I’ve been feeling for some time that The Little Mermaid was going to be different from the other adaptations. Yes, many of the Disney ones have already embraced the musical identity, but there have been hints that The Little Mermaid would be taking things to a whole different level. With each of the other movies, I got the impression they were going for acting talent over musical talent in most cases — even with Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. Not quite the case with The Little Mermaid.

Yes, the film still has acting talents like Melissa McCarthy and Jacob Tremblay, but they also seem to have talent that skews more musical. Playing Ariel is singer Halley Bailey. Initially, Harry Styles of One Direction fame was offered the role of Prince Eric. The role eventually went ot actor Jonah Hauer-King, but Styles’ involvement did seem to hint at a more musical-focused movie. And let’s not forget Daveed Diggs being in talks to join. That’s one hell of a clincher.

Disney Legend/Composer, Alan Menken just dropped some handful of news during @TheActorsFund hosted by @Rosie

• 4 brand new songs will be part of the live action “The Little Mermaid” 🧜🏻‍♀️
• Music for Disenchanted
• Hercules is heading to broadway pic.twitter.com/yBWtmGJjXZ

— Brian Saeger (@SkywalkerBrian) March 23, 2020

RELATED – Disney’s Live-Action Little Mermaid Has Found It’s Prince Eric

As such, it makes perfect sense that this story would be more music-focused than the others. So much so, in fact, that it will include four brand-new songs. This reveal came from composer Alan Menken, who stated that he worked on four new songs with Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Menken didn’t state explicitly whether or not these four songs would be in addition to the entire batch of songs from the original or not. Given the way Disney has done things in the past, however, I’d assume at least 90% of those original songs would be present and accounted for one some level. Yes, previous productions like Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast have had some extra songs, but four more is quite the increase. Given that the music was the highlights of most of these adaptations, I’m quite hopeful these new ones could be a real highlight of the movie.

Of course, at this point, it’s all one big waiting game. The Little Mermaid’s production was recently put on hold thanks to the COVID-19 virus, so it’ll be some time before it’s all realized. That being said, it’ll definitely be something to look forward to. What do you think of this? Are you happy to hear we’ll be getting four new songs? Let us know your thoughts down below!

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SOURCE: Brian Saeger