We got a brief listen of Ariana Grande and John Legend’s duet in the most recent trailer for Beauty and the Beast, but Disney have now released the song in its entirety. It’s… well, it’s certainly something.
Pretty much every Disney musical in recent history has had a famous pop act sing a version of one of the songs from the soundtrack for the end credits — Céline Dion and Peabo Bryson famously did the title track for the original Beauty and the Beast — and the upcoming live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast is no exception. But man, Grande and Legend’s take for the new movie is quite disappointing.
The singers themselves aren’t the problem — they were perfectly fine in the version cut for the trailer, and are perfectly fine here. It’s the backing track for the single that’s completely awful. It honestly sounds like the version you’d hear for a knockoff karaoke version of the real backing track.
Or something you’d make on an electronic keyboard for a high school music class. Compared to the sweeping orchestral track heard in the trailer, it’s just terrible.
Thankfully, the version we’ll have in the film itself will probably sound a bit better. Let’s just hope Emma Thompson’s version of the song will come much closer to matching Angela Lansbury’s timeless rendition.