I\u2019m So Happy<\/a>, due Sept. 25, and its new music video \u2014 premiering exclusively on Billboard \u2014 finds the pair surrounded by Colorado mountains, polychromatic scarves, chalk-covered sidewalks and plenty of play.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n\tBut let\u2019s not mistake all of that joy for simplicity.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe music video features an extended version of \u201cI Love a Rainbow,\u201d complete with a new bridge, a sweeping string section and additional live musicians. For the Accursos, expanding a song already familiar to Ms. Rachel families meant finding a way to make its world feel even bigger.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe wanted to expand it,\u201d Aron tells Billboard. \u201cWe wrote a new bridge and we added a big string section and more live musicians, which feels expansive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tSo, too, did filming among the Colorado mountains. But at its heart, Rachel says, the video is about \u201cjoy and connection and play.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThat philosophy sculpted the day the pair spent filming with 11 children from Colorado families. The couple took a lovely approach in having the children involved in the creative process. They didn\u2019t direct the kids through predetermined actions, and instead allowed them to feel immersed in the music.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThey knew the song, and [we were] like, \u2018What do you imagine? What do you think would be good for this next part?\u201d Rachel says. \u201cJust creating it with the kids and making sure they had a really special day.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe resulting video captures children dancing with rainbow scarves and helping create a giant chalk rainbow, with those outdoor scenes interwoven with footage of musicians performing the song in New York City. For Rachel, a former music educator, putting the instruments onscreen was part of the point.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWhen they hear that riff, if they see Aron\u2019s playing it on piano or they see [someone] playing the percussion, I think it\u2019s cool to think, \u2018Maybe I could play that,’\u201d she says. \u201cMaybe they get an interest in guitar from seeing the instruments.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAron proudly directed the video himself, continuing the hands-on approach that has defined the couple\u2019s work since the early days of their YouTube channel.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt goes back to just us, the way we started the channel, and that it was very homegrown and creator-led,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\n\tThere may have been another influence in those superb mountain shots too: The couple\u2019s 1-year-old daughter has recently been enjoying \u201cDo-Re-Mi\u201d from The Sound of Music, and Aron admits the classic musical was \u201cdefinitely\u201d on his mind while the team was developing the video.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThere are little hints of The Sound of Music [in the video]: the mountain vibes, and the singing around,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe visual ambition of \u201cI Love a Rainbow\u201d mirrors the strategy behind I\u2019m So Happy as a whole. The 23-track collection transforms the songs that were first introduced on Ms. Rachel into more lively studio recordings. The album features original songs and children\u2019s classics, with lush orchestration, new arrangements and contributions from 19 vocalists and 42 instrumentalists.<\/p>\n
\n\tFor Aron, who has a background in musical theater as a composer, conductor and Broadway music director, each song required its own approach.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt was looking at each song individually and just imagining, \u2018What is the most special version of that song?’\u201d he says. \u201cSo it was unique to each one.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tSome songs called for restraint. \u201cWalking to the Zoo,\u201d for example, uses a smaller ensemble, while tracks including \u201cCaterpillar\u201d felt capable of supporting a full orchestra.<\/p>\n
\n\tMeanwhile, \u201cI Love a Rainbow\u201d seemed to call out for strings. \u201cI thought the string section would really add to the experience and the expansiveness of the idea,\u201d Aron says.<\/p>\n
\n\tRachel has her own shorthand for her husband\u2019s musical instincts: Aron owns a shirt that reads, \u201cI hear things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAnd, she says, \u201cI feel like he hears things that I don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThat attention to detail is central to how the couple thinks about children\u2019s music. Rachel, who holds a master\u2019s degree in early childhood education and music education, says children shouldn\u2019t be treated as though they need less sophisticated art.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cChildren deserve detailed, rich music,\u201d she says. \u201cNot just deserve, but that they do enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThat same care extended to I\u2019m So Happy, as the Accursos worked with engineers, live musicians and other Broadway-trained collaborators to expand the songs beyond the versions created for the show, where deadlines often require the couple to move quickly from one episode to the next.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWith the album, we were able to do more of the details or go back and do some of the things that maybe I would have liked to have done the first time around,\u201d Aron says. \u201cIt was just a desire to dig in more with more detailed arrangements, more professional engineers, live musicians.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe duo wants listeners to understand that children\u2019s music doesn\u2019t require less craft than music made for any other audience.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI think maybe the misconception is that it is somehow dumbed down or less effortful,\u201d Rachel says. \u201cChildren really deserve that detailed music.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAron adds that the pair treated I\u2019m So Happy \u201cwith as much care as if it were a Broadway cast album.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThat care \u2014 and the emotional weight children can find in music \u2014 perhaps comes through most clearly in \u201cCaterpillar,\u201d a song with a personal history for the couple.<\/p>\n
\n\tAron wrote the track while putting their now-7-year-old son to bed during a period when he was struggling with a speech delay. Their son didn\u2019t begin speaking until he was 2 years and 9 months old, Rachel recalls, and the family watched as he worked to communicate.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cAron wrote this beautiful song about a caterpillar that\u2019s struggling but keeps going,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe song can still provoke an unexpectedly strong reaction from some of its youngest listeners.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cBabies have this phenomenon where they cry at it,\u201d Rachel says, explaining that even children too young to fully understand the lyrics seem to respond to its emotion with a sorrowful pout.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe kids feel deeply and they respond to music, even if they don\u2019t understand the lyrics necessarily,\u201d she says. \u201cThey feel what went into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tFor Rachel and Aron, that\u2019s fundamentally the point of I\u2019m So Happy: Children are listening more closely \u2014 and feeling more deeply \u2014 than adults may sometimes realize.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cKids are smarter and deeper and more amazing than we give them credit for sometimes,\u201d Rachel says.<\/p>\n
\n\tAnd with I\u2019m So Happy, Ms. Rachel and Mr. Aron are making sure the music meets them there.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI Love a Rainbow\u201d is out now, while I\u2019m So Happy arrives Sept. 25 via Magic Star, the children\u2019s and family division of Sony Music Entertainment\u2019s The Orchard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ms. Rachel and Mr. Aron are seeing rainbows in a brand new light these days. For Rachel and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":870322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,62986,134,136,9057],"class_list":["post-870321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-billboard-family","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-music-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/870322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}