"Prince Ali" and Why We're All Music Theorists

Published: June 25, 2019, 4 a.m.

b'Fans are not happy with Will Smith\'s update of the classic Disney song "Prince Ali" in the live-action Aladdin. Their complaint? The new "Prince Ali" is slow, sluggish, and dull. Indeed, the Smith version is 8 BPM (beats per minute) slower than Robin Williams\'s 1992 original\\u2014a subtle musical detail. We dig into the properties of tempo and key to understand why people have such a visceral reaction to a relatively small change and consider whether it suggests that we\\u2014meaning all of us humans, from musicians to amateurs\\u2014are more musically literate than we think.\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices'