JUKEBOX: “Where No One Goes” by Jonsi

Hiccup riding Toothless in How To Train Your Dragon 2

Hi everybody! It’s Kimberly here for my eighteenth post for the genre “Children’s Music.”

For my last post, I decided to review “The Trail We Blaze” from DreamWorks’ The Road to El Dorado in honor of DreamWorks (which is celebrating its 20^th anniversary this year) and in honor of the opening day of How to Train Your Dragon 2. Since I have now watched How to Train Your Dragon 2, today I’m going to review “Where No One Goes” from its soundtrack. If you’re concerned about spoilers, I’m going to avoid spoilers as much as possible and will warn you of any possible spoilers.

If you have seen the first How to Train Your Dragon movie, at first listen you will probably recognize some aspects of “Where No One Goes.” The reason that “Where No One Goes” might be familiar to some of you is that the song uses a portion of HTTYD’s original score written by John Powell. John Powell is a film composer, who is the mastermind behind the music for films such as Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, and Bolt. In 2011, John Powell was nominated for Best Original Score for his work on HTTYD. For the sequel, DreamWorks also brought back Jonsi, whose song “Sticks and Stones” can be heard in the credits of HTTYD. Jonsi was originally known as Jon Thor Birgisson when he was “the singer/guitarist in the Icelandic group Sigur Ros.” I would compare Jonsi’s sound to a combination of Owl City and Ylvis (of “What Does the Fox Say” infamy). Together, John Powell and Jonsi create a pleasant mash-up.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 takes place 5 years after the first movie. “Where No One Goes” can be heard towards the beginning of the movie when the audience first sees Hiccup and Toothless flying above the clouds. John Powell’s brilliant score coupled with a fast-pace drumbeat gets viewers excited and pumped about seeing the main characters for the first time. Jonsi’s soft, almost angelic voice with Powell’s accompaniment gives the listener that feeling of being able to leave earth and fly amongst the clouds. However, I will note that (for me at least) most of the lyrics are incomprehensible. The lyric that stands out the most is “We go where no one goes,” which describes Hiccup and Toothless who “go where no one goes” in that they fly above the clouds. The lyrics of “Where No One Goes” are really beautiful if one takes the time to look them up. I’m giving “Where No One Goes” 4 ½ records because even though most of the lyrics are hard to understand the ingenious mash-up of pop and an Academy Award nominated score is breathtaking.

I highly recommend watching How to Train Your Dragon 2 if you haven’t already. “Where No One Goes” just scratches the surface of all the beautiful music featured in HTTY2. I hope you enjoyed my review of “Where No One Goes” and please come back next Friday for another review for the genre “Children’s Music.” Thank you for checking out our blog. It means a lot. J

Here is the audio for “Where No One Goes.”