How Far I'll Go
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

"How Far I'll Go" and its reprise are two
musical numbers In music, number refers to an individual song, dance, or instrumental piece which is part of a larger work of musical theatre, opera, or oratorio. It can also refer either to an individual song in a published collection or an individual song or d ...
from
Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
's 2016 animated musical feature film '' Moana''. It was written by
Lin-Manuel Miranda Lin-Manuel Miranda (; born January 16, 1980) is an American songwriter, actor, playwright and filmmaker. He is known for creating the Broadway musicals ''Hamilton'' (2015) and ''In the Heights'' (2005), and the soundtracks for the Disney animate ...
, with additional music and co-produced by
Mark Mancina Mark Mancina is an American film composer. A veteran of Hans Zimmer's Media Ventures, Mancina has scored over sixty films and television series including ''Speed (1994 film), Speed'', ''Bad Boys (1995 film), Bad Boys'', ''Twister (1996 film), Twi ...
on its reprise. The song was performed in the film by American actress and singer
Auliʻi Cravalho Chloe Auliʻi Cravalho (; born November 22, 2000) is an American actress and singer who made her acting debut as the voice of the titular character in the 2016 Disney 3D computer-animated musical feature film '' Moana''. She went on to star in ...
in her role as Moana. It was released along with the album on November 18, 2016. Canadian singer
Alessia Cara Alessia Caracciolo (born July 11, 1996), known professionally as Alessia Cara (), is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Born in Mississauga, Ontario, to Italian Canadian parents, she began posting covers of songs on YouTube at age 13. After uploadi ...
also recorded the song for the ''Moana'' soundtrack. The song was nominated for
Best Original Song This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
at the 89th Academy Awards and
Best Original Song This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
at the
74th Golden Globe Awards The 74th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and American television of 2016, was broadcast live on January 8, 2017 from The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California beginning at 5:00 p.m. PST / 8:00 p.m. EST by NBC. T ...
but lost both to "
City of Stars "City of Stars" is a song performed by Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in the film ''La La Land'' (2016). The music of the song was composed by Justin Hurwitz while the lyrics were provided by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. The song won numerous award ...
" from ''
La La Land ''La La Land'' is a 2016 American romantic musical comedy-drama film written and directed by Damien Chazelle. It stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a struggling jazz pianist and an aspiring actress, respectively, who meet and fall in love ...
.'' It did, however, win the
Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media The Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media (including its previous names) is the Grammy Awards awarded to songs written for films, television, video games or other visual media. Recipients * Each year is linked ...
at the
60th Annual Grammy Awards The 60th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on January 28, 2018. The CBS network broadcast the show live from Madison Square Garden in New York City. The show was moved to January to avoid coinciding with the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongc ...
.


Composition

"How Far I'll Go" was composed as Moana's "I Want" song, following in the long tradition of "I Want" songs in 1990s Disney animated musicals. It replaced an earlier attempt called "More", for which the
demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...
version recorded by
Marcy Harriell Marcy Harriell is an American actress, singer and writer. She is best known for her appearances on Broadway, starring in the Tony Award winning musicals ''In the Heights'' and ''Rent'', and as the host of the fashion series '' Re:Fashion'' on TN ...
was released as an outtake on the deluxe version of the soundtrack album. Although Miranda has stressed that he is still "very proud of" the song as a first draft, "More" was not good enough in retrospect because it merely expressed Moana's vague desire to see more since she had already figured out everything about the island. In contrast, "How Far I'll Go" expresses a deeper, richer message: Moana's struggle with the irresistible impulse to explore beyond the reef notwithstanding her genuine love for her island, her family, and her people. As Miranda explained to ''
People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...
'': "To me that's much more complicated than, 'I hate it here and I want to get out,' ... To say, 'I love it here, I love my parents, but why can't I stop walking to the ocean and fantasizing about getting out of here?' And questioning that instinct? It's even more confusing. And that's a valid story too." To make himself write a song more compelling than "More", Miranda " went method". According to Miranda, he locked himself in his childhood bedroom at his parents' residence for an entire weekend in order to force his mind back to age 16 (the same age as Moana in the film), a time when he was facing what seemed like an "impossible distance" between the reality of his pleasant middle-class childhood which had no connection to show business whatsoever, and his dreams of a career in show business. He was well aware that he was composing the next Disney "I Want" song after "
Let It Go "Let It Go" is a song from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney's 2013 computer-animated feature film ''Frozen (2013 film), Frozen'', whose music and lyrics were composed by husband-and-wife songwriting team Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert L ...
" and that whatever he wrote had to be different from it. According to the sheet music published at Sheetmusicdirect.com by Disney Music Company, "How Far I'll Go" is a moderate tempo of 82
beats per minute Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ( ...
. Written in
common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...
, the song is in the key of
E major E major (or the key of E) is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equivalent, ...
with a key change to
F major F major (or the key of F) is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative minor is D minor and its parallel minor is F minor F minor is a minor scale based on F, consis ...
for the final 10 measures.
Auliʻi Cravalho Chloe Auliʻi Cravalho (; born November 22, 2000) is an American actress and singer who made her acting debut as the voice of the titular character in the 2016 Disney 3D computer-animated musical feature film '' Moana''. She went on to star in ...
's vocal range spans from B3 to D5 during the song.


International versions

When the movie had its first theater release worldwide, the song numbered 44 versions, including a special Tahitian-language adaptation created specifically for the movie. For promotional purposes,
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
n singer
Lira Lira is the name of several currency units. It is the current currency of Turkey and also the local name of the currencies of Lebanon and of Syria. It is also the name of several former currencies, including those of Italy, Malta and Israe ...
and
Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...
singer and actress
Janella Salvador Janella Maxine Desiderio Salvador (; born March 30, 1998) is a Filipino actress and singer. Debuting in the hit morning drama ''Be Careful with My Heart'' (2012–2014), she followed with leading roles in ''Oh My G!'' (2015), Jun Lana's ''Haunte ...
recorded their own English-language versions of the song, while
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
n singer
Maudy Ayunda Ayunda Faza Maudya (born 19 December 1994), known as Maudy Ayunda, is an Indonesian pop singer and actress. Personal life and education Ayunda was born to parents Didit Jasmedi R. Irawan and Mauren Jasmedi (born 1968). She has a younger sister ...
and
Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
n singer Ayda Jebat recorded their own versions of the song respectively in
Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...
and
Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...
language. On December 15, a 5-languages mash-up was released online, featuring singers from
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
n countries:
Janella Salvador Janella Maxine Desiderio Salvador (; born March 30, 1998) is a Filipino actress and singer. Debuting in the hit morning drama ''Be Careful with My Heart'' (2012–2014), she followed with leading roles in ''Oh My G!'' (2015), Jun Lana's ''Haunte ...
from the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
,
Maudy Ayunda Ayunda Faza Maudya (born 19 December 1994), known as Maudy Ayunda, is an Indonesian pop singer and actress. Personal life and education Ayunda was born to parents Didit Jasmedi R. Irawan and Mauren Jasmedi (born 1968). She has a younger sister ...
from
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
,
Myra Molloy Maneepat Myra Molloy ( th, มณีภัสสร มอลลอย; ; born 18 September 1997), nicknamed Myra (ไมร่า), is a Thai people, Thai-American singer, songwriter and actress. In 2011 at age 13, Molloy won the premier season ...
from
Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
, Ayda Jebat from
Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
and Trần Minh Như from
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
. Shortly thereafter, a 24-languages video was released on Disney's Vevo channel. In June 2017, a Māori-language version of the movie, featuring four voice-actors from the original English cast, was announced. Three weeks later,
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
er Jaedyn Randell was introduced as Moana's voice. The movie was released in September 2017. In the same year, Shruti Rane (
Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
) reprised her role in the
Bengali-language Bengali ( ), generally known by its endonym Bangla (, ), is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Bengal region of South Asia. It is the official, national, and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh and the second most widely spoken of t ...
version of the movie. In November 2017, a Hawaiian-language dubbing was announced to be under way, with Auliʻi Cravalho reprising her role as Moana. The movie premiered on June 10, 2018.


Charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


Alessia Cara version

Canadian singer and songwriter
Alessia Cara Alessia Caracciolo (born July 11, 1996), known professionally as Alessia Cara (), is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Born in Mississauga, Ontario, to Italian Canadian parents, she began posting covers of songs on YouTube at age 13. After uploadi ...
recorded "How Far I'll Go" for the ''Moana'' soundtrack, with the song being released ahead of the soundtrack on October 28, 2016. It was included in the deluxe edition of ''
Know-It-All ''Know-It-All'' is the debut studio album by Canadian singer and songwriter Alessia Cara. It was released on November 13, 2015 through Def Jam Recordings. The album followed the release of her debut extended play (EP) ''Four Pink Walls'' (2015), w ...
''.


Critical reception

''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
''s Brittany Spanos called the song "inspirational and sweet" and went on to say "the uplifting song is a perfect fit into the ''Disney'' canon, with Cara belting lyrics about persevering to achieve her dreams in spite of her imperfections or detractors." US magazine ''
Rap-Up ''Rap-Up'' is a magazine launched in 2001 by founder Devin Lazerine. The publication was originally a website devoted to hip hop, until Lazerine decided to pitch the possibility of a magazine to several publishers. The magazine is focused on the ...
'' said "the empowering anthem allows the Canadian songstress to deliver outstanding vocals about overcoming adversity to reach for goals" and labeled it "a song with a message" and an "emotionally-charged track." Taylor Weatherby of ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' dubbed it a "bouncy, uplifting tune."
Idolator An idolator is a practitioner of idolatry. Idolater or Idolator may also refer to: Books *''Os Idólatras'', 1968 Portuguese novel by Maria Judite de Carvalho Music * Idolator (website), an American music blog * ''Idolator'' (album), third album ...
's Mike Wass said "the inspiring anthem is the perfect antidote to the general ugliness of 2016" and called it "a soaring ballad."


Music video

The official music video for the song, directed by
Aya Tanimura Aya Tanimura is an Australian-Japanese writer and director, based in Los Angeles, California. Career Short films Her directorial credits include ''Mobius'' (2011), ''U-2074'' (2010), and ''Mrs. Kim'', (2010) which was a finalist in Los Angele ...
, was released on November 3, 2016. Derek Lawrence of ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' described the video: "The video finds Cara roaming an empty beach as she belts out lyrics that reflect the film's plot about a young Polynesian girl setting sail for an epic adventure." The video was filmed at El Matador Beach in Malibu, California.


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


International versions

In many versions of ''Moana'', Alessia Cara's version of the song played during the end credits. However, several localized adaptations of Cara's version of the song were recorded for the end credits of the film as released in certain markets around the world. Vajèn van den Bosch (
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
),
Laura Tesoro Laura Tesoro (born 19 August 1996) is a Belgian singer and actress. She represented Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "What's the Pressure". Tesoro is also known for portraying Charlotte on the Flemish soap opera ''Fami ...
(
Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...
) and Cerise Calixte ( French) sang the song both for the end credits and the movie. Yulianna Karaulova (
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
) took also part in the movie voicing Sina, Moana's mother, in the Russian version.


Cover versions

* In 2017, post-hardcore band Boy Hero covered the song. As of February 2022, the song has amassed over 2 million streams on Spotify. * In 2019, the Swedish pop group
Dolly Style Dolly Style is a Swedish girl group. The group was created by Emma Nors and Palle Hammarlund and features three girls that call themselves Molly, Holly and Polly. The trio claims to originate from a "dollhouse in Dollyville". The group is inspir ...
covered the song for a Swedish version of ''
We Love Disney ''We Love Disney'' is a compilation series that features cover versions of Disney songs by contemporary artists. It is the successor to the ''Disneymania (series), Disneymania'' series of albums that were released from 2002 to 2010. The We Love D ...
''.


Accolades


References

{{authority control 2016 songs 2016 singles Alessia Cara songs Disney songs Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media Moana (2016 film) Pop ballads Songs written for animated films Songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda How_Far_I'll_Go_(reprise) Songs written for films Walt Disney Records singles 2010s ballads American soul songs Tropical house songs Canadian synth-pop songs