Raya and the Last Dragon will be joining Disney’s growing catalogue of Black/Brown princess’s later this month. It is an animated film that is not exactly a musical, but debuts a new original song that might get the studio another slot in the Oscars’ Best Original Song category (for next year). The song, performed by R&B artist and six-time Grammy nominee Jhené Aiko, is called “Lead the Way,” and can be heard in the new Raya and the Last Dragon.
On Friday evening both the studio and Aiko previewed a snippet of the song across social media. What we get to learn about “Lead the Way” is that it is an electronic R&B song, though we only get to hear a few vocalizations before the sneak peek returns to the sweeping score composed by James Newton-Howard (News of the World, A Hidden Life).
Aiko is currently up for three 2021 Grammy nominations, with her third solo album Chilombo snagging two nods for album of the year and best progressive R&B album and her John Legend collaboration “Lightning & Thunder” going for best R&B performance.
The rest of the song can be heard in the music video for the track directed by one of the Raya and the Last Dragon directors, Carlos López Estrada, when it’s released next month. The song will also be featured in the end credits and included on the official soundtrack, available digitally on February 26, 2021.
Watch the full preview featuring, “Lead the Way,” below!
