How Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett's Two 'Secondary School Melodic' Tunes Became One Two part harmony

 Before their conjectured offscreen relationship show helped prod a Board Hot 100 No. 1 hit, Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett 

recorded a two part harmony about their onscreen heartfelt predicament for Secondary School Melodic: The Melodic: The Arrangement. 

The two-section melody will show up during the second period of the Disney+ arrangement, which debuts May 14, in which Nini (Rodrigo) and Ricky (Bassett) explore their significant distance relationship after she takes off to the Denver-based Youth Entertainers Center, leaving Ricky, the East High Wildcats and their spring melodic creation behind in Salt Lake City, Utah. The "Valentine's Day" scene spotlights Nini and Ricky attempting to genuinely spend the occasion together, after Ricky takes a transport to Denver to astonish Nini with the new love tune he composed for her named "In any event, When" - just for Nini to astound Ricky external his (old) house in Salt Lake City and sing her own heartfelt number "The Most awesome thing."

Toward the end of the episode, the high school sweethearts simultaneously perform their songs while leaving voicemails for each other shortly before the clock strikes midnight and signals the end of Valentine's Day. The result is "Even When/The Best Part," a swoon-worthy "accidental duet" featuring Bassett on guitar and Rodrigo on ukulele that strategically synthesizes their individual songs together like two pieces of a puzzle.

This song originated in the writers' room when our writing producer Zach Dodes said, 'Wouldn't it be cool if Ricky and Nini kept missing each other on Valentine's Day, and so they each call each other at midnight and play a song they wrote for the other one -- and through the magic of showbiz, the songs blended together?'" Tim Federle, the series' creator, showrunner and executive producer, says in a statement to Billboard. "Olivia and Josh are such talented singer-actors, and the songwriters struck the perfect note in writing this 'accidental duet.'"

Disney Channel veteran songwriter and producer Mitch Allan, Chantry Johnson and Michelle Zarlenga knew going into the writing session in January 2020 that they were writing one song with two songs nested inside it. 

In a statement, Disney Branded Television vp of music and soundtracks Steve Vincent commended the team for taking on "the unique challenge of writing two songs that musically fit together when played simultaneously and [delivering] a 'duet' that captures the spirit of Valentine’s Day, and the voices of the characters expressing their love for one another."

We definitely knew we had some kind of mental gymnastics to do to get ourselves to a place where we could write two songs that happened to work at the same time and really work on the structure of each to make them flow like a unit," Zarlenga tells Billboard.