Over the weekend between cooking until we had no more energy and shopping until we were broke, I had the chance to listen to the newest Disney album that hit stores approximately 2 months ago. Here are my thoughts.
Let me be the first to say that I have been a fan of Disney from day one. As a child, I was a fan of the movies and tv shows, then that love grew to parks, and eventually I began to appreciate the music – both lyrical as well as instrumental. How was Disney always so successful in placing songs to artists when so many artists struggled to fit their voice to music in personal albums, I always wondered. Over my lifetime I have owned movie soundtracks, cds (Yes! cds!) featuring the music from the parks, and I also had a few of the covered albums. (Jim Brickman comes to mind.) When I found out that Disney was creating this album, which I don't find out about new albums too often anymore, I was excited to get my hands on it. I didn't recognize many of the new artists on the album, but when does Disney do things wrong?
Cut to two months later when I finally have a chance to breath.
I pulled up the new album in my itunes folder and anxiously began listening. I sifted through e-mails getting caught up on work listening to We Love Disney in the background. What I discovered was mix of wonderful … and really? For example, Fall Out Boy's "I Wan'na Be Like You" is up tempo and super fun; they are one of the few artists to actually capture the essence of what I remembered from a Disney movie song. Gwen Stefani's "Rainbow Connection" is really fun too, sung in a very Gwen Stefani kind of way, not necessarily Kermit style. But songs like "In A World of My Own" by Jhené Aiko and "Let It Go" by Rascal Flatts and Lucy Hale were promptly skipped by me. In some cases, the original song is best and nothing else compares. Finally the album ends on a beautiful rendition of "It's A Small World" sung by all of the artists on the album making it seem like it really is "a small world after all".
If you have the chance to get your hands on this album and recognize many of the artists on this album AND enjoy Disney music, you will probably enjoy We Love Disney. If you aren't too familiar with the artists, maybe skip this one and wait for the next. The compilation of covered songs is good but not super amazing run out and buy it now good.
Here is the tracklist from the album:
1. Friend Like Me (From Aladdin) – Ne-Yo
2. Part of Your World (From The Little Mermaid) – Jessie J
3. Can You Feel the Love Tonight / Nants’ Ingonyama (From The Lion King) – Jason Derulo
4. The Rainbow Connection (From The Muppet Movie) – Gwen Stefani
5. Zero to Hero (From Hercules) – Ariana Grande
6. In a World of My Own / Very Good Advice (From Alice in Wonderland) – Jhené Aiko
7. I Wan’na Be Like You (The Monkey Song) (From The Jungle Book) – Fall Out Boy
8. Colors of the Wind (From Pocahontas) – Tori Kelly
9. Spoonful of Sugar (From Mary Poppins) – Kacey Musgraves
10. Ev’rybody Wants to Be a Cat (From The Aristocats) – Charles Perry
11. A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes (From Cinderella) – Jessie Ware
12. Let It Go (From Frozen) – Rascal Flatts & Lucy Hale
13. It’s a Small World – We Love Disney Artists
14. It’s Not Easy Being Green (From The Muppet Show) – Brenna Whitaker
15. A Whole New World (From Aladdin) – Yuna
Have you had the chance to listen to the new We Love Disney album yet? If not, will you be buying it?
Buy We Love Disney here.
