“They messed the music up”
Elton John has seen Disney’s 2019 photorealistic remake of The Lion King – and he’s not a fan.
The singer, who composed and performed songs for the original 1994 animated film, has called the remake a “huge disappointment”. Although John returned to the studio to help adapt classics like ‘Circle Of Life’ and ‘Hakuna Matata’ for the new soundtrack, the singer believed that the live-action adaptation “messed the music up”, he told British GQ in a new interview published October 14.
“Music was so much a part of the original and the music in the current film didn’t have the same impact,” John said. “The magic and joy were lost.”
John also cited the new soundtrack’s lack of commercial impact: “The soundtrack hasn’t had nearly the same impact on the charts that it had 25 years ago, when it was the best-selling album of the year. The new soundtrack fell out of the charts so quickly, despite the massive box-office success.”
“I wish I’d been invited to the party more, but the creative vision for the film and its music was different this time around and I wasn’t really welcomed or treated with the same level of respect. That makes me extremely sad,” John added.
However, the singer said that he was glad that the “right spirit” continues to “live on with the Lion King stage musical”.
John is currently promoting his new memoir, Me, which hit store shelves yesterday (October 15). In his first-ever autobiography, the music icon recalls the early years of his wild music career, from “hijacking” a Rolling Stones gig to his attempts at giving a “scruffy” Bob Dylan a makeover.
