Twitter Is Totally Divided Over The Little Mermaid Soundtrack

Fans have certainly been part of The Little Mermaid world this year. Gearing up to the live-action’s release on May 26, the new cast has unveiled all the ways they’ve renewed the classic film. This includes new princess Halle Bailey, who stayed true to her Ariel character by lending her stunning vocals on-and-off screen. Her latest sonic prowess appeared on the film’s soundtrack, which arrived a week before the movie’s premiere. Since its midnight release on May 19, fans on Twitter have been studying the album’s original and reimagined compositions. And while many are in awe, some seem to disagree with some of the sonic choices made.

For the revived soundtrack, Disney tapped Lin-Manuel Miranda and the film’s original composer Alan Menken to write new songs. The duo also kept the classics, such as Daveed Diggs (plays Sebastian) cooing “Under The Sea” and Melissa McCarthy’s Ursula belting “Poor Unfortunate Souls.” The music maestros also reworked a few lyrics on the classics for a modern approach. Take “Kiss the Girl,” which was tweaked to reflect the importance of consent. In the first verse, Sebastian’s original line suggesting Prince Eric doesn’t need to “ask” Ariel to be kissed was swapped to:

“Yes, you want her / Look at her, you know you do / Possible she want you too / Use your words, boy, and ask her / If the time is right and the time is tonight / Go on and kiss the girl.”

Elsewhere, Bailey flaunts her ringing high notes on “Part Of Your World,” which is merely identical to Jodi Benson’s original offering. As for the new additions, that’s where the reactions get a bit dicey. Lyrically, Miranda has a distinctive penmanship that could make or break a piece of music (ahem, the Hamilton craze of 2018). And given the divided interest in these new songs, it seems as though fans see no grey area in enjoying his material.

On Twitter, fans appeared to enjoy Bailey’s new tune “For The First Time” and Jonah Hauer-King — who plays Prince Eric — powering through “Wild Uncharted Waters.” However, things come to a screeching halt on “The Scuttlebutt,” a clunky spoken word led by Awkwafina, who portrays Scuttle the seagull from the original. The two-minute tune adopts a Hamilton-style rap; however, it failed to hold the same appeal as the 2018 live musical.

On it, Awkwafina gossips — or in this case, rap squawks — how Ursula convinced Prince Eric to marry her after her transformation. Diggs chimes in with some banter, and both of their unmistakable flows (written by Miranda) began to clash. For some listeners, this was the longest two minutes of their life.

While “The Scuttlebutt” hate train blares in the distance, check out some mixed Twitter reviews about the soundtrack, below.

Despite the oddness of “The Scuttle,” some felt the slew of classics and neatly-mixed new tracks were hits.

Fans felt this song was certainly... a choice.

“Vanessa’s Trick,” which stunningly blends Bailey’s vocals with dramatic orchestration, is considered a bop by fans.

The Little Mermaid soundtrack is available to stream now.