While "Louder and Prouder" did make some noticeable changes in the show's animation style and theme song, the story sticks to its core of following a 14-year-old Black girl, Penny Proud (voiced by Kyla Pratt), growing up and learning about the world.
The reboot's theme song has had mixed reactions on social media so far as some fans were attached to the original sung by Solange and Destiny's Child.
Creators Bruce W. Smith ("Space Jam," "The Princess and the Frog") and Ralph Farquhar ("Moesha," "Married...with Children") told Insider that they didn't want to make too many changes to alienate fans of the original series.
"We certainly acknowledged the fact that we had a legion of fans of the original show, but we certainly wanted to give it an upgrade," Farquhar said.
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Smith added: "One of the things that really is sacred within 'The Proud Family' universe we discovered is our theme song. We were getting just short of death threats of not changing this song [saying,] 'You better not change this song.'"
The theme song for 'The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder' is sung by 29-year-old R&B singer, Joyce Wrice
Smith said the duties of creating the song for the revival series fell to the original composer Kurt Farquhar, the younger brother of the show's creator.
The composer told Insider that he doesn't believe there was ever a plan to toss out the old song. Instead, Kurt modernized the song adding a new beat and a new vocalist, 29-year-old R&B singer Joyce Wrice, who was a fan of the original series.
"And so we have someone who grew up on the show now coming to help make this show," Kurt added. "That's a wonderful story. That's just amazing and that is everything you could hope for."
Kurt, Ralph, and Smith all agreed that Wrice embodied Penny Proud if she was a pop star and said the singer is the perfect successor to Solange and Destiny's Child's version of the tune.
"There's no greater new talent than Joyce Wrice to take the reins of this from Beyonce and Destiny's Child and Solange," Kurt said. "Destiny's Child was on a meteoric rise and Solange was at the beginnings of her career. They spoke to that generation and now in a way, they're being handed off to Joyce, who's going to speak to her generation."
Wrice told Insider that it was "a dream come true" to sing the theme song and put her own twist on the classic.
"It's kinda mystic because two weeks before I got an email from Disney, I had written my goals down and I put that I want to do more film and TV, and I wanted to be on a nationwide commercial," she recalled.
Wrice added that her team then "got an email about the 'Proud Family' reboot" and its "reimagined theme song. We couldn't believe it. I just thought it was pretty wild that I set that determination and then it came through and it's such perfect timing."
New episodes of "Proud Family: Louder and Prouder" are out on Wednesdays on Disney+.
