"A Whole New World" is the signature song from

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's 1992 animated feature film ''Aladdin'', with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by

Tim Rice Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice (born 10 November 1944) is an English lyricist and author. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote, among other shows, ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', ...

. A duet originally recorded by singers

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and Lea Salonga in their respective roles as the singing voices of the main characters Aladdin and Jasmine, the

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

serves as both the film's

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and

theme song Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

. 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 A magic carpet, also called a flying carpet, is a legendary carpet and common trope in fantasy fiction. It is typically used as a form of transportation and can quickly or instantaneously carry its users to their destination. In literature One o ...

. The song garnered an Academy Award for Best Original Song at the

65th Academy Awards The 65th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released in 1992 in the United States and took place on March 29, 1993, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles beg ...

and a

Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song The Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song is a Golden Globe Award that was awarded for the first time in 1962 and has been awarded annually since 1965 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The award is presented to the songwriters of a ...

at the

50th Golden Globe Awards The 50th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television for 1992, were held on Saturday January 23, 1993 at the Beverly Hilton. The nominations were announced on December 29, 1992. Winners and nominees Film The ...

. "A Whole New World" also won the Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television at the 36th Annual Grammy Awards, becoming the first and so far only Disney song to win in the former category. In the same year, the version sung by

Peabo Bryson Robert Peapo "Peabo" Bryson (born April 13, 1951) is an American singer and songwriter. He is known for singing soul ballads (often as a duet with female singers) including the 1983 hit "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love" with Roberta Flack. Bryson ...

and

Regina Belle Regina Elaine Belle (born July 17, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter who started her career in the mid-1980s. Known for her singles " Baby Come to Me" (1989) and "Make It Like It Was" (1990), Belle's most notable for two hit duets, both with ...

was also nominated for

Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without reg ...

and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals, winning the latter.

Zayn Malik Zain Javadd Malik ( ; born 12 January 1993), known mononymously as Zayn, is an English pop and R&B singer. Zayn auditioned as a solo contestant for the British music competition television series ''The X Factor'' in 2010. After being eliminate ...

and Zhavia Ward did their version of the song for the live action version of '' Aladdin'' (2019). The music video featuring Zayn Malik and Zhavia Ward was directed by

Philip Andelman Philip Andelman is an American music video director and photographer. Andelman has directed music videos for many notable artists, see below. He has received nominations for his works from the MVPA, VMAs, and CMT awards including MVPA Director ...

, photographed by David Devlin and supported the successful release of the 2019 live action feature film ''Aladdin'' directed by

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Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle version

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version of the song was released that same year and was performed by American recording artists

and

. This version is played over the film's end credits and is referred on the soundtrack as "''Aladdins Theme". The version peaked at number one on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart for a week, ending on March 6, 1993, replacing

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's " I Will Always Love You", which had spent a then-record 14 weeks at the top of the chart. It went

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and sold 600,000 copies domestically. The track peaked at number 12 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in 1993. 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 ''Encanto'' is a 2021 American computer-animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The 60th film produced by the studio, it was directed by Jared B ...

'' 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).

Critical reception

Alan Jones from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' gave the song five out of five. He wrote, "The theme from ''Aladdin'' is a huge appealing big

duet. A melodic tour de force with wide ranging appeal, it is wisely tipped as the Christmas number one."

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Cover versions

Lea Salonga and Jose Mari Chan version

In the Philippines, a version of the song performed by Lea Salonga and Jose Mari Chan, both Filipino recording artists, was released as a single through Bell Films (a subsidiary of

Universal Records Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch–American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

) in 1993, coinciding with the Philippine theatrical release of ''Aladdin'' on April 30, 1993. Then-

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member Jaehyun, who later debuted as a member of boy group NCT and former member Seo Herin performed the song in

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show

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in December 2015.

Other notable cover versions

* In 2007,

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employee

Nick Pitera Nicholas Joseph Pitera (born March 7, 1986) is an American singer, animator and YouTuber. , Pitera worked as a 3D Modeler at Pixar Studios. Pitera sung the Triple Dent Gum jingle in Pixar's ''Inside Out''. He was also known as the singing voice ...

uploaded a video to YouTube where he performs both the male and female characters,− earning 30 million views by January 2013. * In 2018,

Riff Raff Riff Raff, Riffraff, or Riff-Raff, a term for the common people but with negative connotations, may refer to: In music * Riff Raff (rapper), from Texas * Riff Raff (band), a UK progressive rock band * Riff Raff, a band formed by Billy Bragg * ...

and Jonathan Hay created a hip-hop cover of the song for the album ''The Hoodlum Ball''. * Malik's English vocals were also used for two English-

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

versions of the song, "Un mundo ideal". The Spanish parts were sung for the

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

n market by American singer

Becky G Rebbeca Marie Gomez (born March 2, 1997), known professionally as Becky G, is an American singer and actress. She first gained recognition in 2011 when she began posting videos of herself covering popular songs online. One of her videos caught t ...

and for the

market by Spanish singer

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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whole New World, A 1992 singles 1992 songs 1990s ballads Best Original Song Golden Globe winning songs Best Original Song Academy Award-winning songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Columbia Records singles Contemporary R&B ballads Disney Renaissance songs Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media Grammy Award for Song of the Year Jose Mari Chan songs Katie Price songs Lea Salonga songs Love themes Male–female vocal duets Mena Massoud songs Peabo Bryson songs Peter Andre songs Pop ballads Regina Belle songs Ricardo Montaner songs Song recordings produced by Alan Menken Song recordings produced by Walter Afanasieff Songs from Aladdin (franchise) Songs with lyrics by Tim Rice Songs with music by Alan Menken Soul ballads Walt Disney Records singles Zayn Malik songs Zhavia Ward songs