LOS ANGELES, May 24 — The track appears on the Aladdin soundtrack, which was released yesterday, ahead of the release of Guy Ritchie’s live-action movie.
Friend like Me was originally performed by late actor Robin Williams, who played the role of Genie in the original 1992 animated film.
The update of the classic song is more rap-influenced, featuring new verses such as “Anything rearrange, even climate can change / You ain’t ever had a friend like me.”
It is sung by Will Smith, with backing vocals by DJ Khaled who shouts his trademark “Another one!”. It also features brief vocal snippets of Robin Williams’ own rendition of the song.
The live-action remake of Aladdin, directed by Guy Ritchie, will arrive in cinemas worldwide on May 24.
Ahead of the release, Will Smith appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon — where he talked about his experience of playing Genie.
“Robin Williams smashed that role, you know. And, when you look at things like that, you’re always trying to find what you would do differently, what you would add to that. I looked at it and the first thing was that I didn’t feel like I wanted to touch it,” he told Fallon.
This isn’t the first time that the actor contributes to a movie soundtrack. In 1999, he recorded Wild Wild West, the theme song for the sci-fi cowboy film of the same name. — AFP-Relaxnews
