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[pap64]

In life there are two types of songs; the songs that are catchy, memorable and fun but lack any depth and real charm, and the songs that are so perfectly written it lives for years on end. For me, Disney's "A whole new world" is the latter. My icon should give you an indication of that .

Don't get me wrong, I love a lot of the Disney songs. Each one offers something that makes their distinctive films very fun and unforgettable. But to me "A whole new world" is in a league of its own. In other words, its nearly perfect in its execution.

I love this song so much that I've gone my way towards listening to the multiple versions available. I've heard the multiple language versions, the recording session version with Brad Kane and Lea Salonga, the pop versions (such as the infamous Jessica Simpson version), the videogame versions, the Aladdin musical version and many more.

While each version brings something unique to the original (especially the multiple language versions), there's no denying that the original film version is the absolute best, and here's why:

- The symphony and melody: I love it to death. I just love how it starts slow and subtle, builds up to a magical and thrilling bridge and ends is a soothing way. It adds a lot of magic and romance to an already enchanting moment.

- The vocals: Disney hit the nail on the head when hiring Brad and Lea. Their voices were perfect for this song. Brad captures the imagination of Aladdin in such as way that even if some come close no one can top it. Lea pure interpretation adds charm to the female lead and complements Brad perfectly. In fact, they did a really great job of doing the musical vocals. You can't tell that the characters are being voiced by another set of singers.

- The scene: Not only is the song one of my all time faves, the scene it came from was amazing to say the least, coming close to the beauty of the ballroom sequence in "Beauty and the Beast". The colors and animation were almost dream like and adds a lot to an already powerful song. Whenever I feel down, I just pop down Aladdin on my DVD player and go right to the flying carpet scene and I feel happy.

Like I already said, Disney does a lot of great songs. 'The Little Mermaid' may not be one of my all time faves, but "Part of your world" is great in portraying a character. If you were to ask me which song is my all time favorite, without a doubt it would be "A whole new world".

Now I know that songs are a subjective thing, so what may be majestic to be may be, shall I say, utter crap for some, so if you are going to disagree with me do it in a respectable manner.
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"Every child is born blessed with a vivid imagination. But just as a muscle grows flabby with disuse, so the bright imagination of a child pales in later years if he ceases to exercise it." - Walt Disney

[blackcauldron85]

First off, I want to say that I misread the title of the thread- I thought that it said "A Whole New World: A Forgettable Song", so you'll understand my initial confusion while reading what you wrote. Speaking of what you wrote, you wrote it very well, pap64!

I love "A Whole New World"- when I was little, when watching Aladdin, I would rewind back to that part after it had just played. And sometimes I would just fast-forward to that part. It's a very magical scene- who wouldn't love a romantic interest to take them all over the world on a magic carpet? The song is lovely, very melodic.

I have a lithograph from this scene, and I'm looking at it right now...Aladdin and Jasmine are my favorite couple (and Jasmine is my favorite princess and 2nd favorite character overall), so it's an extra-special scene and song for me!
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[SleepingBeautyAurora]

I forgot about Disney movies throughout my adolescence, "A Whole New World" was the song that reminded me of the magic of Disney. I can listen to it over and over again, It will always be one of my favorites.
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"From this slumber, You shall wake
When true love's kiss, the spell shall break."

[Prudence]

What an enjoyable post.

My favorite, most personally memorable Disney song is not a movie song. It is "Chasing a Dream" from Twice Charmed.
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That's hot.

[ToyStoryFan]

I agree 100% with you -- it is by far my favorite Disney song and my absolute favorite Disney scene as well. The music and vocals are absolutely perfect like you said. I love pratically every Disney song too but IMO none of them are even close to the brilliance of this one. Great post!

[MerXAN]

A Whole New World is without a doubt my favorite Disney song as well. It makes us Filipinos proud because Lea Salonga is from the Philippines.

[Marky_198]

I agree, this song, scene, the music the vocals are stunning.

I always notice that scenes like this are much better looking than other scenes in the film. Like they put much more effort into it.
Part of your world in TLM, Ballroom scene in Beauty &the Beast and A whole new world all look magical and perfect.

The characters don't look nearly as good in other scenes, like when Ariel is showing the fork to Scuttle, etc,etc.

I would rewind A whole new world too
The characters look so perfect, fresh, hopeful, enchanting, it''s stunning.

Btw. What version of the song do you like more? The movie version, or the movie soundtrack version? I think I prefer the movie version with the different intro and the different pronounciation of the word "splendid".

[Ariel'sprince]

One of my favorite Disney songs .
My favorites are Part Of Your World and Once Upon A Dream too,and True Love's Kiss,Beauty and the Beast,A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes and A Whole New World after them.
Love it,"I"m like a shooting star,I"ve come so far,I can't go back to where I used to be" "A whole new world,a dazzling place I never knew but from a way up here,it's crystal clear that now I"m a whole new world with you (now I"m in a whole new world with you)".
Video games version? you mean clips that were created by Sims or video games that you play as Aladdin and Jasmine on the carpet? that reminds me-that's my favorite level in the Aladdin GBA game (you play as them both and collect gems,you even see the birds,it's so pretty),but there is a game that you play them on the carpet and the animales (yes,the animales from the song! even the horses that Jasmine was petting one of them) attacks them and try to ruine their ride.
I like the pop version (The old one,not the stupid Jessica Simpson version).
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[pap64]

[pap64]

Sorry for bumping this thread, but I just found three versions of the song that are wonderful and wanted to share with everyone.

The first one is a version sung at Hong Kong Disneyland. This one features Brand Kane and Joey Yung, a Chinese singer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzi3CHiv_v4&feature=related

If you read the comments a lot of people went hard on Joey. I think she did pretty well with the song. I just love how they mix the English and Chinese version. The melody is a mix between pop and orchestra music which I really enjoyed.

The second one is from the Disney On Ice Princess Wishes show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5DP09e1wZg

Now this one is very different from the original version. There are various changes in the lyrics, and the singers are NOT Brand Kane and Lea Salonga. I personally don't like the chorus they threw in at the middle of the song. "A whole new world" is a duet through and through. The rest of the song, though, sounds great. The Ice Choreography is fantastic!

Finally, and I can't believe I found this, its the version sung at the Academy Awards!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOQ-qdzJ9CA

This version is STUNNING. They made the song more Arabic sounding, but still kept the classic melody. The on stage choreography is beautiful and, of course, Brand Kane and Lea Salonga are great together. They even dressed up as Aladdin and Jasmine respectively!

Hope you guys like these new songs!
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"Every child is born blessed with a vivid imagination. But just as a muscle grows flabby with disuse, so the bright imagination of a child pales in later years if he ceases to exercise it." - Walt Disney

[Stats87]

I remember reading in the Newspaper that "A Whole New World" is the most sung song for American Idol auditions.

I wonder if this is still the case since this was a couple years back.

But yes, it is an excellent song

[Marky_198]

What a great post!
I absolutely agree with everything you say.

But I also think the magic of the scene has something to do with the way it is drawn. You can tell they paid so much more attention to this scene than other scenes. The details and the beauty are incredible.
It can't be compared to other "normal" scenes in the movie where Aladdin looks completely different.

In many Disney movies there's a scene like that. For example the ballroom scene in Beauty and the Beast.
Or Part of your world in TLM. Ariel looks so beautiful and detailed there.
You can't compare that to, for example, the scene where scuttle explains tot Ariel and flounder what a fork is. It doesn't look half as good.

[drfsupercenter]

I'm not one for romance... I like the songs they use on big action scenes

For example, I'll Make a Man Out of You from Mulan. That's probably one of my top 10 favorite Disney songs. I also like Arabian Nights for some reason, but that's probably because of the controversy about it being censored.

A Whole New World's good, I'll give it that, but I don't really consider it a favorite.. Aladdin had much more entertaining songs like Friend Like Me. (FLM's one of my favorites too)
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