"Surface Pressure" is a song that is featured in Disney's 2021 animated feature film, Encanto. It is sung by Luisa Madrigal about her stresses of being the strongest member of the family due to her gift of superstrength and trying to live up to Alma's expectations.
Lyrics[]
Luisa:
I'm the strong one
I'm not nervous
I'm as tough as the crust of the Earth is
Mirabel:(spoken) Okay?
Luisa:
I move mountains
I move churches
And I glow, 'cause I know what my worth is
Mirabel:(spoken) Course, I mean–Hey, where are you going?
Luisa:
I don't ask how hard the work is
Got a rough, indestructible surface
Diamonds and platinum, I find 'em, I flatten 'em
I take what I'm handed, I break what's demanded, but
Under the surface, I feel berserk as
A tightrope walker in a three-ring circus
Under the surface, was Hercules ever like
"Yo, I don't want to fight Cerberus?"
Under the surface, I'm pretty sure I'm worthless
If I can't be of service
A flaw or a crack, the straw in the stack
That breaks the camel's back
What breaks the camel's back?
It's pressure like a drip, drip, drip
That'll never stop (Whoa)
Pressure that'll tip, tip, tip,
'Til you just go pop (Whoah-oh-oh)
Give it to your sister, your sister's older
Give her all the heavy things we can't shoulder
Who am I if I can't run with the ball?
If I fall to-
Pressure like a grip, grip, grip
And it won't let go (Whoa)
Pressure like a tick, tick, tick
'Til it's ready to blow (Whoa-oh-oh)
Give it to your sister, your sister's stronger
See if she can hang on a little longer
Who am I if I can't carry it all?
If I falter
Under the surface,
I hide my nerves and it worsens,
I worry something is gonna hurt us
Under the surface, the ship doesn't swerve
Has it heard how big the iceberg is?
Under the surface, I think about my purpose
Can I somehow preserve this?
Line up the dominoes, a light wind blows
You try to stop it topplin'
But on and on it goes
But wait
If I could shake the crushing weight
Of expectations, would that free some room up for joy?
Or relaxation? Or simple pleasure?
Instead we measure this growing pressure
Keeps growing, keep going
'Cause all we know is
Pressure like a drip, drip, drip
That'll never stop (Whoa)
Pressure that'll tip, tip, tip,
'Til you just go pop (Whoah-oh-oh)
Give it to your sister, it doesn't hurt and
See if she can handle every family burden
Watch as she buckles and bends but never breaks
(pause)
No mistakes, just-
Pressure like a grip, grip, grip
And it won't let go (Whoa)
Pressure like a tick, tick, tick
'Til it's ready to blow (Whoa-oh-oh)
Give it to your sister and never wonder
If the same pressure would've pulled you under
Who am I if I don't have what it takes?
No cracks, no breaks
No mistakes, no pressure
The characters of Hercules and Cerberus physically appear during the scene where Luisa and Mirabel find themselves in an arena where Hercules is battling Cerberus. However, their designs are different from the ones in the 1997Disney animated film.
The legendary ship RMS Titanic (dubbed RMS Madrigal) makes a cameo appearance when Luisa sings, "The ship doesn't swerve/Has it heard how big the iceberg is?", serving as a reference to the real-life Titanic disaster in 1912.
Coincidentally, 20th Century Fox, the international distributor of the 1997 James Cameron film Titanic (which was based on the event) was bought by Disney in 2019, so now Disney holds the distribution rights (alongside Paramount) to the film.
