The music of Disney’s latest hit, Mufasa: The Lion King
Releasing 30 years after the Disney classic, The Lion King, this prequel-sequel is a worthy musical successor to the original film, paying homage both to the original score and the film’s African heritage.
Mufasa: The Lion King was initially released in theatres on December 13, 2024, grossing $476.4M in the global box office. The film is a prequel-sequel to the live-action The Lion King (2019) movie, which itself was an adaptation of the original The Lion King (1994) animated movie. Mufasa: The Lion King follows the origin story of the titular character, Mufasa, as he grows up with his brother, Taka, falls in love with Sarabi, and eventually ascends to being “The Lion King.”
The film contains seven original songs, six of which were composed by the famous Lin Manuel Miranda. The first song of the film, “Ngomso,” contains lyrics in Xhosa and was composed and sung by Lebo M, a South African artist who also worked on the original The Lion King movie. The six songs composed by Lin Manuel Miranda are more modern and Western to appeal to a larger commercial audience (and to cater to the fans who watched the movie solely because of his participation in the production). However, while the main soundtrack didn’t bring the movie’s African heritage to the forefront, the background score makes up for it. David Metzger composed the score for the film, which features lyrics in Swahili and Zulu, sung by the South African Gospel Choir.
Lin Manuel Miranda first became well-known in 2008 for his Broadway musical, In the Heights, which was adapted into a movie in 2021. However, he is most famously known for creating the Broadway hit musical, Hamilton, which he wrote, composed, and starred in. Since then, he’s composed numerous songs for Disney, most notably creating the soundtracks for Encanto and Moana. Miranda has a distinct contemporary musical style with specific repeating themes for each character, overlapping vocal melodies, and rapping. This distinct style stands out in the songs he wrote for Mufasa, too.
As a Lin Manuel Miranda fan myself, I thought his style shined through most in the song “I Always Wanted a Brother,” as the lion cubs sing the titular line repeatedly in a fast-paced, modern way, pronouncing “brother” as “brothaaa” in a New York accent (Miranda was born and raised in Manhattan).
The songs that Miranda wrote for Mufasa do a great job of upholding the playful vibes of the original The Lion King film. However, I feel that some bits of these songs were so similar to his previous work that it pulled me out of my immersion in this film (though that may be just because I’ve listened to the Hamilton soundtrack a million times).
Overall, the movie’s soundtrack was very well done, and it paid homage to the original film in numerous ways, from the love song “Tell Me It’s You” being akin to “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” to Timon and Pumba giving an updated rendition of “Hakuna Matata.” Most of the songs were light and upbeat, similar to the original film, while still remaining creative and fresh.
