Jodi Benson Defends Little Mermaid Lyric Changes

Some songs within the upcoming The Little Mermaid remake might sound a bit totally different for followers of the unique animated movie.

That’s as a result of songs like “Kiss the Girl” and “Poor Unfortunate Souls” went by way of some lyrical revisions earlier than making the ultimate lower.

Composer Alan Menken, who wrote the music for the 1989 movie and labored on the remake, defined that the up to date lyrics replicate a extra fashionable Disney princess.

It was all part of modernizing the movie, which star Halle Bailey has mentioned “changed its perspective of just [Ariel] wanting to leave the ocean for a boy.”

“It’s way bigger than that. It’s about herself, her purpose, her freedom, her life and what she wants,” she advised Variety.

As for the way Jodi Benson, The Little Mermaid‘s authentic Ariel, feels about all the modifications, she says she’s completely on board.

“We’re talking about starting our [voiceover] sessions in ’86,” she advised Entertainment Weekly. “It’s 2023, so we have to grow, we have to learn, we have to be aware of our surroundings.”

Jodi added that “we’ve got to be aware of our growth as humans and what’s important now and what maybe isn’t as important.”

“Things change. We’ve got to roll with that…But you’ve got to have growth. It’s very important to stay relevant with where we are, what’s going on around us. We need to be aware,” she mentioned.

Jodi shared that she believes that director Rob Marshall and producer John DeLuca “have done a beautiful job of doing that” whereas “still paying tribute and honor to our original film.”

“So the adjustments and the fine-tuning that they needed to do, it was a must, but it was done in a beautiful way, and I’m very, very thrilled with it,” Jodi concluded.