The romantic ballad Miranda wrote for "Mufasa: The Lion King" is on the Oscars shortlist.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is "still surprised" that "We Don't Talk About Bruno" was the runaway hit from Encanto. That's why he's hesitant to guess what could be the fan-favorite song from Mufasa: The Lion King... although his sons have an idea.
"That I know I can't predict because I thought everyone was gonna leave singing 'Surface Pressure' or 'Colombia, Mi Encanto,' and then 'We Don't Talk About Bruno' took the world by storm," Miranda told Yahoo Entertainment. "I'm still surprised by it. So all I know is I know nothing."
When prompted that our bet is on "I Always Wanted a Brother," Miranda replied, "That's the one that's the stickiest one with my kids. OK, to be fair, they're brothers."
Mufasa tells the origin story of the beloved character from The Lion King and how he came to rule Pride Rock. Miranda, who helmed the tracks, joked that he does "have a favorite child, and I also have a favorite song."
"The fun on this one were the things I hadn't had a chance to do on another movie. So to get to write a romantic ballad for Disney, which you know Moana didn't have time for romance, neither did Mirabel. So to get to write like a romantic duet was really fun with 'Tell Me It's You,'" Miranda said. "I'd be audacious to even put that on a bucket list. But I actually got to do that for this movie."
"Tell Me It's You" is on the Oscars shortlist for Best Original Song. It was one of 15 songs to advance, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Tuesday. Eighty-nine songs were eligible in the category.
Aaron Pierre, who voices Mufasa in the prequel and sings the romantic ballad with Tiffany Boone, said he was "very nervous" about the song and credits Miranda with helping him belt it out.
"Lin is so fun," he told Yahoo. "I'm so grateful to him and his team because I was very nervous about the singing. I didn't know if I had the capacity to do it, but they taught me how to have the capacity. Lin, when I was in that studio and I was nervous, Lin was like, 'Listen man, this is an R&B hit. Let's do it.' He was really boosting me up at a time I needed boosting up. I'm struggling to hit these notes, struggling to hit the durations of those notes. I love Lin."