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"I Wish This Never, Never Happen" is a song written by lyricist Aruna Miller and Kenneth Carters and composer Shraga O'Doherty for Universal Pictures and Features Studio's 2024 animated musical film Roblox: The Feature-Film. Originally recorded by actress Adam. M. Epic as the main protagonist, "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" is a somber slow, but power ballad and depressing musical number about "pondering his transgressions and wishing that none of this drama and trouble had ever arisen in the first place," and the song plays during the scene where both Noob and Guest try to save everyone from the villain but had failed because he has already captured all of the users. Because of this, Guest becomes furious with him for not listening to him and cooperating with him. He then abandons him in order to stop the villain by himself. As a result of his frustration, Noob is easily dejected and wanders the now-destroyed city while singing and crying. He sobs uncontrollably and falls to the floor after realizing that he is a true failure "by everyone". Noob subsequently performs the song again in a reprise after finally realizing that "this will never, never happen" again and vowing to keep protecting the world from harm.
The producer and director of the production, John 'Blox' Madson and Carthay B. Land, decided that Noob needed a scene in which he "both lost hope and got depressed," as well as one in which he could express his sorrow over losing his "only friend," and at the end, keep a little bit of hope in him. As a result, they asked Aruna Miller and Kenneth Carters to write a brand-new original song for the main character to sing in the film. The two groups initially came up with a demo of an earlier version of the song called "Lost In Hope," which was intended to be a rock ballad instead. However, the song was later cut mainly due to the fact that John didn't like the way Noob was singing because the main character was singing if he did "had all hope" kind of way early on, and also because the song was way too long, clocking in at around five minutes. Following that, the group composed a second, shorter song called "Wish That None of This," which was also eliminated within the first week of composition. The third and last song the two pair agreed to create again eventually became "I Wish This Never, Never Happen," which ultimately received a lot of positive feedback from the film's production team and was chosen to be included in the movie. The song was composed by Shraga O'Doherty.
"I Wish This Never, Never Happen" and its reprise was released to the film's soundtrack on November 19, 2024, including a remix with Tyler Clark-Rose that released in December of that year. Actress and singer Sarah Hyland performed and recorded the song for the music video, which is directed by Tegan Coleman and as a single, respectively and is first heard during the film's end credits. As the follow-up single, Adam Bloxvine and Ariel Winter also recorded the song as a pop duet. "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" received critical acclaim from music critics with many heavily praising the song's message, emotional impact, and Adam's performance; many of them said it stood out among the other songs in the movie. The two singles also got a favorable reaction. All of the musical compositions were enormously popular in the marketplace, particularly Sarah's rendition, which peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100. The song quickly gained popularity among the audience, and at Cinema-Con 2025, during Universal Pictures's panel, the song's entire demo recording and accompanying storyboard drawing debuted. The song received several honors, including a Grammy Award nomination for Record of the Year, an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song, and a nomination for Best Song Written for Visual Media.
Background, writing and production
"I Wish This Never, Never Happen" was one of the multiple last songs to be completely produced, having been written by Aruna Miller and Kenneth Carters for Roblox: The Feature-Film. The development on the song began, following after a test screening of the work-in-process film. The development of the tune originated after a test viewing of the unfinished film. By that time, the actor's lines had only been recorded in completeness for two songs; numerous additional recordings were still in the demo process. Aruna Miller recalled that she brought Kenneth to her house "way" before the test screening and during the early stages of the film's production. They were "chatting regarding creating a new song, a new emotional, yet memorable song for someone that we could relate to and would make some character development," and Kenneth both agreed to it. However, they ran into a problem regarding which of the characters they should write a song on, so in the end, the intended song was scrapped. After the test screening of the film, John 'Blox' Madson asked for Aruna Miller and Kenneth Carters to come to a brief conversation at their studio with him. When they arrived, John and the composers discussed writing a brand-new song for the main protagonist, Noob.
Seeing this as a new opportunity to create a new song, Aruna Miller and Kenneth Carters both agreed together to start working on a new song. Soon after, the two of them went to Aruna's office room and started jotting down ideas for the song on a notebook. Many of these ideas weren't used in the finished product, but one of the earliest ones involved Noob dealing with the death of his best friend; this idea was originally intended to be a scene in the movie but was removed. Another idea involved the main character attempting to sing "I Wish," which started as a rock ballad and ended as a pop and slow ballad. When they finally settled on a concept, they both made the decision to consult other composers who had contributed to past Universal Pictures musical films about what they should do. According to reports, each of them submitted a fresh proposal to the pair for the song, but each one was rejected since "it didn't make sense" and would not fit the character at all. The two then decided to create concept art for a few of the concepts they had previously abandoned. It took them roughly five hours to complete each one. Aruna was a huge admirer of musical movies before she joined the project. She especially liked the songs "Part of Your World" and "Baby Mine" from the 1941 Disney animated film Dumbo and the 1989 Disney animated film The Little Mermaid. Aruna claimed that the first time she heard the two songs from both movies, she genuinely started crying. Aruna had the notion to create the song where Noob is at his "all-time low" and sings his heart out after being inspired by them. Kenneth likes the concept, and together they search for the right moment in a situation to start recording a song. Finally, they found a scene in which an irate Guest abandoned a crying Noob to go save the world on his own. Adam observed some of the crew members crying, including one who was sobbing, during the test screening, which neither Aruna nor Kenneth could attend since they were hard at work on another song.
The pair made the decision to start creating the song soon after. Kenneth apparently spoke the words for the proposed song on the very first recording of the song, which was dated September 2, 2022 and reportedly lasted more than a minute. They had a strategy when they first began creating the song: Kenneth would record his lines into a speaker in a normal voice while the other wrote portions of the lyrics, came up with the musical tempo, and recorded the voices. After more than a month of working, the duo created the first demo of the song, which went under the title of "Lost In Hope", originally set to occur in the scene where Noob is walking around a destoryed city with the sky being red and black to "signal the end of the world is ending". The earlier version of the song was described by Aruna Miller in an interview with The Bloxburg Times as follows: "Early on, we had this song, where Noob at first is extremely depressed and he is about to lose hope, then something like a sound of everyone cheering for him plays which caused Noob to get up from the ground and begin singing the song. The song would have been a rock ballad with Noob freaking out at parts and yelling the words out loud.". Kenneth believed that the song wasn't working while he was working on "Lost In Hope" and that it needed to be fully reworked to actually fit on the manner they planned. However, Aruna was able to persuade him to at least give the song a go. The song was sent to the studio and given to Carthay B. Land and John "Blox" Madson, the director and producer, respectively. Although the music was beautiful, it was not how they intended to be, and Adam said that Noob was behaving as though the main character hadn't lost any hope at all by acting in a "had all hope" manner. Despite this, the song wasn't instantly dropped; instead, artists Michael Castillo and Clifford Wright ended up storyboarding it. The duo made some adjustments to the song and John and Carthay gave the storyboard scene of the song high marks, but none of these things managed to persuade John and Carthay to change their minds about the song.
The song was eventually removed from the finished motion picture, along with other demo tracks, a few weeks later. After that, Aruna Miller and Kenneth Carters felt it would be best to write another song for Noon, at the same moment, with significant changes to its words and tone. They were still extremely furious about the removal, but they decided it would be best. Aruna offered Kenneth an instruction to create the song "so emotional that audiences would cry at it" after receiving a confusing and mixed response from the director and producer. They find it troublesome to work on the soon-to-be song, particularly during the song's first and second portions, when Noob is moving around. They claimed that they both intended Noob to sing as he walked through the ruined city, but they adjusted it so it only sounds like he is walking and not singing; it was also difficult to capture Aruna's tears because she had no idea how to weep at all. They blended in a sound effect for Noob's breakdown at the conclusion along with other sound effects, including fire, smoke, debris and air. The duo also intended the demo to be extremely compelling and yet incredibly authentic, particularly because they wanted viewers to feel as though "they are like several feet away from Noob and are a ghost, just simply watching him singing and suffer at the same time" when they watched the movie. The second version of the song was completed and given the title "Wish That None of This" after several weeks of effort, rather than a full month. Initially a pop ballad, that rendition of the song was supposed to gradually transition into a slow ballad as it neared its conclusion. Once more Michael Castillo and Clifford Wright storyboarded the entire song in four to five days, in vibrant colors, and included sound effects as the team desired before presenting the demo to the producer and director of the film. A sequence from the song also had the background morphing into a magical world, before coming into reality, which had to have caused Noob to have a breakdown at the end. A deleted storyboard from the song had previously featured Noob wishing on a star, which made reference to earlier Disney films. The team praised the song "Wish That None of This" for having a more emotional impact than "Lost in Hope" had the last time around. Although John and Carthay both truly enjoyed the song, they still want some significant adjustments. The song has already been edited out of the film within the first week of its demo recording.
Aruna Miller and Kenneth Carters were both quite furious with the studio after the removal because the song they both contributed to had received excellent recognition and appeared to be included in the finished movie. They ultimately made the decision to create one more rendition of the song. After that, they made the decision to take their time and devote it mostly to finishing the song. The songwriters create a new third version within the first two months, renamed "I Wish This Never, Never Happen.".
Context
Synopsis analysis and use in Roblox: The Feature-Film
Before the film's second half started, "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" took place soon after Noob and Guest tried to protect the other characters from the antagonist, but Admin was able to knock them out and send them plummeting into the now-destroyed city. Because of this, Noob and Guest have a heated argument over saving everyone else. In the end, Guest slaps Noob and shoves him to the ground before leaving him behind to "suffer" as he goes out to save the world alone. His subsequent song, "I Wish This Never, Never Happen," started off with Noob lying on the ground, tears streaming from his eyes as he stared up into the blood-red sky and sang about how "life was different before all of this happen." The song "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" started to indicate that Noob was beginning to lose faith at this time. However, he quickly got to his feet and deceived the audience into believing that he would now save the world. However, Noob began to sing once again as he moved more slowly. This contained a new theme for the character: that he was now alone and think that "no one is here to love him" any longer, which was untrue because earlier in the film, Noob is seen making new friends.
"I Wish This Never, Never Happen" begins to take on a very profound significance for the character, sadness, as Noob walks with his hands trembling. Noob is depicted to be growing more and more dejected by the minute while singing, "All of this never, never happen." The music appears to be coming from both outside and inside of Noob's thoughts at times when the screen cuts to an object that Noob is ready to talk about. When the song starts one minute and two seconds in, Noob is standing next to a dead body and singing the lyric, "Why all of this have to happen to everyone? If only, if only, I could say prayers to God that nothing like this will ever, ever happen. Noob is seen singing to the sky frequently, with the character's visage being overlaid several times into a row. The song is one of many passionate 1980s tunes that served as inspiration. Noob mistakenly believes that a "new hope" is approaching him when he sees a light coming from a nearby hole. Hastily approaching it, he discovers that it is actually a dead body with the light shining on its head. Immediately after, Noob sings, "Just why? "I don't understand why this happened to him, why it happened to my friend, and why it happened to me." According to Aruna Miller, that particular statement would alter the way that Noob behaves later in the movie. NAlso included in Noob's song is a mention of "how he missed everyone that used to be nice to him and why they disappeared from his life." By the time the musical piece was through, Noob had collapsed to the floor and had hidden beneath a chair like "a homeless person," wrapping himself in a ball and sobbing uncontrollably.
Animation sequence
The animation technique of the segment in "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" gradually shifted to a combination of computer-animated and traditional animation during the course of the clip. One of the song's most famous visuals scenes occurs at the two minute and 46 second point, when the camera pans to a clear view of multiple entirely demolished buildings and the sky, which has turned crimson following the event with Admin and also denotes the "end of the world.". Furthermore, the sound effects quickly shifted to a much more realistic sound design from the previous tune of the first and second half of the film, where all of the sounds were played as cartoon noises.
Aruna Miller planned to include a little scenario for the audience to witness in the song that would be "creepy, sad, angry and so much other emotions" early in the production process when creating the second version of the song. The initial idea, nevertheless, ran into difficulties since the song they were working on wasn't finished yet and none of the song's visuals had even been storyboarded or attracted by the crew. The pair made the decision to hold off until the song was storyboarded; the second version was subsequently eliminated, and 'I Wish' replaced it. Roblox: The Feature Film was the first animated film to utilize a significant amount of rotoscoping since the 1930s and 1940s and the first animated film to feature rotoscoping in a contemporary film in history up to the current day. At the time of its development, rotoscoping was used for other animated films. While most songs employed traditional or computer animation before this one, "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" was the first and only song to use rotoscoping. According to Adam, he claims that while watching a test screening that included the song's storyboard, he noticed that the song was illustrated in a "very creative and colorful way," and one scene in particular "was stuck in his mind for a while" was the one in which Noob is seen pacing around the background of the destroyed city while the camera is focused on the red sky. Additionally, he said that "he wanted the song to be like that" and instructed the artists to redo the entire storyboard so that it matched a single scenario. Aruna Miller explained that the notion in the studio of having a whole song appear like a "live-action feel" was pushed for a long time and even as far back as the 2000s. The song is about Noob reflecting on his history and his errors and wishing "that all of this never happen". The animators began work on the background that would be utilized throughout the entire song since they saw this as an opportunity to make the music more compelling while yet keeping it "so cool".
In order to get started animating, the animators created a straightforward yellow and blue cube that would serve as the character rather than just placing the character's model into the scene itself. Later, they drew a number of more cubes and began creating the song's background. The enormous cubes would be shown as destroyed structures, colored in red (which denotes death for the crew), while the remaining cubes would be constructed as the ground, with streets, automobiles, and even plain grass.The animators added a texture with a little amount of black to the background, which was mostly red and was inspired by various "end of the world" movies. A new model of Noob was then produced by the animators by adding several extra cubes to the figure. The background for the song was more intricate than ever before in the history of the studio, despite the fact that the animators on it were working on other animated movies before the film's development. The crewe ended up going on a huge trip during the months of December and January to test walking, jumping, and running. They also studied how light worked so the animators could learn how to get the light before, and they also studied some parts of the shadow, which were handled pretty well but needed some more details for the song's visuals. In the book Making Roblox Became A Movie, one of the animator explained that "the cubes eventually evolved into these enormous skyscrapers, each of which required meticulous care, down to the dirtiest piece of garbage and even the smallest amount of floor dust.". After finishing a few backgrounds, the anmators walked into a room and inserted the completed backgrounds into a transparent easel model, which was then put in front of the movie projector. This allowed them to include numerous backgrounds into a single scene or frame. In the song's three and fifty-three minute duration, there are several instances of one of the most well-known and challenging scenes for the animators to create. Noob is walking around, but an object or figure blocks the screen for a brief period of time before disappearing or cutting to the next scene. Additionally, when storyboarding the song earlier, multiple actors costumed as Noob performed live-action footage while numerous cameras were mounted all around the stage; to prevent the actor from becoming confused, a demo of the song was playing on the speaker. The actors' movements had to completely identical to those of Noob in the animated film. According to Carthay B. Land, he stated that "(she) I was impressed by the animators as soon as I (she) watched the song's animation, not just because it was well-done but also because it fundamentally altered the way that animation is produced in the present day.". Additionally, she mentioned that "he praise the animation, calling the visuals very interesting at some point.". It took more than 5,000 computers to render the entire song, which included computer animation, classic animation, details, character models, and more. This was the first time at the studio that so many, if not thousands, of computers were required to create an entire animation sequence. The only other song in the movie to have this much computers to produced, "Day in the Sun," required only 2,000 computers.
For the conventional animation, the animators had to convert their pencil sketches into computer animation, then redrew the model of the character before deleting the model and replacing it with a 2D appearance of the figure. In a interview with The Robloxia Times, animator Melanie Tucker explained that the process of doing the animation " was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life to move a classic cartoon and have to repaint it". With most of the computer visuals for the background finished, the rest of the cubes were used for the model of the characters and other textures. Additionally, some of the textures were genuinely created using images from the animators' mobile devices, which were then transferred to one of the computers and updated in the final scene. The animators were working on the camera angles when one of these individuals decided in a meeting on November 2, 2023 that it would be better to add a virtual camera to match the pacing, make the scene more compelling, and make it look like it came from a "live-action" film, which the other animators were pleased to do on the song. They requested Adam and the songwriters if they should do this, and both agreed to do so. After that, the animators proceeded to work on the camera, but they soon discovered that while the computer-animated portion of the picture was functioning as intended and the camera was, too, there was a lack of the traditional animation that had been added to the scene. It was later discovered that a problem occurred as the vintage animation was being moved into the scene, causing the animators to mistakenly believe it had been destroyed.
Music and lyrics
"I Wish This Never, Never Happen" is a somber slow, power ballad about "being lonely and losing a friend", insecurities and the hope that "all of this never, never happen". The official documentation from the song's production by the Universal Pictures Music Company confirms that the original film version of "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" as written by the duo of Aruna Miller and Kenneth Carters and musician Shraga O'Doherty was composed in the key of B-flat minor, which stay like there for a few seconds before transforming with a low-pitched A-flat minor at a "moderately slow" pace of around 79 beats per minutes. In contrast, as the song's conclusion drew nearer, the tone shifted from an A-flat minor to a D-flat major, and at the very end, it switched to a C-sharp minor, thus ending the song.
The lone and "most powerful" original song in the entire movie, "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" is well-known for being a "tear-jerking slow ballad" in the words of music and cinema reviewers.
According to the Best Music Listener, Noob gets started the ballad by singing the first two lines: "Don't blame yourself/Don't hate yourself/That would not be the case if none of this never happened," acknowledging that despite what he did to "everyone," he does not want to blame himself, before singing the second line: "Well, just look at what I done to myself?". The lines have had two "heartbreaking" interpretations, according to critic Santiago Chapman: "people that think that they hate themselves, but they are actually hating their actions," and "people that think that they hate themselves, despite not doing bad or doing something little bad." The song's opening lyrics subsequently convey a single message: "Don't blame yourself and accept the actions on what you did.". Writing for Time, Mercina Gonzalez described "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" as "someone's worst nightmare, which is not to be blamed and hated by everyone they used to love. Well, that is what the character thinks about himself and everyone, but in reality, it not really true, especially if you look at earlier scenes and see that Noob had a friend that is very supportive, well, likely."-
Reception
Critical response
"I Wish This Never, Never Happen" had received widespread critical acclaim from audiences and music and entertainment critics alike. The song was widely acknowledged by music reviewers as being not just the best song in the entire film but additionally a standout among the other songs. The song was regarded as being extremely emotional, especially for an animated children's picture, tear-jerking, and devastating; many of the critics claimed to have shed tears during the song's concluding sections with some even saying that "waterfalls were pouring out" of their eyes. Stephen Turner of The Bloxburg Times highlighted "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" as the film's greatest and stated "'I Wish' has effectively and in an encouraging way, been able to beat out the hell out all of the songs and is now my one number favorite song in the entire film and will be for many, many years, despite other songs early in the film that are as emotional and highly catchy". Writing for Los Angelox Times, Haydn Reyes heavily praised the song as a moving tune that "will move you, your friends and everyone else to tears." Hayden Robinson of RNN gave the song a positive response and stated "I don't think I've ever, or at least not in a long time, been moved to tears by a song, and later thanks both Aruna Miller and Kenneth Carters for "making the best song I ever heard" and say that the song "created a beautiful tone to listen to, all thanks to the sound and the music itself." Alexander Ramos of ROX called the song "moving" while David Barnes says "that the song is highly good" and recommended to viewers. Critics found the song to be "spellbinding", especially for audiences. According to RBC member Cynthia O'Moore, "the main explanation on why the song is incredibly emotional, however it makes you want listen to it over and over again is because of its beautiful lyrics, good music tones, and the perfect sounds for a song, especially if you discover the meaning of this song.
Music critics praised the music of the song and its lyrics as "emotional and relatable". Jennifer Long of New Bloxia Magazine praised the music as the "best" and said that "'I Wish This Never, Never Happen,' the song's freaking title, is at least one of over ten lines in the lyrics that brought a small tear to my eye. This is mainly because it is incredibly relatable to all of us; we have all experienced situations where we did something so terrible that we wish it had never happened in the first place and then blamed ourselves. Because it is so incredibly applicable to a component of our lives, the title is what caused me to cry. Kendall Murphy of The Bloxywood Reporter praised the song, music and themes with the following statement, "Because I had just seen a very poor musical film, I was both delighted and a little afraid when I initially walked into the cinema to watch the movie. However, I am now banking on God's blessing on the best soundtrack, and in particular how beautiful this song is. The message of "I Wish" is one of the finest I've ever learned: "Even when you're losing hope, you can't give up on hope." This here is also a message that's easy for kids to understand: "When you make mistakes, you should accept them. By doing so, you learn from that experience and never do it again.". The song's performance by Adam was praised by critics as "breathtaking," with Julia Wells of Robloxia Today opining that it was the greatest in the entire movie. Blox Orleans Advocate journalists Jupiter Hughes and Nicholas Hudson both said that "although Adam occasionally does really strong performances in the future, he will never be able to make us a song that is more powerful than this song for all eternity. This song is the most memorable, finest song in any movie ever thanks to his incredible performance, which first startled me much given that this is a children's movie." Henry Rice applauded Adam's performance and admired the song for helping to "nearly four minutes on making us cry so hard that when Noob collapse to the ground, the waterfalls got the best of us," noting that it was one of the songwriter's "greatest smartest creative decisions." Jose Simpson of New Blockers Times on a website where both viewers and critics may rate movies and their songs on a scale of one to ten, he gave the movie a perfect score of ten and additionally, the song a perfect ten, complimenting Adam's performance and advising readers to "forget about the Disney musicals that they are producing and instead focused on this one song to listen to". Music critics opined that Adam's version of the song is better than the two singles, despite the both of them being heavily praised.
The song's sound design and animation was lauded highly by entertainment reviewers, who noted that it was one of the "greatest and saddest moments" in the movie due to the way it "depicted the city being destroyed in the background as Noob walked through it while singing his heart out".
Adam Bloxvine and Ariel Winter version
Background and recording
Aruna Miller and Kenneth Carters wrote the song "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" for the film with great expectations that it will be recorded by a variety of different musicians. When the song was finished and Adam had already recorded his lines, the song was sent to the studio. Later that same month, during a test screening by the crew, much to the composers' surprise, everyone was sobbing at the song. Everyone applauded at the conclusion of the reprise in a similar way as when an early work in progress was played and everyone "sobbed at the same scene, except that this time a song had been included". After the test screening, Universal Pictures CEO Mercutio Price quickly issued an order requiring the creation of a song cover. More singles were requested, though, as a result of the earlier songs' widespread acclaim. The crew had planned to produced several of the songs first, such as "Noob, Noob," "A Wonderful Day," and "Love Can't Be Denied," before finishing with the largest cover song, which was "I Wish."
The songs "Noob, Noob" and "Love Can't Be Denied" had been finished and were prepared for release three months prior to the movie's premiere. Universal Pictures started to appoint fresh actors and singers to record the cover of the song when "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" was the next to be developed. The studio's producers initially wanted the song's cover to be sung by just one person rather than two, primarily due to drama that occurred with their other animated feature film, Love and Heart (2021), in which Kimberly Gray had been selected to sing. However, due to extreme drama between Gray and the producers regarding the addition of one more person, who was to be a male, Gray withdrew from the project. However, Aruna Miller and Kenneth Carters were able to convince them to give the song at least a go, especially because other studios were producing singles and using two singers to test the waters. Originally, Rachel Blox, an actress and singer, and Sora Hoshino were going to be brought in to record their lines. The studio attempted to get in touch with Rachel, but they were unsuccessful because she was on a global tour. Adam Bloxvine and Ariel Winter were tasked with recording the cover at Kenneth Carters' direction. Ariel was invited to the Stanley Berry studio to record some lines for a new cover after Stanley Berry called her. Ariel eventually consented to record her lyrics for the cover song after being informed about the project and the original song.
Additionally, the studio was successful in obtaining Adam Bloxvine to record the song. Adam said that "he even teared up a bit" as they listened to the song from the movie. The recording for the cover began on September 9, 2024 at The New York Record Studio and by the time the recording was finished, according to Adam, "everyone in the studio clapped". Following the recording, the song was send to the studio, where it was edited for nearly a month with several retakes by the actors for some of the lines. The cover of "I Wish This Never, Never Happen", along with the animated version was released on the film's soundtrack on November 19, 2024, before being officially released as a single on November 25.
Music video
The official music video for the song was directed by Stanley Berry, produced by Shraga O'Doherty and Elminster Hudson and first broadcasted on radio on November 31, 2024. The music video began with a scene of the very beginning of the song from the animated film, where Noob is standing there. However, the camera pin farther away to a screen of a studio with the sound effects from the animated film also apperaring and shortly after, Adam Bloxvine apperar on the screen to sing the first line, "Don't be mad at yourself. Don't be upset at yourself. Don't blamed yourself/Just Don't blame yourself". The screen pin to a wide shot of Adam standing there, before walking, singing the first half of the song.
Critical reception
The cover of "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" by Adam Bloxvine and Ariel Winter received praise as "memorable and well-sang music" both music critics and audiences.
Personnel
- Adam Bloxvine, Ariel Winter - vocals
- Aruna Miller, Kenneth Carters - lyrics
- Shraga O'Doherty - composer
- Tatiana Bell - editing
- Max Smith - guitar, sound design
- Stanley Berry - director
Sarah Hyland version
Background, production and recording
Composition
Music video
Critical reception
Charts
Personnel
International versions
| Country | Translation |
|---|---|
| Korbloxia | Hêvî dikim ku ev qet nebe, qet nebe" |
| DTORB | Kuring miharep ieu pernah, pernah kajadian " |
| Tovokia | Я хочу, чтобы этого никогда не было" |
| Angolblox | Me Yam Apɛ sɛ Eyi Rensi Da, Ɛnnsi Da". |
| Blox Zealand | Ndifuza ko Ibi bitazigera bibaho, ntibizigera bibaho " |
| Catfish Islands | "ᠲᠣ ᠷᠠᠢ ᠵᠠᠧᠪᠦᠨ ᠽᠡᠲᠲᠡᠢ, ᠽᠡᠲᠲᠡᠢ ᠨᠠᠺᠦᠰᠠᠮᠠᠷᠠᠨ" |
| Danish Republic | Jeg ønsker dette aldrig, aldrig ske" |
| Egypti | Ma soovin, et seda ei juhtuks kunagi, mitte kunagi" |
| Federal Republic of Andblic | Je souhaite que cela n'arrive jamais, jamais" |
| Keviabloxia | Мен бұл ешқашан, ешқашан болмасын деп тілеймін» |
| Madagasblox | Maniry aho mba tsy hisy izany, tsy hisy mihitsy" |
| Noob Republic | Ndikukhumba Izi Zisadzachitike, Zisachitike" |
| People's Republic of Luobu | Bunun Asla, Asla Olmamasını Dilerim" |
| Placeholder Country | Tôi ước điều này không bao giờ, không bao giờ xảy ra" |
| Republic of Bombardos | Ik winskje dat dit noait, noait bart" |
| Ro-Poland | „Chciałbym, żeby to się nigdy, nigdy nie wydarzyło” |
| Ro Philippines | Eu desejo que isso nunca, nunca aconteça" |
| Robloxia | "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" |
| Romarkia | Ndzi Navela Leswaku Leswi Swi Nga Tshuki, Swi Nga Tshuki Swi Humelerile". |
| São Bloxome and Ro Principe | Eu desejo que isso nunca, nunca aconteça |
| TanzaniaBlox | Jag önskar att detta aldrig, aldrig händer" |
| Telamon Islands | „Ua makemake iau i ka puuwai o keia mea mai loa” |
| The Soviet Union | Kuring miharep ieu pernah, pernah kajadian " |
| Unified Communities | Ojalá esto nunca, nunca suceda" |
Other cover versions and remixes
Numerous musicians have covered the song, including singer Raffina. Music critics have praised both her rendition of "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" and its reprise.
"I Wish This Never, Never Happen" has been covered by a number of singer-songwriters over over the course of several years, with the notable exception of Adam Bloxvine, Ariel Winter, and Sarah Hyland.
Popular singer Raffina released her rendition of "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" and its reprise as a cover and as a single for her most recent album, titled "My Wishing", which came out around Christmas of that year. She performed that as a "big promotion" for both the release of the soundtrack of the movie and the film itself. Initially, she remembered feeling uncomfortable since the main protagonist was a man and she was a woman, but she recorded the song nevertheless. She later remembered being glad she performed. Music reviewers have lauded her cover. Reviewing for Wonderful Music, Stella Mcdonald praised the cover and made the following statement: "No matter your gender, whether you're a man or a woman, a nerd, a random stranger, or heck, anybody else, you can still create a beautiful cover for everyone to listen to and sing to, and Raffina does that very, very, very well—I mean, super well. Thanks to her magnificent vocals, Raffina's version is the best one I've heard in a long time. Singer Rachel Blox covered the song "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" to promote the movie's debut. "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" was covered by country artist Abhaydatta Jenkins, and it was made available through his album "Gray". Singer Sylvia Stone published a rendition of the song using some different lyrics. Sylvia's rendition is one of the five songs that was covered by her for the album. The song was covered by singer Chupa Cruz, who also played it live in the downtown area of Funville.
"I Wish This Never, Never Happen" was performed by pop artist Michael Spencer for the internet-based game Roblox, which served as the inspiration for the film. Together with each other, Henry Ortiz, Daniel Berry, and Isabella Coleman recorded a rendition of the song for their debut album, "Hope Is Hope". They had planned to cover "I Wish This Never, Never Happen," one of the songs from Roblox: The Feature-Film, because so many musicians had already released versions of it. When they discovered they were all having a lot of fun singing in various ways, they abandoned their initial desire for their cover to "be perfect like the others did" and followed their instincts. The cover, which was published in June 2025, received excellent reviews from music reviewers and a generally mixed to positive reception from fans of prior covers. Writing for Time, Alexander Ruiz lauded the song's "fun, emotional, and catchy" tone. However, Scout Mendoza gave the cover a considerably negative review, stating that "even if their cover is fantastic in general, I think that this cover is my least favorite for many different reasons, one of which has to do with the tone. It didn't have the same emotional resonance as the other. Singer Martin Howard developed a cover version of "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" and released the song. In April 2025, the song was written and performed by British artist Stephen Olson, who also produced a music video for it. In the animation community, both the song's music video and album cover are well-known. Reviewers of music applauded Stephen Olson's rendition of the song. To coincide with the debut of the 16-episode documentary series A Block, A Video Game, A Hit, and A Film in 2025, Asher Bailey recorded the song and released the cover. Immediately following a montage of the movie's success and release, the series' last episode can include an appearance of Asher Bailey's cover.
The song "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" was covered by the duo Karen Ortiz and Maximilian Mason. Their cover was influenced by the one used by Adam Bloxvine and Ariel Winter. Music critics have largely given their cover mediocre reviews. For his computer game "Empty Worlds", which was made in Canada by Frankie Jenkins and made available for streaming in 2026, the song was created. The song is set during a scene from the movie where the player is sent to a another planet and finds himself in the destroyed metropolis of Roblox. Before the player approaches him and sings the reprise to him, Noob sings and breaks down in tears. Frankie knew the song was "perfect" after hearing it when the animated film's soundtrack was out and realizing he wanted to use it as the theme song. In early 2026, when the film was published on DVD, he made a music video that was later discovered on Bloxtube. Tyler Clark-Rose did a rendition of the song in 2024, but instead of incorporating pop, he recorded the song and distributed it as a remix. Tyler decided to come up with a remix of the song after the movie's premiere due to the fact it had become one of his favorites. Although he had experience at producing remixes with other musicians, he found the song to be challenging to make since he wanted to include both Adam and his vocals in the song. Three weeks later, he completed the cover. On December 19, 2024, his rendition of the song was released accessible as a single and a remix; later, it appeared on the film's deluxe soundtrack as one of the song's six covers. Many of his fans called the cover one of his best remixes in a long time, and Tyler recalled working on the remix as "one of his favorite times." His cover had received a ton of praise from music critics, fans, and audiences, who praised the remix as a "fun and catchy song" while being true to and respectful of the original. The song was referred to be "the best remix in existence" by Davin Brown and "memorable" by Amy Watson in their reviews for Reviewer of Music.
Live performances
Since the song's debut, Adam has performed live performances for the song from all around the world. At the world premiere of Roblox: The Feature-Film, Adam only sang the first part of the song as a "teaser", but he returned to perform the complete song to audiences after the conclusion of the film. Adam performed "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" and its reprise live on the red carpet in front of the Macy's store on Thanksgiving Eve, November 28, 2024, during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New Blockers City on live television, followed by an additional song from the film's soundtrack, "From That Time", to promote the release of the film, which marked her first live television appearance. Additionally, Adam sang the song live for the NBC documentary How A Video Game Turned Into A Feature-Film about the production of the movie. Adam performed "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" in the background of the screen at Cinema-Con 2025 while the Universal Pictures panel screened an early storyboard reel for the song in the song's late stages of production. The company provided Adam two awards for "Best Song In A Film" and "Best Actor To Star" for the performance. Adam Bloxvine and Ariel Winter played the song live for an audience at a neighborhood tavern, just two days after the movie's premiere and several days before the song's radio transmission. In 2025, Adam and Ariel sang "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" for the movie's first anniversary, and Adam Epic, the original voice actor, sang the reprise to members of the audience.
In January 2025, singer-songwriter Sarah Hyland performed "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" and two other songs from the film to her and the film's fans during his nineth music tour, which began months before the concert; plus, the live performance was marketed to audiences as a way to promote the home media release of the film. At the end of her concert in the nighttime, before walking off the stage, Sarah ordered for "someone special to come", which the surprise guest was Adam Epic, who after walking into the stage, hug Sarah and recalled her saying to him, "Good luck on this"; Adam both sang the main song and the reprise together to huge praise from the audience and a huge rapturous and non-stop applause. His performance had been praised numerous of times from musical critics. Reviewing for The Bloxartford Courant, Abayomi Vasquez stated that "when compared to the original version of the song, which caused me to cry so hard that I fainted for at least a second, Sarah's rendition didn't bring me to tears like a toddler, but I wasn't sobbing nearly as much. Despite being a female and the main character being a man, she managed to make me weep nonetheless with her fantastic and great voice.". Adam performed the song at the very top of the stage during the Christmas parade in Greenville, Robloxia. The stage was decorated with images of the characters and locations from the movie, and someone dressed as Noob from the movie imitated the character's movements.
Adam Bloxvine and Ariel Winter each gave a solo live rendition of the song. Adam Bloxvine performed the song in May 2025 as part of his last major tour across Bloxanada, receiving thunderous applause from the audience. Ariel also sang "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" after the film's half anniversary. Popular singer Raffina sang the song live in front of an audience in June 2025. When the song concluded, an instrumental version of the reprise started playing before Adam Epic onto the stage and sung the complete reprise. During an interview with RNN, the duo of Aruna Miller and Kenneth Carters unexpectedly sang "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" together. The song had been performed by other artists as well; in June 2026, Adalyn Wright tweeted that "someone very special and very, very special from the local film community" will perform a very well-known song. Adalyn began to perform the song throughout the concert, and the audience began to applaud her as she did so. When the song paused in the middle, Adam Epic began to sing it with Adalyn, and soon both of them were singing. At the conclusion, the crowds praised both Adalyn and Adam Epic. Later in the year, Rachel Blox sang "I Wish This Never, Never Happen".
Legacy
While its reprise was referred to within the animation community as "the reprise that changed the history of songs," "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" had been acclaimed and instantaneously acknowledged as a "classic" and signature song by audiences, fans, and reviewers alike. The song "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" is also well-known for being Sarah Hyland's first big song achievement in her career, thanks to her cover of the film's song, since its release. At the time before the film's release, Sarah was experiencing a songwriting slump, lacks of new covers of older songs and was losing some of her fans because she was absent from uploading songs or music on different websites and during tours, which she ended at the highest point of the Covid-19 Pandemic; additionally, Universal Pictures, who was making the majority of its revenue primarily from the song itself, which was distributed through their own music firm, is attributed with having had a significant increase in both ticket sales for live-action films and general revenue in marketing as a result of the song. Since the song's release, critics have maintained that the song itself is one of the many factors that contributed to the studio's later animation musical films' great and enormous success. All of these films received a lot of hype in the animation community, though none of them received anywhere near the praise or financial success of Roblox: The Feature-Film. Writing for Time, Anthony Dixo definitely thought in his statement that "I Wish" was the song that forever altered people's perceptions of other musical movies—not live-action ones, but animated ones and ones that will be released soon, such The Girl in the Tree (2025) and My Wish (2026). Even if the song itself in the other film is nothing near the quality of the Roblox movie, that song was the only one that genuinely led people to get extremely and very excited for the next one and produced anticipation for the newest films.". "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" was the first most played song overall on the music streaming service Bloxy Beat in the months of November and December 2024, according to the study. The song "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" was among the top 10 most streamed and played songs on ITunes one day after the movie's release, and by the end of the month, it had moved up to the number two position. Their success has been credited to the song, which was written by Aruna Miller and Kenneth Carters. Shortly after the song's release, one of their earlier (from 2010) and most recent (from 2022) albums ended up being among the top 20 most played albums on numerous music websites.
Critics have ranked "I Wish This Never, Never Happen" in a number of rankings, with the majority of them being at the top. In 2025,