Halle Bailey Makes ‘Part of Your World’ Her Own for Live-Action ‘Little Mermaid’: Listen

Halle Bailey is gearing up to make her Disney debut in the live-action version of The Little Mermaid next month, and ahead of the movie’s official release, fans were treated to her rendition of “Part of Your World” on Wednesday (April 26).

In a new interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, the singer — one-half of sister duo Chloe x Halle — revealed that she tried to keep her version of the track as close to Jodi Benson’s original in the 1989 animated film.

“Every time I hear Jodi Benson sing it, the nostalgia that I get is just amazing and it fills me up with so much joy,” she told the host. “I get goosebumps all over so I was very excited to do my own rendition of this song and try my very best to give the song justice, you know, because it’s an amazing work of art. I took inspiration from the original, really based off of the amazing base that we had of the original already.”

Bailey continued: “Jodi Benson is an iconic singer and she’s just such a lovely person inside and out as well. So when you are redoing a song that’s already great, you just have to really try your best to honor the original, as well as not be afraid to make it your own. So that’s truly what I tried to do.”

Leading up to the release of The Little Mermaid, the 23-year-old revealed that she has had some issues with controlling her nerves before the premiere. “I’m a little bit nervous just because this has been so long in the making. I mean, I auditioned for this film when I was 18, and I turned 23 this year,” she said. “Now that it’s finally here, I’m like, whoa, I can’t believe it. And it’s a very, very big pinch-me moment. I’m so excited. And I just can’t wait for people to see what we did to this film.”

Listen to Bailey’s version of “Part of Your World” in the video below.