Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
Alan Menken
Alan Irwin Menken (born July 22, 1949) is an American composer and conductor. Over his career he has received List of awards and nominations received by Alan Menken, numerous accolades including winning eight Academy Awards, a Tony Awards, Tony ...
and lyricist
Stephen Schwartz
Stephen Lawrence Schwartz (born March 6, 1948) is an American musical theatre composer and lyricist. In a career spanning over five decades, Schwartz has written hit musicals such as ''Godspell'' (1971), ''Pippin (musical), Pippin'' (1972), and ...
and originally recorded by American singer and actress Heidi Mollenhauer in her film role as the singing voice of Esmeralda. It was one of three recordings, along with "In a Place of Miracles" and "As Long as There's a Moon", that were discarded during the
storyboard
A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of simple illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding proce ...
Gary Trousdale
Gary Trousdale is an American animator, film director, screenwriter and storyboard artist. He is best known for directing films such as ''Beauty and the Beast'' (1991), '' The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' (1996), and '' Atlantis: The Lost Empire'' (2 ...
and
Kirk Wise
Kirk Wise is an American film director, animator and screenwriter best known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Wise has directed Disney animated films such as ''Beauty and the Beast'', '' The Hunchback of Notre Dame'', and '' Atlantis ...
both desired a quieter song for Esmeralda's scene inside the
Notre-Dame de Paris
Notre-Dame de Paris ( ; meaning "Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris"), often referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a Medieval architecture, medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the River Seine), in the 4th arrondissemen ...
cathedral.
Selected as the lead single from the film's soundtrack in 1996, "Someday" was recorded by all–male R&B group
All-4-One
All-4-One is an American male R&B and pop group best known for their hit singles " I Swear", " So Much in Love" and " I Can Love You Like That". The group is composed of Jamie Jones, Delious Kennedy, Alfred Nevarez, and Tony Borowiak, all fro ...
for the North American release, while British female R&B trio Eternal recorded their own version for the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
English version of the song that received international release throughout Europe and Oceania. Mexican singer
Luis Miguel
Luis Miguel Gallego Basteri (; born 19 April 1970) is a Mexican singer and record producer. Born in Puerto Rico to an Italian mother and a Spanish father, he is often referred to as Honorific nicknames in popular music, ''El Sol de Mexico'' ...
recorded a
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 countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
version for the
Latin America
Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
n market, retitled "Sueña", which became a major hit. The French version was recorded by
Ophélie Winter
Ophélie Kleerekoper-Winter (born 20 February 1974) is a French pop music, pop and contemporary R&B, R&B singer and actress. She is the daughter of Dutch singer David Alexandre Winter and French fashion model Catherine Fefeu. She rose to promi ...
, retitled "Un Jour". The Italian version was recorded by Neri per Caso, retitled "Quando". The youngest Celtic Woman member
Chloë Agnew
Chloë Agnew (born 9 June 1989) is an Irish singer, best known for being an original and former member of the Celtic music group Celtic Woman.
Early life and career
Agnew was born to Irish entertainer Adele King, Adele "Twink" King and Iris ...
covered this song for her solo album called ''Walking in the Air'' and her first Celtic Woman album.
Jackie Evancho
Jacqueline Marie Evancho ( ; born April 9, 2000) is an American singer who gained wide recognition at an early age, singing primarily crossover music#Classical crossover, classical crossover covers. Since 2009, she has issued nine albums, a pla ...
covered this song for the
Target
Target may refer to:
Warfare and shooting
* Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports
** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports
** Aiming point, in field artille ...
deluxe version of her album
Dream With Me
''Dream with Me'' is the second full-length album (first on a major label) by American singer Jackie Evancho. It was released on June 3, 2011 on digital download format, and on June 14, 2011 in the standard CD format.the musical version of the film as performed by
Ciara Renée
Ciara Renée Harper (born October 19, 1990) is an American actress and musician. She is best known for her roles on Broadway as The Witch in '' Big Fish,'' the Leading Player in '' Pippin'', Jenna in ''Waitress,'' and Elsa in '' Frozen.'' She pl ...
and Andrew Samonsky as Esmeralda and Phoebus.
Usage in ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame''
Within the film itself, the only complete version of "Someday" is the All-4-One version that plays over the
closing credits
Closing credits, aka end credits or end titles, are a list of the cast and crew of a particular motion picture, television show, or video game. While opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear close to or at th ...
. Several lines of the song are also heard over the opening title. This version is sung in Latin in the style of a
Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, plainchant, a form of monophony, monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek language, Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed main ...
and is titled "Olim", meaning "once", on the soundtrack of the stage musical. Within the body of the film, the melody of "Someday" is heard several times as an instrumental, particularly during moments between Quasimodo and Esmeralda, such as when Esmeralda comes onto the pillory, when she reads Quasimodo's palms, and when Quasimodo thinks that Esmeralda is dead. These are on the film soundtrack as "Humiliation (Score)", "The Bell Tower (Score)", and "And He Shall Smite the Wicked (Score)".
All-4-One version
For the American music market, Disney enlisted R&B band
All-4-One
All-4-One is an American male R&B and pop group best known for their hit singles " I Swear", " So Much in Love" and " I Can Love You Like That". The group is composed of Jamie Jones, Delious Kennedy, Alfred Nevarez, and Tony Borowiak, all fro ...
to record their own rendition of "Someday" for the film's accompanying soundtrack. While the album version of their recording was produced and arranged by William Ross, songwriter Walter Afanasieff was consulted to produce a radio mix of the song that was released by
Walt Disney Records
Walt Disney Records is an American record label owned by the Disney Music Group. The label releases soundtrack albums from the Walt Disney Company's Walt Disney Studios (division), motion picture studios, television shows, Disney Experiences, them ...
and
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
as the set's first single to US radios on June 10, 1996. The band premiered the song at the
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
premiere of ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame''.
All-4-One's fourth and final top 40 entry on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, the single peaked at number 30 on the chart. On ''Billboard''s component charts, it reached number 14 on the
Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by stat ...
. A
music video
A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
for "Someday" was directed by
Antoine Fuqua
Antoine Fuqua (; born May 30, 1965) is an American film director known for his work in the action and thriller genres. He was originally known as a director of music videos, and made his film debut in 1998 with '' The Replacement Killers''. His ...
.
Critical reception
Larry Flick
Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the musi ...
from ''
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 advertis ...
'' viewed the song as a "sweet
power ballad
A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner. Balla ...
". He added, "The touch of producer Walter Afanasieff is unmistakable, as the act is surrounded by glistening synths and a slaw finger-snappin' rhythm that may remind some of his work with
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey ( ; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Songbird Supreme" by ''Guinness World Records'', Carey is known for her five-octave voc ...
. A lovely effort that deserves a fair shake at both AC and top 40 stations." Peter Miro from ''
Cash Box
''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...
'' wrote, "Crescendos mount on this banging performance by All-4-One. The quartet makes evocative use of a full orchestra, from a simple overture, building to a resounding climax. Which is how Disney likes to tie up its movies."
Track listings
* CD single
# "Someday" (Radio Mix) — 4:19
# "Someday" (Album Version) — 4:17
Charts
Sales and certifications
Eternal version
In the United Kingdom, all-female trio Eternal lent their vocals to a second version of "Someday". Produced by
Simon Climie
Simon Climie (born 7 April 1957) is an English songwriter, musician and record producer. He is best known as the former lead singer of the UK duo Climie Fisher.
Biography
Climie was born in London. Beginning his career primarily as a songwr ...
, it was first released through 1st Avenue Records on August 5, 1996, in the UK. English musician
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...
plays guitar on this version, and the UK
cassette single
A cassette single (CS), also known by the trademark cassingle, or capitalised as the trademark Cassette Single, is a music single (music), single supplied in the form of a Compact Cassette. The cassette single was introduced in 1980 in music, 1 ...
includes a rendition of the song performed by him. In 1997, it appeared on Eternal's third studio album, '' Before the Rain''.
"Someday" became Eternal's eighth top-10 entry on the UK Singles Chart, where it peaked at number four; this made them the first female group to accumulate 10 consecutive top-20 hits in the UK. "Someday" also reached the top 30 in Australia and Ireland. As of 2019, it has sold 130,000 copies in the United Kingdom. The band performed the song for the first time in over a decade for a one-off concert put together as part of the second season of the TV series ''
The Big Reunion
''The Big Reunion'' is a British reality-documentary series that began airing on ITV2 on 31 January 2013. The show featured chart-topping bands who were big in the UK pop music scene between the 1990s and early 2000s, and the programme followed ...
''.
Critical reception
British magazine ''
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 We ...
'' rated the song four out of five, writing, "Judging by the early enthusiasm for Disney's ''Hunchback Of Notre Dame'' movie, this dramatic ballad in the vein of
Elton Elton may refer to:
Places
England
* Elton, Cambridgeshire (formerly Huntingdonshire), a village
** Elton Hall, a baronial hall
* Elton, Cheshire, a village and civil parish
* Elton, County Durham, a village and civil parish in the Borough of ...
A Whole New World
"A Whole New World" is the signature song from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney's 1992 animated feature film Aladdin (1992 Disney film), ''Aladdin'', with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Tim Rice. A duet originally recorded by singers B ...
"
# "''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' Medley"
* UK CD2
# "Someday"
# " Oh Baby I..." (live '96)
# " Power of a Woman" (live '96)
# " Good Thing" (live '96)
* UK cassette single
# "Someday" (Eric Clapton version)
# "When You Wish upon a Star"
# "A Whole New World"
# "Someday" (alternative strings version)
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Sales
Luis Miguel version
For the Latin American music market, Disney enlisted Mexican singer
Luis Miguel
Luis Miguel Gallego Basteri (; born 19 April 1970) is a Mexican singer and record producer. Born in Puerto Rico to an Italian mother and a Spanish father, he is often referred to as Honorific nicknames in popular music, ''El Sol de Mexico'' ...
to record the Spanish-language rendition of "Someday" for the Latin American soundtrack. It was adapted into Spanish by Renato López, Kiko Cibrian and Gerardo Flores. Luis Miguel's version was included on his eleventh studio album '' Nada Es Igual...'' released in the same year. The cover peaked at number 3 on the
Hot Latin Songs
The ''Billboard'' Hot Latin Songs (formerly Hot Latin Tracks and Hot Latin 50) is a record chart in the United States for Latin music, Latin songs, published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' magazine. Since October 2012, chart ranki ...
chart and became his fourth number one song on the
Latin Pop Songs The '' Billboard'' Latin pop charts began in 1985 when an album chart were introduced as Latin Pop Albums in the June 29 issue of the magazine. In October 1994, ''Billboard'' then established Latin Pop Airplay, which initially rank the most-played ...
chart. A music video was filmed for Luis Miguel's version.