Aladdin breakout Naomi Scott says Jasmine’s self-empowerment anthem, “Speechless,” newly created for the live-action re-imagining, is “timely” and “pretty special.”
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“The song is the perfect embodiment of my character. It’s about speaking out against injustice and that they can’t shut you down,” Scott told LRM Online.
“First of all, it’s a timely thing that everyone could relate to. She has Jafar and she’s got her father for different reasons telling her she should just be quiet basically. She goes through this journey to realize her actions do matter and what she says does matter. She’s going speak out against injustice. That song is going to be that focal point. In the movie, she makes that decision.”
The Agrabah princess, confined to the palace by her overprotective father, the Sultan (Navid Negahban), is advised to “keep quiet” by his chief adviser, the vizier Jafar (Marwan Kenzari). But Jasmine yearns to succeed her father as the first-ever female sultan of Agrabah, pushing back against the rigid, thousand-year-old rule prohibiting a female ruler.
“The song is so powerful,” said Scott of Jasmine’s solo, penned by La La Land and The Greatest Showman duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
“It is quite emotional as well. I think it’s very relatable to all young girls and many adults who has been shut down at some point. Your voice matters. It is a great message to tell kids to be speaking out against injustice even if you’re not going to win. Honestly, it’s incredible to have this in the movie. It’s pretty special.”
The song was envisioned by the filmmakers as a means of furthering Jasmine’s fleshed out story arc, unique to the Guy Ritchie-directed remake: unlike her animated counterpart, this Princess Jasmine has loftier and more tangible goals.
“In the first movie we felt like she didn’t have enough of a goal, it was really just to meet a guy,” producer Dan Lin previously told Variety. “And here she wants to do more, she wants to save her world of Agrabah, she wants to play her part in leading her kingdom.”
Starring Will Smith, Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott, Marwan Kenzari, Navid Negahban, Nasim Pedrad, Numan Acar, Billy Magnussen, and Alan Tudyk, Aladdin is now playing.
