Sebastian Yatra’s interview about Dos Oruguitas:

Then ‘Dos Oruguitas’ was really inspired by some of the visuals coming out of the incredible animation department,“ Miranda recalled. "I loved the way they embodied the miracle by having this flame from a candle turn into a butterfly, turn into a cascade of butterflies, and in approaching this moment, without spoilers, it’s a moment where we reveal a really kind of personal part of the Madrigal family history, and it didn’t feel right to have a character sing in real time, which is what all the other characters are doing over the course of the movie, so I thought, ‘I think we need a folk song. I think we need a song that feels like it’s always existed.

Riffing off of the butterfly imagery, I thought, ‘Well, butterflies have to go through a miracle to even become butterflies.’ So I wrote this song about two caterpillars who are in love and are scared of letting each other go, but of course, have to let each other go to become their next selves. It was a nature metaphor that was already baked into the visuals of the film, but speaks so specifically to what this family is going through in terms of trying to see each other more fully, and in terms of you have to change to get to the next level, and you have to allow yourselves to change. Then Sebastian Yatra takes it to a whole other level with his beautiful vocal performance of the song

-Lin-Manuel Miranda via CBR