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With the much hyped release of the new remake of The Lion King coming soon, Beyoncé and Disney have collaborated to produce a companion album “steeped in the sounds of Africa.”
On Tuesday night as stars from the upcoming movie hit the red carpet for the world premiere of the reimagined animated movie, Bey’s song “Spirit” from the album was released ahead of the “The Lion King: The Gift,” album which drops July 19, CNN reports.
Disney made the announcement about the soundtrack in an Instagram post on Tuesday:
“The Lion King” digital soundtrack will be available on July 11.
The song is written by Ilya Salmanzadeh, Timothy McKenzie and Beyoncé, with the Queen Bey at the helm as executive producer.
Beyoncé voices the character Nala in Disney’s new version of “The Lion King.”
In addition to her, the new adaptation of the Disney classic also features Donald Glover
(Simba), James Earl Jones (Mufasa), Chiwetel Ejiorfor (Scar), Seth Rogen (Pumbaa), Billy Eichner (Timon) and John Oliver (Zazu). The movie also features Amy Sedaris in a new character that was written intentionally for the movie adaptation.
On Tuesday, the cast and attended the premiere screening of the movie in Los Angeles at the Dolby Theatre.
“I think I’m really lucky, because I feel like a lot of the people who are experiencing it don’t remember the first one,” joked Glover. “(The original film) is such a big part of who I was,” Glover continued, adding he felt the weight of his role especially during his duet of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” with co-star Beyoncé.
“Tackling it was really just trying to make the song feel as emotional as it was before,” he said.
“The Lion King: The Gift” will be released on July 19 when the movie hits the screen.
According to movie projections, this new adaption of “The Lion King” is expected to bring in a huge opening weekend box office tally.
The film is directed by Jon Favreau and includes some of Elton John’s songs from the original movie.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.