Inside the MEAN GIRLS Songs in New Movie Musical: Live Vocals, an 8-Minute Musical Number & More

The Mean Girls cast have shared more details on what songs to expect in the upcoming movie musical.

During a panel for Entertainment Weekly, the cast discussed songs in the film like "Stars," "Revenge Party," "Cautionary Tale," "Sexy," and more. Angourie Rice, Reneé Rapp, Auli’i Cravalho, Jaquel Spivey, Avantika, Bebe Wood, Christopher Briney, and Tina Fey all gave more of a sneak peek into how music is present in the film.

Fey confirms that the Broadway musical's framing device of Janis and Damian narrating the story is still present in the film, complete with their song, "Cautionary Tale" opening up the movie.

"I think the balance of old and new comes in with Janis and Damian saying, 'This is a cautionary tale.' So it's framing it in a way that the audience knows that this has been told before and they're telling it again because it's still relevant," Angourie Rice, who plays Cady, reveals. "I really love that opening song. I think it gives it this amazing little button."

Following "Cautionary Tale" is a new song that opens up the story, co-written by Reneé Rapp. Along with performing songs like "World Burn" and "Someone Gets Hurt," Rapp has worked on new music for the film, including another tune for Cady Heron.

The cast also says that vocals in some of the songs in the 2024 movie are recorded live, including "What's Wrong With Me?," "Rather Be Me," and "Someone Gets Hurt (Reprise)."

"You were belting ["Someone Gets Hurt (Reprise)"] like this close to me and it moved me to tears. It was so stunning to see that live," Rice said to Cravalho.

"A lot of things happen in the booth but it's so funny, I feel like we make three different movies," Cravalho said about filming the songs. "The script that we know and love and read, when we film it that feels completely different from what happens on the page, and then who knows what happens in the edit."

Also being adapted from the musical is "Revenge Party," which is an eight minute sequence in the film. Spivey and Rice shared that one day per week of the entire shoot dedicated to filming a portion of the number. 

"It wasn't like, 'Oh we film this number and we're done.' It was like, every week," Rice shared.

However, Summer I Turned Pretty fans hoping to hear Christopher Briney singing as Aaron Samuels are out of luck. The actor confirms in the interview that he does not sing in the film, ruling out portions of songs like "Stupid With Love (Reprise)" and "More Is Better."

The Mean Girls movie musical soundtrack is now available for pre-order, with 12 yet-to-be-revealed songs listed. While the song list signals that some of the 21 musical numbers from the stage version have inevitably been cut, the cast said that they recognize the passion musical theatre fans have for the Mean Girls musical.

"Musical theatre fans are so dedicated and passionate in a way that is frightening because I love musicals. I am a huge musical theatre fan but I also know that there is a huge responsibility there when your favorite musical or your favorite movie gets adapted again. It's a big responsibility to the fans," Rice divulged.

Mean Girls is set to hit theaters on January 12, with the soundtrack releasing on the same day. The cast of the film also includes Ashley Park, Jenna Fischer, Busy Philipps, Ashley Park, and Tim Meadows.

Watch a featurette for the Mean Girls choreography here: