High School Musical

This ensemble number closes out the popular High School Musical trilogy during the graduation ceremony scene on the football field. It was written by Canadian producer and songwriter Matthew Gerrard and Robbie Nevil, a producer and songwriter who landed the solo hit "C'est La Vie" in 1986.

Director/choreographer Kenny Ortega was insistent that the song be called "High School Musical," which made Nevil and Gerrard squirm. Nevil explained in a Songfacts interview: "It's just not one of those titles that make you go, 'Oh, I know, that's a hook line.'" He continued: "But I feel like we sat down with that one and ended up writing a really wonderful song that incorporated that title. I'm not going to say it was my favorite, but I just remember that one feeling like one of the biggest challenges just based upon the title. Kenny really wanted that title to wrap it up, and looking back I totally see why. It sounds like it's supposed to be the title there."

Big cast numbers were always tricky to demo with just a couple guys in a studio. Nevil said: "I can't tell you how many times I was creating cheerleading sections... and I'd be lying down in the back of the studio and screaming, because you're trying to make a couple of people sound as big as you can. It was pretty funny, actually. Matt's wife, Ashley, would do some of the characters, like Sharpay, on some of the stuff. Then you always, for the actual record, add choir and all the cast and it gets bigger and bigger and bigger. But even for the demos, you have to sell the idea."