Mufasa: The Lion King (soundtrack)

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In December 2020, Disney announced that Hans Zimmer, who worked on the 1994 and 2019 films, would return to score the film, alongside Pharrell and Nicholas Britell.^[7] In April 2024, Miranda praised many of the songwriters involved for the franchise's music over the years, stating that "The Lion King has an incredible musical legacy with music by some of the greatest composers around, and I am humbled and proud to be a part of it."^[8][9] In mid-2021, Jenkins contacted Miranda about working on the film; at the time, he had just finished working on songwriting for Encanto (2021) and was in the editing process for his directorial debut film, Tick, Tick... Boom! (2021).^[10] Miranda started work on the songs in early 2022 and worked on Mufasa: The Lion King at the same time as his concept album Warriors.^[11][12][13]

Lebo M, whose vocals are heard in "Circle of Life", the opening song from The Lion King, admitted he felt pressure in writing a "worthy successor"; he ended up writing "Ngomso" in one morning, which features lyrics in Xhosa.^[14][15] "Milele", which means "forever" in Swahili, is sung by Mufasa's parents and is the song which required the most workshopping; Miranda listened to a lot of spirituals during its songwriting.^[16][17] "I Always Wanted a Brother" is sung by Mufasa and Taka as cubs and soundtracks a montage as the two grow up together.^[18] Miranda drew inspiration from his two sons while writing the song and also revealed that it was the first song he worked on for the film, then proceeding fairly consecutively through the film's musical numbers.^[10][17]

"Bye Bye", sung by Mads Mikkelsen's character, was the only song Miranda pitched to Jenkins that was not originally present in the script, as he felt he wanted to write a dancehall villain song.^[19] Miranda watched a clip of Mikkelsen in his 20s performing a number from The Pajama Game on Med kjærlig hilsen [da] to confirm that he could sing.^[10] "We Go Together" is a song about the friendship between the film's main characters and also sets up Taka's attraction to Sarabi.^[18] "Tell Me It's You", a romantic ballad between Mufasa and Sarabi, has been described as a spiritual successor to The Lion King's "Can You Feel the Love Tonight"; Miranda revealed he wanted to write a love song in the vein of an end credits song like "Beauty and the Beast" by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson.^[10][18] Miranda also pulled inspiration from 1990s R&B artists K-Ci & JoJo and Jodeci, and made use of reverb to accompany the song's ice cavern setting in the film.^[20] "Brother Betrayed", which reflects the moment Taka becomes Scar, was the song that took the shortest amount of time to write; Miranda compared it to the act one finale of The Phantom of the Opera with the chandelier crash.^[21][18]

Dave Metzger, who composed the score, wanted to honor Zimmer's score from the franchise's previous releases, while Jenkins wanted Mufasa: The Lion King to also have its own sound.^[20] Metzger used themes based on Miranda's songs and also wrote a new theme for Rafiki. He also wrote a theme for Kiara and worked with Lebo M to incorporate African choral elements.^[20]

Billboard reported that the soundtrack has become a "streaming success", led by "I Always Wanted a Brother" as its most-streamed song.^[22] "I Always Wanted a Brother" charted at number 34 on the UK singles chart, and number 84 on the Irish Singles Chart.^[23][24] The track "Tell Me It's You" was shortlisted in the category of Best Original Song for the 97th Academy Awards.^[25]

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Notes

• The score (tracks 8–31) was also released as a separate album, Mufasa: The Lion King (Original Score).^[2]