“Sebastian has two songs, but where’s Scuttle’s?” Marshall says the filmmakers realized when crafting the adaptation. DeLuca came up with the title, playing off the slang word for “gossip,” which Scuttle (Awkwafina) excels at – sort of.
“She’s so befuddled and never gets the words together, so a fun thought was like let’s make it a crazy rap,” Marshall says, explaining that “The Scuttlebutt” is another montage song used to explain the gossip around Prince Eric’s decision to propose.
So, Menken composed a Caribbean-inspired tune and Miranda wrote the rhymes, which culminate in a back-and-forth speed rap between Scuttle and Sebastian (Daveed Diggs). “It was just, ‘Oh my god. That was so delicious,’” Menken recalls. “But then, Awkwafina and Daveed Diggs singing it, it was like, ‘Oh man, this is special.’”
Finding out that Scuttle was going to get her own number was a particularly pleasant surprise for Awkwafina, since she’s a huge fan of Miranda.
“It was so cool to perform a song that he wrote for the character. It’s an honor,” Awkwafina says. “It’s like ‘Are you sure even want to do this?” But then I was like, ‘At the end of the day, if it doesn’t work, you’re don’t have to use it.’”
The decision to add Diggs’ vocals came later, with the Tony-winner admitting that he was a fan of Awkwafina’s from her earlier rap music beginnings. “I might have requested to do hype vocals,” Diggs adds.
About reuniting with his “Hamilton” creator and co-star Miranda, Diggs says, their familiarity paid dividends during recording. “His speech patterns are so familiar to me,” Diggs explains. “Rap music, for people who don’t make rap music, feels like a magic trick. But it’s just like anything else.”
