Breaking Down Part of Your World - 1989 vs 2023

if you told me two months ago I was going to be making a video about The Little Mermaid remakes Part of Your World I would have said cool easiest video I've ever done I'm just going to bash it and say it's the worst thing ever and my Joker moment and my villain backstory and call it a day but is it really that bad let's dive into it a core component of the performance of part of your world is imperfection not every note is sung perfectly because it's about the emotion that's being portrayed by the singer I've watched so many performances of part of your world and I have to say it's probably one of the most difficult Disney songs to sing genuinely I put it up there with like Let It Go and that song from the Tangled cartoon series that spans like 27 notes while it doesn't have the range of Let It Go in fact the song Only spans about an octave it has so many little imperfections and inflections in there that trying to replicate it is almost impossible I can't hold anybody up to the standard of Jody Benson because Jody Benson's performance was the result of Howard Ashman sitting in the booth with her for hours coaching her on every line nobody could do that again I don't even think Jody Benson could do that again so when I judge Hallie Bailey I want to judge her for her performance not to the standard that Jody Benson said the reason why I was so harsh on Poor Unfortunate Souls is because I felt they were trying to replicate the original and not doing a good job at it however for Part of Your World they took it into different directions so I can't exactly judge it one to one though a lot of us will always prefer the original myself included we have to accept that art is transformative and people will have different takes on it over time so when Halle Bailey performs her own rendition of the song I'm not going to automatically bash it this performance did resonate with a lot of people and I want to give it a chance so I can see why with that out of the way let's get into the first lines look at this stuff wouldn't my connect complete this opening line is obviously iconic and I think one of the reasons why it works so well is because of the use of the rhyme neat and sweet I think those High e sounds at a level of childishness and that helps establish the naivete of Ariel something I find interesting about the Remake is that it starts with an imperfection the first few words are actually spoken I think the way she says that line and kind of Whispers it out communicates a sense of wonder she has regarding the things around her something they did take away from the original however are these strings that come up chins complete wouldn't you think my collection I think that those strings added a level of depth to the instrumentation in the original so I am disappointed that they were taken out but I could also understand why I think they had a different Fidelity to them and they may have sounded too full for the scene in a full high definition Orchestra I do miss that 80 cent a lot though everything everything even though Hallie sounded strained on those first few lines she did manage to make the ending word everything sound natural so she wraps it up pretty nicely I also think that Hallie did this line well sure she's got everything I think she captures that playful sarcasm as well as the original now a complaint I do have with the Remake is the visuals I think it is too poorly lit for us to see how vast Ariel's collection is and seeing the size of her collection would also show us the depth of her fascination with the world above plenty in the higher register here of the instrumentals we have a flute and in the lower registers we have a cello and I think those two come together so beautifully the cello adds a certain sorrow to the scene like she knows she has all these things but she still feels empty inside no big deal and then the rest of the strings come in as she says the line to finalize the verse I want more the Remake instead of having a solo cello has a full string section which makes the whole thing sound more full whether you think that takes away from the feeling of loneliness or not is up to you I've got [Music] another thing Halley's performance added was a sound of subtle frustration when she says the line I've got 20. [Music] I think that's a nice beat but it does bother me how strange she sounds while building up to the word more but who can who killed Jody Benson's version was in a more quiet register so she doesn't sound nearly a strained while building up to that line in fact it's pretty quiet even when she hits it when Hallie says it there's a bit of desperation and excitement behind it either way both songs return to that dreamy quieter quality that the second verse has I [Music] thought how Jody practically Whispers those lines it's filled with so much wistfulness and dreaminess and those spare instrumentals highlight the somber loneliness she feels in all of this something I find interesting about this line is the word people she's not saying she wants to be where the humans are she's saying she wants to be where the people are I think what this means is she wants to be where her people are where she belongs and listen to the quality of Ariel's voice when she says dancing I want to see wanna see them dancing that subtle breath communicates the excitement she's feeling at the prospect of watching humans dance dance probably being a metaphor for how they are and how they live do you want to see him dancing I like the visual here that shows Ariel is daydreaming and moving along with it I feel the delivery just isn't as delicate as it is in the original though another thing that the Remake is missing is this nice little moment between Ariel and Flounder what do you call them oh feet obviously this is a lot harder to pull off when flounder is just a hyper-realistic fish with no emotion what the Remake does do with that line though is use it to build up to the New Direction it takes the song came too far when I was going back and forth between these two songs to compare them it was at this point where I realized the actual intent of the Remake version the original version is being driven by wistfulness while the Remake version is being driven by excitement listen to those strings underneath giving the song a rhythm it's so required for jumping this is markedly different from the original version of the song which at this point is still subdued flipping your fins you don't get too far at this point it becomes a matter of personal preference do you relate more to the somber wistfulness or the excitement at what could be up where they run up where they stay all day in the Sun up where they walk up where they run is a powerful lyric because walk implies living but run implies thriving oh [Music] I think the build up in both versions is effective again one is just more dramatic than the other the original focus is more on the harp and the little twinkling sound effects while in the remake it's more focused on strings [Music] that's a pretty major imperfection in Halley's performance and again I like that this song is meant to be imperfect the emotion is cracking through her voice because she's so excited at the prospect of leaving the water be part of that word I actually hear a tinge of desperation in Hallie's voice there it's somewhat recontextualizes Ariel's character and makes her dream of seeing the surface World more of a fervent desire than a far-off wish what you connect with more is again a matter of personal preference I'm always going to prefer the visuals of the original over the Remake though and this shot is a good example the way that the sun is shining through the top of the water is a lot more prominent in the original than the Remake where the colors are all muted as an aside I could do without this gag and I'm glad they removed it in the remake if I could live out of the Earth it distracts from the setup of these brilliant lyrics this stanza is an a b a b rhyme scheme with Rhymes between the a b a b and it sounds completely natural the one word that seems out of place is reprimand but this is kind of reflected in how Ariel pauses for just a little second before she says that word but they don't reprimand their daughters this makes it sound like it's a more difficult word for her one that she doesn't use very often Helly doesn't do this but she does say the word with a lot of spite but they don't reprimand the daughter by the way another instance of a solo cello being replaced with a full string section I will critique that I find that to be unimaginative instrumentation now we're getting into the parts of the song that really cause controversy a lot of people felt that this elaborated note was way too grandiose for the song and I can understand that because the song wasn't meant to be grandiose it was meant to be a quiet monologue and at first it really bothered me too but the more I thought about it and the more I saw people connect with it I realized that it's okay that things are different it's about the general quality of it and I think the general quality is pretty good when you separate it from the original version the thing about part of your world is that it is such a personal song so many people connect with it not because they're mermaids but because they feel like they're marginalized and don't fit in with General Society but they dream of being part of it I had a lot of comments on my last couple videos saying that it's a movie for kids why should I care and it's because you care you were offended by the fact that I said that a movie for kids had problems with it and you care because you connected with those movies not because you're a little kid but because they have real messages and real emotions that we can relate to and we can take from in the original test screenings for Part of Your World it wasn't the kids that were crying it was the adults so I can totally understand why people would be so angry that the original was changed for the Remake but by the same coin I could also understand why different people related to the new version and will defend it sure it's grandiose but a lot of people think their dreams deserve that sound deserve to be that big to be shouted to the world while other people think that their dream is something personal that they can't say so loudly [Music] really just depends on who you are Ariel wants to know everything about the world above even fire and why it burns she even wants to know the pain of this Human Experience whether she knows it or not she wants the highs and lows of a life she doesn't have that's her final wish before the song culminates in its Climax and just listen to how the instrumentals meld with her voice to help bring out that emotion [Music] I will say that in the remake they're missing that lower register of the instrumentals which takes away from that effect [Music] this buildup melodically is absolutely masterful in any version of the song that chord progression just has a way of sending chills up my spine it's actually not a straight walk up like you think it's an F to an F7 to get that interval in there then an a sharp to an a sharp minor to end on a more somber note [Music] now I know this part has probably cost the most controversy the extended hell note on above in the remake in the original Ariel's vocal stop with the instruments meanwhile in the remake this note is held for several seconds after the instruments cut out foreign ly this is where the Remake loses me I know I've said everything else I've said in this video but for me this moment is just too much it's a very impressive note but it's not one that I think fits the song even with the more excited Flair I also think the visual they used was weaker in the original The Grotto represents that barrier between Ariel and the human world that she just can't get through we can see the emotion on her face and how she stands out from the background in the remake everything is poorly lit and we don't get the shot of Ariel reaching Through The Grotto and her face at the same time and at first I thought this somber ending didn't fit the Remake but then I thought about it some more and I realize it's kind of like a cold wake-up call [Music] Ariel has to sit there and accept that right now reality is in the way so overall is it really that bad is it really the travesty that some people say it is I don't know it's so personal it's such a personal song it really just depends on who you are and how you connect to things and what emotions you connect to more I know that this movie means a lot to a lot of people and Halley's Casting means a lot to a lot of people and I don't want to take that away from them in this particular case I know that the remakes are generally pretty soulless cash grabs but just this once I want to believe that they did care so final verdict is this the worst thing ever in my opinion no I'll still prefer the original by a mile but they could have also done a lot worse but if this is the end of the world to you that's also fine that's just how you felt thank you for watching to the end of this video if you liked it or if you didn't like it leave a comment down below and tell me why and I hope you have a great day

Channel: Astor Rhymemaster

Views: 101,675

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Id: 9glDYFL5VkM

Length: 13min 22sec (802 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 23 2023