I keep reading reviews of how horrible it is they switched the guy who did the songs in Moana 1 for the 2 girls who did the songs in Moana 2. After listening to alot, NUH UH. It is exactly what the Moana2 composers said about their songs growing on people. The specific difference is Energy. The Moana2 songs are Good and Empowering. The Moana1 songs are not except the Horizon one, which is beautiful. But I don't identify as a murderous giant crab addicted to shiny nor a deceptive braggart, so, while they may sound audibly well put together, the energy is off in Moana1 songs. I can almost smell the gender stereotype identity stuff with middle aged famous male composer songs being 'i need shiny things and will attack you' and 'youre welcome for being this awesome whilIe i decieve u', while the 2 up and coming girls have purely songs for protagonists that are like "destined for greatness go!" "think different to get extra far" and "you can do it x2". So to me, being a protagonist, I can find the first Moana songs wellwritten, but only the Horizon one repeatable. Moana2 does not have this problem and whichever song someone attaches to is healthy. I personally love "Get Lost".
But also I know the norm is to not care about that stuff and people say horrific movies done well are "good" while, to me, that they are horrific makes them "bad". I assume it's this same difference in values that causes the majority of reviews to say Moana2 songs are worse than Moana1 while I think the opposite. Moana 1 songs could be way darker and reviewers would still say they are better than Moana2. Meanwhile, I think about myself or the child singing them, listening to them repeatedly, and Moana2 is 100% healthy while Moana1 has some healthy ingredients but also artificial colors known to cause cancer. Thus Moana2 songs > Moana1.