Encanto Spoiled Its [SPOILER] Twist Twice In Its Best Song

Warning: This article contains spoilers from Encanto.

In the song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” Encanto nearly gave away one of its biggest twists not once, but twice. Disney’s most recent animated movie, Encanto tells the story of the Madrigal family, which was granted a miracle following the death of Pedro Madrigal, the patriarch of the family. This miracle not only created a valley and magical house to keep the Madrigals safe, but gave special powers to all of the children in the family except for the youngest daughter, Mirabel. Although the Madrigals did not understand why Encanto‘s Mirabel did not receive powers, their greatest mystery may still have been the whereabouts of Mirabel’s missing uncle, Bruno. However, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” gave several hints as to his location.

In Encanto’s first song, “The Family Madrigal,” Mirabel established that Bruno had disappeared years earlier. Due to his foreboding power to see the future, both the Madrigals and the townsfolk living nearby assumed the worst about Bruno. However, Mirabel later discovered that he had gone into hiding to protect her from one of his visions and never actually left the family. Instead, Bruno had been secretly living inside the walls of their house.

Before Encanto revealed this twist, most of the Madrigals and even some townspeople sang “We Don’t Talk About Bruno.” Although Mirabel was seeking information about Bruno, this ensemble song only added to the mystery surrounding him and his powers. However, fantastic as it was, the Encanto song also nearly spoiled the answer to that mystery though. Encanto foreshadows its Bruno twist through both the background characters and lyrics in “We Don’t Talk About Bruno.”

The first way that Encanto revealed Bruno’s location early was by actually including him in the background of “We Don’t Talk About Bruno.” During Dolores’ first solo in the song, Bruno could be seen walking along the balcony behind her and Mirabel. Initially, this seems like a figment of their imagination, meant to depict Bruno’s eeriness. It could also actually be Bruno, though, sneaking around the house to steal food from the kitchen. Even if were not literally him, it’s a bit of symbolism and foreshadowing that, in hindsight, was pretty on the nose.

The lyrics of “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” also hinted at Bruno’s hiding spot. In the Encanto song about Bruno, Dolores sang, “It’s like I can hear him now” multiple times. Given that Dolores’ power was to hear everything, it makes sense that she heard Bruno in the walls. The cleverness of the twist is that both instances, both Bruno appearing in the background and Dolores thinking she can hear him, could be chalked up merely to the family missing him and still imagining his presence. For those discerning ears and eyes, however, they were signposts pointing to the big reveal. “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” may be one of the movie’s best songs, but its characters and lyrics also cleverly hid Encanto’s biggest twist in plain sight.

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