Alan Menken Spills Details on New The Little Mermaid Songs with Lin-Manuel Miranda & Changes to Original Songs

Alan Menken is revealing some new details about the new music in the upcoming live action The Little Mermaid!

The composer and songwriter wrote music for the original animated film, and returned to work on the upcoming adaptation.

He also worked with Lin-Manuel Miranda on some new music for the Halle Bailey-starring movie, and recently opened up about those new tunes, one of which includes a rap.

Keep reading to find out what he shared…

“We discussed with [director] Rob Marshall what he wanted. One was the Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) song, called ‘Wild Unchartered Waters,’” Alan told Vanity Fair. “Then, there was the song for Ariel when she has her legs (doesn’t have a voice), and she’s singing her thoughts about all the firsts she is noticing for the first time. Then, there was a number called ‘Scuttlebutt’ for Scuttle (Awkwafina) and Sebastian (Daveed Diggs). It’s this harebrained [song for them] trying to figure out what’s going on because they hear rumors that the prince has decided to marry. They think it must be Ariel but of course it’s Ursula (Melissa McCarthy) in the form of Vanessa. It’s all this delicious imagination. Lin’s lyrics are to die for.”

Alan then added there was a fourth song that didn’t make the cut, but we may see it as a DVD bonus feature.

“We wrote a fourth song called ‘Impossible Child’ for King Triton (Javier Bardem). It didn’t remain in the film only because dramaturgically we didn’t really need it,” the composer shared. “It was so great to work with Javier Bardem on that song and people will hear it as a DVD outtake, I guess.”

Alan also noted that there aren’t songs from the Broadway version of The Little Mermaid, and they changed some lyrics in a couple of the original songs.

“There are some lyric changes in ‘Kiss the Girl’ because people have gotten very sensitive about the idea that [Prince Eric] would, in any way, force himself on [Ariel],” he reveals. “We have some revisions in ‘Poor Unfortunate Souls’ regarding lines that might make young girls somehow feel that they shouldn’t speak out of turn, even though Ursula is clearly manipulating Ariel to give up her voice.”

We’re only two months away from the live action The Little Mermaid hitting theaters. Check out a side-by-side of the trailer alongside the original animated trailer!

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