Musa Character Analysis script

Intro:

Musa has long been my favorite Winx. Perhaps it’s my weakness for the color red, or the fact she’s the resident artsy one. I was about to say aside from Bloom, but given the show can’t remember she does art, fuck my drag I guess.

Her character changes quite a lot over the course of the series, but not always for the better. It can be kinda difficult to get a read on her personality beyond just… music and snark. And that’s not at all helped by the fact that the show itself doesn’t know what to do with her. She often joins Tecna in the “corner of irrelevance,” given only meager subplots usually revolving around her arbitrary relationship drama with Riven.

And yet for all of that, there’s still something about Musa I gravitate towards. Perhaps it’s because it’s quite easy to project traits onto her. But there’s something else. Her life has been defined so much by loss with the death of her mother, and by standing against her father to defend her passion for music, and I think that concept makes her feel a lot more grounded in reality than the other Winx.

There’s so much material to make her more compelling, but the writers often treat her like an afterthought. So today, we’re gonna talk about why I love Musa so much, the problems I perceive with how she’s written throughout the show, and how I think she could’ve been handled better.

The Aloof Muse:

Now, the red flags for how Musa was going to be forgotten about were lowkey there from her introduction. If you go back to each version of the second episode, where the Winx all meet for the first time in their dorm, Musa never gets to introduce herself by name. Not in the Cinelume dub, not in 4Kids, and not even in Italian. It wasn’t until the Nick specials that she finally got to say what her name was. Which… wow. No one caught this until 2011?

Her personality is kinda hard to read in the original. She doesn’t make a very strong impression, as she just kinda… exists on the periphery. As a result, she comes across as quite aloof, which I suppose could be intentional. I always tended to read her as confrontational, mostly for the way she and Stella would often clash.

Back in the day, the writers were way more willing to let the girls have conflict with each other. Given Musa was a tomboy who would’ve perceived Stella as quite vain, it makes sense they would butt heads so often, especially by season 2, when the girls really cannot fucking stand each other.

4Kids Musa gets a bit more to work with. They kinda went… overboard with the 2000s hip-hop, “how you do fellow kids” lingo, but I feel that adds a lot of charm and personality to her character. Is it cringe? Sometimes, but the amount of cheesiness endears her to me. And it does kinda fit the whole tomboy vibe she has at this point.

It is kinda odd they tried making her a princess in this version. 4Kids said she was the princess of the “Harmonic Nebula,” which does sound dope, especially with the mentions of royalty going on music tours, and the “hip hop palace guards.” But by season 2, they can’t really pull that off anymore given the whole, “mother died” plotline.

Now, I really enjoy this storyline for Musa, because so many people have lost their parents. Losing a parent at any age is an awful thing to go through, but to have experienced it so young no doubt informed a lot of Musa’s maturity. She knows life isn’t forever, and so, it informs why she’s so passionate about following her dreams while she still has time.

4Kids altered it to say that Musa’s father, Ho-Boe, gave up his princely status to pursue a music career. Which… is a bit odd, given you’d think the royalty of a music-based planet would be all about musical careers, but who knows? But in a way, I feel like that could add nuance to Ho-Boe’s guilt over not being able to afford medicine for Wa-Nin when she fell ill. That it reinforces why he’s so focused on pragmatism over dreams.

But in any case, seeing Musa clash with her father about all of this really hits home for me. A lot of people who wanna pursue artistic careers know this struggle quite well. And it is for a good reason, given it’s so difficult to survive with artistic careers, unless you’re in the top 1% of people who achieve all the success.

It really makes me wanna root for Musa. To see her stand her ground and fulfill her dreams, both for herself and her parents. And I’d like to thank 4Kids for reinforcing that in season 2, because for whatever reason, the original version has Ho-Boe more upset about Musa dating Riven? Uh… why are we making this about men?

That even goes back to the nightmare episode in season 1. Musa’s dream takes place on Melody, and she sees her mother on a bench in the abandoned city, looking sad and ill. In the original, she calls out for Riven, which… why? What does this have to do with Riven? 4Kids changed this to Musa and Wa-Nin being unable to hear any music. And to me, that fits so much better, because music is how they both interact with the world.

Music is like breathing to Musa. It’s a part of her, the way any artistic craft is to a creator. It’s how they express themselves, and how they relate to the world around them, so losing that is utterly devastating. World-shattering, even. I just wish they actually did more with this aspect of her, because Musa being all about music feels like a piece of trivia on a wiki than something crucial to her character.

When the girls are on Earth during season 4, Musa does pursue a music career with Jason Queen, but most of that storyline sadly gets absorbed by Riven drama. It’s more about Musa trying to find the right guy than actually pursuing her goddamn dream. And really, it’s just an excuse to introduce all these songs in-universe, which really kills it for Musa when the girls form the Winx Club Band. Screw Musa’s individual dreams. Now it’s EVERYONE’S thing.

I would’ve loved to see Musa keep this dream for herself during season 4. Actually, seeing her deal with how corrupt and shitty the music industry is? Now that’d give me life. I’d love to see her in the process of trying to write a debut album and some singles in that environment, realizing it’s less about being true to herself, and more about what the label wants from her.

Beyond that, there isn’t really much to talk about for her. The music stuff is abandoned after season 4, and when it comes to the main plot, she gets a whole lotta nothing. Instead, she just gets… Riven drama.

The Riven Problem:

There’s this recurring issue in so much media, especially media for young women, where women are often trying to “fix” terrible men, taking it as their purpose to fix this man’s problems through their romance. Which uh… no. That is not how that should work, and men should not be having women do all the work in trying to sort through their problems.

Really, we need to get over this idea that a relationship being “difficult” and full of arguments is “realistic.” No. Actual healthy relationships are not this kind of difficult. You don’t argue all the type; you just know how to navigate conflicts healthily, and even if a problem arises, you’ll work through it. That is not at all what Musa and Riven’s relationship is like.

During the first couple seasons, it’s basically Musa crushing on Riven, coping with the fact Riven is a terrible man who let a bunch of witches gang up on her. They start dating properly in season 3, but uh… they’re not onscreen together much. Riven isn’t really in season 3 that much, and when he is, he’s a fucking asshole.

It gets to the point Musa contemplates breaking up with him. Even with simple issues with a hoverbike engine malfunctioning, Riven doesn’t trust Musa, instead blaming her abilities, which really grinds Musa’s gears.

For whatever reason, Riven manages to win Musa back by… fighting Nabu. Cuz after the group is attacked at the Red Tower, Nabu goes to check on Musa like the unproblematic king he is, and Riven is like, “Put my girlfriend down, jerk.” For some reason, Musa finds this admirable, and apparently it solves all their relationship woes. And that is a full goddamn yikes.

And of course this gets rehashed in Lost Kingdom, where Riven gets poisoned by Mandragora and turned evil, and he winds up slashing Musa when she tries to protect Sky. I just… thanks I hate it. It feels like it’s meant to be an encapsulation of Riven’s “redemption” arc from the original three seasons, which feels very redundant.

Season 4 is the Riven drama at its worst though, and this is where they should’ve broken up for good. The fact that Riven just… doesn’t get that Musa, the Fairy of Music, wants to pursue a music career? It’s insane. And Musa’s not helping either with the miscommunication, and then her infatuation with Jason. Like, I get it gurl, you’re desperate for a non-shitty man, but c’mon.

If they had broken up at the end of season 4, I would’ve applauded Musa’s story. Part of becoming an adult is realizing that your relationships from your youth have run their course. What better way to show that than having one of the long-running couples decide they don’t work together anymore?

Season 5 is… kind of a break? But not really. Riven himself is kinda fine, but the drama comes from the fact he’s organizing a surprise for Musa. He decides to write a song for her with this random girl that Musa gets jealous over during a party. Apparently, the whole “sensing the song in people’s hearts” thing from the movies is gone, cuz Musa has no idea Riven is planning this.

It says a lot that Musa’s first assumption is that Riven is cheating, and it doesn’t help that as Musa explains the deal with her dead mom and the Singing Whales, Riven just… doesn’t seem interested and bails. Like, wow man. I get you have a surprise in the works, but maybe put your girlfriend’s emotional vulnerability first?

Also… how did she know the lyrics when Riven revealed the song? And the fact Riven did this grand gesture in the middle of Stella’s fashion show, hijacking it completely for his own gain? Hate all of this. Remember kids, huge gestures like this are a massive red flag. Always pay attention to the small ways people treat you when no one’s looking.

Season 6… god, Riven becoming boomerangsexual is so trash. He’s fixated on training and his rivalry with Sky, but there’s no deeper reason for it aside from arbitrary drama. At the very least, these two finally break up, but it feels like too little to late.

I appreciate Musa being single for season 7, but Riven’s return in season 8 is so… garbage. Everyone is weirdly hostile towards Riven coming back, when before they said they’d welcome him with open arms. And the conflicts between Musa and Riven are so superficial, like having different tastes in music? You’re kidding me. They do get back together later on, at which point I’m ready to throw all of this in the garbage.

It’s very clear that when the writers wanna give Musa a storyline, their first thought is, “Oh, Riven drama!” Which makes me so upset, because you could just have her pour all that effort into her music and songwriting. Have her channel the Riven stuff into her music.

The Feminization of Musa:

When the show begins, Musa is a tomboy. She prefers her jeans and halter tops, with a very grungy, punk style. While I appreciate the Winx generally embracing femininity, it’s still nice showing that not all the girls have to.

She begins to experiment with her style during season 2, becoming less outright tomboyish, and more… slightly androgynous. Her season 3 outfit with the arm warmers and disco pants is one of my favorite looks from her.

But by season 4, she goes full fem, with the red-pinks, the skirt, the high heels, and the free-flowing hair. While things like this can happen, Musa’s abrupt turn into femininity feels incredibly out of character. She doesn’t even seem to talk about why she’s experimenting like this, with the show instead just taking this shift completely for granted.

I wanna be careful here, cuz I don’t wanna demonize femininity the way our culture as a whole does. But there’s this assumption that cis women who tend to be tomboys, or dress in a more gender-nonconforming way, will grow out of this as they get older and begin conforming to gender norms. For some women, I’m sure that’s true, but in many cases it’s not.

Personally, Musa’s always given me nonbinary energy. I’d like to see her actively think and talk about her playing with her gender presentation. And if she must become more feminine, in addition to her openly talking about this, I’d like another Winx to dress more masculine, ya know, to balance out the scales.

Season 5 did kinda ameliorate this, with a less outright feminine look, and the return of Musa’s snark, but she’s never quite at the same levels of gender-nonconformity that she was in the first three seasons for the rest of the show. Her season 8 outfit can burn, along with that hideously garish bow.

The Fairy of Music:

Like Musa herself, her powers are deeply underrated, and the show robs her of moments to shine regularly. It feels like they don’t quite know what to do with such a unique power. She’s not just a fairy of sound, but a Fairy of Music. But most of the time, she just gets sound waves with five million different names: Sound Wave Attack, Harmonic Attack, Deafening Chord, Infinite Echo. I just, no, no more sound waves please.

I usually appreciate when they find unique ways to apply her sound waves. For instance, her Bass Boost spell, which uses sound waves to cause tremors in the ground, making enemies fall over themselves, or launching them high into the air.

There’s also her more visually interesting spells. They tend to perform the same function as her sound waves, but the unique visuals do a lot of legwork to make them more engaging. Like her Subwoofer Blast, where she summons giant speakers to deafen or destroy enemies.

Or her disco-themed spells. Whether it be a disco ball acting as a shield, or that can shoot energy blasts in all directions for an AoE attack. More of these groovy moves, please. Also a huge fan of her Charmix motifs, with the treble-clef gem and the CD player bag. The bag itself being used to amplify her sound waves was genius.

I wish they did more with the treble clef vibe though. I’d like to see them pulling terms from music terminology for spells, like with music notes, or all the Italian words used in music sheets. Lord knows that would’ve been nice for Enchantix. Cuz wow, she got robbed in Enchantix. She regularly gets her ass kicked in that form, not able to show off like the other girls.

Believix isn’t much to comment on. The spell names are fire, like most of the Believix spells, but functionally, they’re mostly just generic energy beams. Harmonix, as usual, is divine though. She only gets two spells, but they’re both incredible. Reverberating Notes creates an attack made of a music staff and accompanying notes, while her Diapason is a tuning fork which releases sound waves when hit. Functionally, more of the usual, but it really shows the unique visuals go a long way to make them memorable.

Sirenix is a return to the usual nonsense. The only spells worth commenting on are her Wall of Sound, an AoE attack she only uses once, and her Voice of Sirenix. I’m surprised she doesn’t have more powerful spells relying on her singing voice.

Season 6 belongs in hell for doing Musa’s magic dirty, though. Only two Bloomix spells, one of which is another goddamn sound wave, and no Mythix spells whatsoever. And for the remainder of the show, it’s more generic sound waves and energy blasts. Great. Cosmix tried I guess with the return of the Bass Boost vibe with Sonic Shake, but too little, too late. Much like the initial breakup with Riven.

Seriously, she needs more instrument-themed spells. The way Musa used her flute in the first three seasons to augment her powers? More of that, please, or even conjuring instruments made of magical energy.

Fate killed me inside though for how it changed her magic. Because they were trying to be more generic, more “realistic,” and more Vampire Diaries, they cut a lot of unique qualities of Winx Club. Gone not only are the sci-fi vibes and cute fairy outfits, but also gone is the whole “Fairy of Music” thing. Now she is a Mind Fairy, which… wow, way to remove a core aspect of her powers that made her engaging.

I do like the empathic aspect of her powers, where Musa struggles in receiving the strong emotions of others, but you can do that with her music powers too. I’ve probably put more thought into that line she has in Lost Kingdom about the “secret song in everyone’s heart” than the actual writers, but it’s such a natural extension of her powers. Music is an incredibly personal, powerful thing, and so it makes sense that would give Musa insight into other people. That’d actually be great to see in the later seasons.

Conclusion & Outro:

So… Musa is a character that I kinda love more in concept than in actuality. The show fails her utterly, sticking her in pointless romantic melodrama again and again, and refusing to do anything interesting with her character. And maybe that’s why she’s my favorite. I’ve had to do so much work digging out her potential, it’s made me come to love the version of her I see in my head. Which… sounds about right, considering it’s me we’re talking about.