One of the ways that Disney has maintained its mastery of animated musicals is that almost all of the showstopping numbers tell a story while revealing more about the characters who sing them. That’s a tradition that includes the great collaborations of Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman, as well as more recent films like Moana. Now, singer Ambie Valdés has taken Lin-Manuel Miranda’s signature tune from Moana and used it to tell a story of her own about a board game!
On her YouTube channel, Valdés posted her take on “How Far I’ll Go,” which replaced and re-purposed most of the lyrics around Deep Sea Adventure, a board game by Oink Games. Instead of Moana’s self-empowered quest to find herself beyond the island and save her people, the story of this revised song follows the outline of Deep Sea Adventure‘s rival underwater explorers. Within the context of the game, the explorers were forced to share a single submarine for budgetary reasons, in addition to sharing precious resources like air. To further illustrate her point, Valdés even holds up the game pieces and the sub during different parts of the song.
It’s a pretty brilliant way to mix Disney with a love of tabletop gaming. Of course, this is far from Valdés’ first song that combines her duel passions. She’s been posting her Disney and board game mash ups for a few years now, while also adding a few popular and classic songs to the mix. We particularly liked her cover of Menken and Ashman’s “Kiss the Girl” from The Little Mermaid; which became “Rip the Card” in this version.
You can find more of Valdés videos here, and we definitely recommend subscribing to her YouTube channel!
What did you think about Valdés’ cover of “How Far I’ll Go”? Let us know what you’re thinking in the comment section below!
Image Credit: Ambie Valdés