Lin-Manuel Miranda created a brand new song for the upcoming live-action Moana movie. A music video for the song has just dropped, which contains both Moanas. Auli’i Cravalho, who played the character in the original film, is joined by the live-action Moana, Catherine Laga’aia, and Dwayne Johnson, who plays Maui in both films.
Miranda released a statement about the new song in a press release, saying, “It was such a joy to drop back into the world of Moana again and write ‘Along The Way.’ Auliʻi and Catherine’s voices blend so beautifully, and writing for Dwayne as Maui is just pure fun. I’m grateful that we were able to create something special for this brand-new version of our wayfinder’s story.”
When Miranda originally released music for the 2016 film, he spoke about the song he loved the most in an interview. “I’m really proud of ‘How Far I’ll Go,’” he said. “I literally locked myself up in my childhood bedroom at my parents’ house to write those lyrics. I wanted to get to my angstiest possible place. I went method on that because it’s a challenging song. It’s not, ‘I hate it here, I want to be out there.’ It’s not, ‘there must be more than this provincial life.’ She loves her island, she loves her parents, she loves her people. And there’s still this voice inside. It was finding that notion of listening to that little voice inside you and being who you are.”
Miranda also gushed about how nice it was being part of the Disney family, saying, “It’s amazing… You sit at a table, a lot like this, except it’s perfectly round, and the notes are not from execs, the notes are from Jen Lee, the co-director of Frozen, from Pete Docter, who’s working on Inside Out, and did Big Hero 6. Like everyone who actually makes the thing are the ones who are kicking the tires on your story, and making it better. And that was my favorite part of the process.”
The soundtrack for the new Moana movie releases on June 26. However, there’s also another upcoming album to keep an eye out for, which is releasing on July 31. It is called Moana: Voices Across The Ocean. This Moana-inspired album features 14 original songs and a cover song from Pacific artists representing seven islands and cultures.
The live-action reimagining of Moana is coming to theaters July 10 and will be available on Disney+ a few months later.
