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A Whole New World

This song is a straight down the line love song between the two lead characters in Disney’s Aladdin. There is nothing straight down the line about its awards record however.

Not only did it win the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1993, but it was the first and so far only Disney song to win a Grammy for Song of The Year, and also the first and so far only Disney song to top the US Charts. For the record, it replaced no less a song in March 1993 than Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You.

Music is by Alan Menken and lyrics are by Tim Rice. Rice also won Oscars for Best Song in collaboration with Elton John (Can You Feel The Love Tonight) and Andrew Lloyd Webber (You Must Love Me). Menken, for his part, has won 8 Oscars in a stellar writing career.

Musically, watch out for a really clever key change after the first chorus, and some clever vocal interplay.

You’ll find 6 questions to test your musical ear here, and a video on how to play the melody here.