MOVIES
Why two songs from ‘The Little Mermaid’ live-action had lyrics changed
Two songs had lyric changes in order to avoid controversial undertones.
For the upcoming live-action remake of ‘The Little Mermaid’, two songs from the movie’s soundtrack have been revised, adjusting to the morals of today compared to those in 1989.
‘Kiss the Girl’ has come under scrutiny for lyrics that suggest that Prince Eric, Ariel’s love interest, would force himself on her. The original lyrics for ‘Poor Unfortunate Souls’, on the other hand, suggest that girls should refrain from speaking out.
Lyric changes
“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],” said Alan Menken, the original composer for the 1989 cartoon movie, in a Variety interview.
“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.”
In the scene for ‘Kiss the Girl’, Ariel and Prince Eric go on a romantic boat ride, where Ariel’s friend, the crab Sebastian, attempts to subliminally influence Prince Eric to kiss Ariel. This is all in order to break the curse she’s under, which has rendered her mute.
During ‘Poor Unfortunate Souls’, the sea witch Ursula serenades Ariel in an attempt to manipulate her to do whatever it takes to get what she wants, which is to become human and fall in love with Prince Eric, all at the cost of her voice.
New music for ‘The Little Mermaid’
After he was tasked with making new music for the live-action soundtrack, Menken was soon joined by Lin Manuel Miranda, a big fan of Menken since he was a child. Menken shared that Miranda’s enthusiasm for Menken’s work over the years is what got him the job.
“What happened was Lin gave a lot of interviews about just that,” Menken told Vanity Fair.
“Sean Bailey, head of film production at the studio, heard or read one of those interviews. He didn’t even ask me. He just went to Lin and asked him to work on the movie.”
Menken has praised Miranda’s own natural understanding of music, especially in regard to the world of theater.
“He’s really smart. He understands theater really well. He understands a lot of things really well. He’s got this stylistic brilliance that brings in hip-hop and rap, and all old musical forms that help.
“Even though it’s a composer, me, and the lyricist, Lin — when we were in the room, all those influences came to band.”
On the new songs, Menken gives a small hint of what’s to come.
“We discussed with [director] Rob Marshall what he wanted. One was the Prince Eric song, called ‘Wild Uncharted Waters.’ 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.”
‘The Little Mermaid’ will be released in theaters on May 26, 2023.