NME | Music, Film, TV, Gaming & Pop Culture News
Jhené Aiko has released a new single, ‘Lead The Way’, taken from the official soundtrack for new animated film Raya and the Last Dragon.
‘Lead The Way’ finds Aiko on wholesome form, delivering a message of unity and compassion befitting a Disney number: “We have a choice to build or destroy/ To fight or to come together/ Love is a bridge and trust is a gift/ We give it and it gets better.”
Written by Grammy-winning composer James Newton-Howard (A Hidden Life, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindewald), who also scored the rest of the film, a ‘Lead The Way’ music video – featuring Aiko and directed by one of the Raya and the Last Dragon directors, Carlos López Estrada – will be released next month.
In the meantime, you can listen to the full song via the lyric video below.
The song was previewed as part of the official trailer for Raya and the Last Dragon, whose characters and setting are inspired by Southeast Asian cultures, last month (January 28).
In the film, the titular heroine (voiced by Kelly Marie Tran) is seen putting together a warrior crew from different lands in Kumandra, on her quest to find the mythical “last dragon” to save her people.
With her starring role as Raya, Tran will become the first Southeast Asian actress to lead a Disney animated film. The voice cast also includes Awkwafina, Gemma Chan, Daniel Dae Kim, Sandra Oh, Benedict Wong, Thalia Tran, and Alan Tudyk.
Disney has announced that Raya and the Last Dragon will be available on Disney Plus with Premier Access in most markets on March 5. A cinema release also remains scheduled for the same date, with no update as yet.
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