
A Whole New World

"A Whole New World" is a song from Disney's 1992 animated feature film "Aladdin", with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Tim Rice. A duet originally recorded by singers Brad Kane and Lea Salonga in their respective roles as the singing voices of the main characters Aladdin and Jasmine, the ballad serves as both the film's love and theme song. Lyrically, "A Whole New World" describes Aladdin showing the confined princess a life of freedom and the pair's acknowledgment of their love for each other while riding on a magic carpet. The song garnered an Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 65th Academy Awards. "A Whole New World" also won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year at the 36th Annual Grammy Awards, the first and so far only Disney song to win in the category. In the same year, the version sung by Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle was also nominated for Record of the Year. Zayn Malik and Zhavia Ward did their version of the song for the live action version of Aladdin. The music video featuring Zayn Malik and Zhavia Ward was directed by Philip Andelman, photographed by David Devlin and supported the successful release of the 2019 live action feature film "Aladdin" directed by Guy Richie.
Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle version.
A single version of the song was released that same year and was performed by American recording artists Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle. This version is played over the film's end credits and is referred on the soundtrack as ""Aladdin"'s Theme". The version peaked at number one on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 chart on March 6, 1993, replacing Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You", which had spent a then-record 14 weeks at the top of the chart. It went gold and sold 600,000 copies domestically. The track peaked at number 12 in the UK Singles Chart in 1993. The song is the first and so far only song from a Disney animated film to top the US "Billboard" Hot 100. The single version was later included on Belle's studio album "Passion" (1993) and on Bryson's studio album "Through the Fire " (1994).
Critical reception.
Alan Jones from "Music Week" gave the song 5 out of 5. He wrote, "The theme from "Aladdin" is a huge appealing big ballad duet. A melodic tour de force with wide ranging appeal, it is wisely tipped as the Christmas number one." 
Cover versions.
Lea Salonga and Jose Mari Chan version.
In the Philippines, a version of the song performed by Lea Salonga and Jose Mari Chan, both Filipino recording artists, was released as a single through Bell Films (a subsidiary of Universal Records) in 1993, coinciding with the Philippine theatrical release of "Aladdin" on April 30, 1993.