Justin Tranter still remembers seeing Billy Porter perform “Beauty School Dropout” on The Tonight Show in 1994. Dressed in an elaborate orange wig and zebra-print suit, Porter belted out the classic Grease song, filled with a series of extravagant vocal runs that show off his spectacular voice.
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“Someone living in a very over the top, fabulous version of their truth singing their ass off on television, that struck a very deep chord with my teenage self,” Tranter tells American Songwriter. “Seeing Billy do that performance of ‘Beauty School Dropout’ will be with me forever.”
Tranter was drawn to movie musicals as a child, citing Annie, The Little Mermaid, and Grease among their favorites. Tranter got to transfer their passion for musicals into song when they were tapped to write several tracks that appear in the new 10-episode series on Paramount+, Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, which focuses on the origin story of the feisty girl group, the Pink Ladies.
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“Movie musicals are the reason why I ever made music in the first place, that’s the reason why music even registered as a thing in my brain,” they explain. “The Pink Ladies were so important to me, embracing their femininity and sexuality while still being badass, was just too iconic. So the idea of focusing on a Pink Ladies’ origin story was too exciting for me to not get involved.”
Tranter, who’s established themselves as one of the most sought-after writers in modern pop music co-penning such hits as Justin Bieber’s “Sorry,” “Love Myself” by Hailee Steinfeld, “Hands to Myself” by Selena Gomez, and many more, heard that a show about the Pink Ladies was in the works and managed to get a meeting with showrunner Annabel Oakes in an effort to “convince her” that they were the “right person for the job.”
In preparation, Tranter re-watched Grease and realized that the film is a story about the 1950s told through the lens of the late 1970s. “There’s a deep history of pop songwriters being a part of Grease,” Tranter observes, noting that the title track was written by Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees and sung by Frankie Valli. “I have the pedigree to do this.”
Tranter wrote “New Cool” as their audition song for Oakes, which ended up in the pilot. Creating the songs was a collaborative process, as Tranter was intentional about crafting the lyrics around the characters’ storylines.
“The songs are there to serve the story,” they express. “The script tells me what the songs are about and then I have a deep conversation with Annabel about these characters, and how she feels like it sounds. So it is her story and I followed her lead through the whole thing.”
Among their favorite songs to craft was “Election Song,” performed by Assistant Principal McGee, as someone in the older generation trying to keep the girls in line while also nurturing their free spirits. “To write a song about her exhaustion of trying to be supportive, but also keep shit together, is a very funny, ridiculous moment that I loved doing,” they describe.
Tranter also points out “Merely Players,” a “pure, innocent” love song between two of the female characters, as another favorite. Admitting it was “tricky” to write, as one of the characters is mixing up their love for the arts with their budding feelings for the other character.
“She’s having romantic feelings for the first time… they are realizing that there might be a spark here, and not realizing the fear of it yet,” Tranter describes. “That was such an inspiring joy to write.”
But the song that captures the heart of the show is “I Want More.” Featured in the second episode, “I Want More” is a bluesy number performed by Marisa Davila, who plays Jane Facciano. I want more/More than I probably should/More than I probably ever, ever could, she sings with powerhouse vocals. The song came from a personal place. Raised in the small town of Hawthorn Woods, Illinois, Tranter was subjected to bullying as a queer person who identifies as bisexual and nonbinary, causing them to transfer to the Chicago Academy for the Arts. Writing the song was a cathartic experience for the artist who knows how it feels to be suppressed.
“The song says she wants more and that she knows that is going to cause trouble, and then the world doesn’t think she should want more or that she deserves more, but she’s going to go for it anyway,” Tranter explains of the meaning.
“My whole life as a young queer person, I relate to that so deeply. How dare I want greatness, how dare I want to achieve greatness while being truthful about who I am… I’ve been out since 1994, so there was no hiding for me.”
“I Want More” drives home the message of the show that Tranter says strikes a balance between making important statements about the modern world and blending it with the fun and playfulness that made Grease so beloved. “The Pink Ladies started with these four women who simply want more than young women in 1954 are supposed to want,” Tranter professes.
“Sadly, we still live in a society where young women are not supposed to want too much, or be too ambitious, or be too different, or be too sure of themselves. There’s a lot of exploring themes of young women wanting more than they should. I think that is very important,” they continue, adding that the series is “really fucking fun.” “I think that things that are fun are allowed to still be important.”
Rise of the Pink Ladies is streaming now, with episodes airing on Thursday until June 1.
Photo by Maarten De Boer/Contour by Getty Images
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