his truck. He kind of inhaled Lin’s version to get that in his head," Musker says. "Lin can do that stuff in his sleep, rat-a-tat style. But here’s Dwayne who kind of has to keep up with Lin. Amazingly enough, he did, really well."

Miranda and vocal coach Sam Kriger were both on hand to give Johnson instruction in the Miami recording studio. The animators had plenty of visual material to work from of footage of The Rock actually singing in the studio.

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"They had a field day, trying to get some of the expressions and the kind of revved-up performance that The Rock gave," says Musker. "It’s going to be one of the highlights of the movie when you hear The Rock sing."

What he means to say is, you're welcome.