Let’s get to the bottom of whether Zac Efron did actually sing in High School Musical

There’s no doubt the High School Musical franchise was a cornerstone in all of our childhoods, and I’d honestly just assumed Zac Efron did actually sing in all of the films. You can visualise the rose tinted glasses of my youth shattering when I discovered his voice was completely cut from the whole of the first movie. Yeah, that’s right, the guy who sang Get’cha Head in the Game wasn’t actually the Troy Bolton at all and I don’t know if I’ll ever emotionally recover.

Okay, but there are still some important questions that need to be answered. How much of High School Musical did Zac Efron actually get to sing for, and whose voice are we actually hearing for most of the iconic songs? Let’s find out!

Via Disney

Well, it turns out that Zac Efron did actually record all the songs for the first High School Musical film but none of them made the final cut. Instead, his voice was dubbed over with that of actor Drew Seeley’s whilst Zac lip synced. From an unearthed 2007 interview in the Orlando Sentinal, it sounds like even Zac wasn’t sure why his parts were removed.

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He revealed: “That was a very huge point for me. I had to put my foot down and fight to get my voice on these tracks. In the first movie, after everything was recorded, my voice was not on them. I was not really given an explanation. It just kind of happened that way. Unfortunately, it put me in an awkward position. It’s not something I expected to be addressed. Then High School Musical blew up. I’m very fortunate that Drew has gotten proper credit and also that I’ve gotten the opportunity to come back and try it again with my own voice. He’s very talented. I consider myself a regular kid that can carry a tune.”

Via Disney

However, before you start having a breakdown you’ll be relieved to hear that it is Zac’s voice you can hear in both High School Musical 2 and 3. He’s also proven he can actually sing by appearing in Hairspray and The Greatest Showman, so I’ll hear no Zac Efron voice quality slander.

There was also a High School Musical concert tour that took place where all the original cast performed the songs from the films. But slightly awkwardly Zac wasn’t there. But no, it wasn’t because he couldn’t sing but all came down to the fact that he was filming Hairspray. And surprise surprise, none other than Drew took his place. It must be such a weird feeling to get the sound of Troy Bolton from someone who looks absolutely nothing like him. Freaky stuff!

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Related stories recommended by this writer:

• Here’s the heartbreaking real reason why Zac Efron’s face looks so dramatically different

• Right, here’s how Zac Efron got so jacked for his role in The Iron Claw

• From High School Musical to The Iron Claw: Ranking Zac Efron’s most iconic roles

Featured image credit via Disney.