Raphael Saadiq Found the Perfect Sound for Marvel’s New Show

superhero, the supernatural, and the Ever Looming Apocalypse – Marvel’s newest title, Moon Maiden and Devil Dinosaur, has all the staples of the company. But unlike what the MCU has to offer, this is an animated children’s show.

Moon Girl, also known as Lunella Lafayette, is a teenager living on the Lower East Side who fights evil forces alongside a T. rex. And as a black heroine, her presence resonates beyond the screen. Recent studies have found that fewer than 6 percent of the characters in children’s films and television are black, and an even smaller number of them are major heroes — a statistic the creators drew from moon girl hope for change.

Among those creators is Raphael Saadiq, the R&B polymath who has released beloved solo albums, written music for Oscar nominees, and even found time to produce for Beyoncé. In building the world of moon girl, he was inspired by the real New York, which – as with many Marvel properties – is very important to the series’ story. (It even references the closure of a popular Knish spot.) Ahead of the show’s Feb. 10 premiere on Disney Channel, WIRED spoke to Saadiq about it Sesame Street inspire, get name checked by the Wu-Tang clan and take on a whole different musical project.

WIRED: moon girl feels like it’s trying to capture a spectrum of the sounds of New York City.

Raphael Saadiq: Definitive. There’s a lot of hip-hop, jazz, some funk. There’s some R&B, there’s a lot of salsa. There’s a lot of flavors in there. There are songs, then there is the score and then there are 30 second bumpers. It gives me many opportunities to do surprising things.

What were the specific influences you drew on?

There are small joints that reflect the Wu Tang clan, which I’m a big fan of. I picked some of my New York underground stuff that people don’t know I do. I have the chance to play like I’m from New York. I remember riding in a car with me [Tribe Called Quest MC] Q-Tip in New York, in his jeep, and we played Roy Ayers’ “My Life in the Sunshine” and we drove by people and I could see people dancing! That’s what I love about New York. That was great [opportunity] playing many parts of New York.

What were your goals for this?

I think the challenge for me was to instill some music in kids that they probably don’t get on TikTok every day. you can take The to tiktok.

Done the editing process moon girl Do you remember your early exposure to music through children’s television?

When I was a kid watching cartoons, there were orchestras and so much good music. I was able to take this music with me as I got older. I wanted to do the same for children. Maybe it’s the first time you hear such music. You can take it and do something with it.