'The Little Mermaid' left Halle Bailey 'tired' and 'isolated.' And she thanked God for it
"Part of Your World" is a song of questions.
How many wonders one cavern can hold. What it costs to spend a day on the sand. What the word is for that thing fire does. All of them building to the ultimate ask: "When's it my turn?"
In the 1989 animated classic "The Little Mermaid," Jodi Benson's Ariel delivers the lyrics with a wistful, resigned sigh, as if the number were a prayer the undersea princess had repeated too many times to count. In Disney's live-action remake, opening May 26, Halle Bailey, taking on the role that a million aspiring princes and princesses sung along to, attacks the song's climax with a powerful ascending vibrato, and holds on long after the orchestra drops out. The song's questions assume new urgency, as if this Ariel, her Ariel, were desperate for answers.
And perhaps she is. In embracing her own turn — her first major film role, and her first project apart from her sister, Chlöe Bailey — the multi-hyphenate talent has faced a gauntlet of challenges: a technically intense shoot, a protective fan base, racist abuse and the demands of adding dimension to a beloved character, sometimes without being able to say a word.
No wonder Bailey's rendition of "Part of Your World" is sprinkled with angelic riffs and strategic voice breaks — choices made,
