It's pretty well known that before Christina Aguilera became a globally successful pop star, she got her start in the 1990s version of The Mickey Mouse Club, what may have been forgotten by many, however, is that her musical career actually started with Disney as well. Before "Genie in a Bottle," Aguilera recorded a pop version of the song "Reflection" for Disney's 1998 animated movie Mulan. The singer and the movie have been linked ever since, so it makes sense that Aguilera is back recording new music for the new version of Disney's Mulan. This includes a brand new song, with a music video just released today, called "Loyal Brave True," but fans of "Reflection" need not worry, as Disney has confirmed a brand new version of the original song will also be on the forthcoming soundtrack.
Check out the brand new video below.
The music video for "Loyal Brave True" was directed by live-action Mulan director Niki Caro, and it looks sort of like the James Bond theme version of Mulan. You can imagine the credits rolling over this music video as the movie began if we expected Mulan to open like a James Bond movie. Instead, one would expect this song to play on the other side of the film, during the end credits.
While "Loyal Brave True" is a brand new addition to Mulan, the classics won't be forgotten. While the new Mulan won't be a musical, and so we won't expect Mulan to sing "Reflection" as she does in the animated film, Christina Aguilera has recorded a brand new version of that song which will appear on the new soundtrack, and one assumes in the movie at some point, though again, possibly only over the end credits as the live-action Mulan is certainly going for an authentic, if stylized, look and feel, and thus probably doesn't include pop songs in the movie itself.
Seeing Christina Aguilera return to Mulan isn't exactly much of a surprise. A big part of Disney's live-action remake concept has been opening up the drip on the nostalgia I.V. needle and that means not only recreating the movie but the music as well. The Lion King remake brought back Elton John and Lebo M. for a brand new song that played over the end credits of that film. Beauty and the Beast had a pop version of the title song to go along with the version sung in the movie, just as the original had done to great success.
Fans will finally get to see the new Mulan in a couple of weeks., though not in the way they were expecting. With theaters still largely, but maybe not entirely closed in September, Disney made the decision to release the film on its Disney+ streaming service, though at a premium cost. The film will go for $29.99 in addition to the Disney+ subscription price. However, unlike other premium rentals, this will be more long term, as those that pay the price will have access to Mulan for as long as their Disney+ subscription is active.
One assumes that several months down the road Mulan will be opened up to the rest of the Disney+ subscriber base.
