ABOUT.
When two forces of nature unite, magic happens…
That is what is created when Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, two impressive women in their own rights, join together to create music history. As shown in the viral success of their original songs, they use their prolific gifts in multiple music styles to create ear-worm, contagious melodies with a broad appeal. They broke the glass ceiling on the standard way that a Broadway show is brought to life by involving the audience every step of the way throughout the creation of the musical via social media and TikTok live. The music of Barlow and Bear is singable, hummable, trendy, and somehow familiar. They mix today’s sound with tributes to the great musicals, using elements from the pop, classical & jazz worlds that they came from. Creating a new space in a predominantly male industry, they share their joyful passion to bring musical theatre to the mainstream. Barlow & Bear break down musical stereotypes creating a fun fresh sound for the future.
STORY OF THE MUSICAL ALBUM
Barlow and Bear composed and recorded 15 songs in 6 weeks, live on social media in real-time, with lead vocals by Barlow and orchestration, production and additional vocals by Bear.
With 65 million likes between them, Barlow and Bear have released an album of original songs. The response has been spectacular, with the album hitting #1 on iTunes U.S. Pop Albums within two hours of its release, and Top 10 worldwide.
Bear (20) and Barlow (23), are two young women who have independently carved out their own space in the musical theater world. Barlow was a founding creator on TikTok and has a flourishing singer-songwriter career with the chart success of her independently-released pop hit “Heartbreak Hotel.” Meanwhile, Bear has had a rich career as an award winning composer and piano prodigy who first appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show at age six, and has performed around the world including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center.
Although individually accomplished, together the pair are breathing new life into musical theater with The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical’s merging of Broadway influences, contemporary scoring and a pop through-line. Barlow and Bear’s creative process ushers in a new-founded feat: live streaming on TikTok and Instagram to transparently involve their audience in every step of making this album.
A passion project that became an unexpected viral sensation, Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear transparently shared their entire composing process - from the magic moments, to writers block, and everything in between. The pair found a positive corner of social media and created a warm and involved community during the darkest days of COVID, that in turn, was inspired by their music. During a time when the world and all theater was shut down, their music inspired a creative outlet for artists of all types including painters, choreographers, designers and musicians. Thousands of people shared videos online duetting or making covers of their songs - from Broadway and West End Stars to people who had never sung before.
Accolades and support from Netflix, the cast of Bridgerton, and people from all across the world increased with the creation of each new song. Julia Quinn, author of the Bridgerton Series said, "I know all about the musical and that is just blowing my mind," she says. "I'll be sort of humming in the shower and realize I've been humming one of the songs." As if to prove it, she sings a bit of the Eloise song, "If I Were a Man." Composers Pasek and Paul (La La Land, Greatest Showman, Dear Evan Hansen), self proclaimed "bearlow fans" wrote, "What is this musical style? Oh wait, it doesn't exist, you're inventing it".
Their ear-worm, catchy melodies marry todays pop sensibilities with classic musical theater, while adding in doses of cinematic styling, and creates a sound that can cross from Broadway to the pop charts. Demystifying the creative process with real-time live-streams documenting their composing, orchestrating and recording sessions, Barlow and Bear have broken the glass ceiling on how musicals become mainstream.