"A Whole New World" is the signature song from
Disney's 1992 animated feature film
Aladdin, with music by
Alan Menken and lyrics by
Tim Rice.[2] A
duet originally recorded by singers
Brad Kane and
Lea Salonga in their respective roles as the singing voices of the main characters
Aladdin and
Jasmine, the
ballad serves as both the film's
love and
theme song. Lyrically, "A Whole New World" describes Aladdin showing the confined princess a life of freedom and the pair's acknowledgment of their love for each other while riding on a
magic carpet.
Mena Massoud and
Naomi Scott performed the song in the live-action version of Aladdin (2019).[9]Zayn Malik and
Zhavia Ward did their version of the song for the end credits. The music video featuring Zayn Malik and Zhavia Ward was directed by
Philip Andelman, photographed by David Devlin and supported the successful release of the 2019 live-action feature film Aladdin directed by
Guy Ritchie.
A
single version of the song was released that same year and was performed by American recording artists
Peabo Bryson and
Regina Belle. This version is played over the film's end credits and is referred on the soundtrack as "Aladdin's Theme".[2] The version peaked at number one on the US
Billboard Hot 100 chart for a week, ending on March 6, 1993,[11] replacing
Whitney Houston's "
I Will Always Love You", which had spent a then-record 14 weeks at the top of the chart. It went
gold and sold 600,000 copies domestically.[12][13] The track peaked at number 12 in the
UK Singles Chart in 1993.[14]
The song is the first song from a Disney animated film to top the US Billboard Hot 100. It was the only Disney song to achieve this feat until "
We Don't Talk About Bruno" from Encanto reached the summit in 2022. The single version was later included on Belle's studio album Passion (1993) and on Bryson's studio album Through the Fire(1994).[15][16]
Critical reception
Alan Jones from Music Week gave the song five out of five. He wrote, "The theme from Aladdin is a huge appealing big
ballad duet. A melodic tour de force with wide ranging appeal, it is wisely tipped as the Christmas number one."[17]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
In the Philippines, a version of the song performed by
Jose Mari Chan, a Filipino recording artist, was released as a single through Bell Films (a subsidiary of
Universal Records) in 1993, coinciding with the Philippine theatrical release of Aladdin on April 30, 1993.[53]
In 1993, French singers
Karine Costa and
Daniel Lévi released a
French-language version of the song titled "Ce rêve bleu" (English: "This Blue Dream"). This version peaked at number three on the French
SNEP Singles Chart in January 1994, ending the year as the country's 21st-most-successful single.[54][55]
In 2007,
Pixar employee
Nick Pitera uploaded a video to YouTube where he performs both the male and female characters.[56]
In 2018,
Riff Raff and
Jonathan Hay created a hip-hop cover of the song for the album The Hoodlum Ball.[57]
Zayn were also used for two English-
Spanish versions of the song, "Un mundo ideal". The Spanish parts were sung for the
Latin American market by American singer
Becky G and for the
Spanish market by Spanish singer
Aitana.[58][59][60]
^"The Year in Music 1993"(PDF). Billboard. Vol. 105, no. 52. December 25, 1993. p. YE-46.
Archived(PDF) from the original on June 27, 2021. Retrieved August 19, 2021.
^"Grand Opening Today!". Manila Standard. Kamahalan Publishing Corp. April 30, 1993. p. 19. Retrieved March 31, 2020. The Best Reviewed Film of the Year!