Where the Dream Takes You

"Where the Dream Takes You"
singer Mýa on the single cover for "Where the Dream Takes You" seated atop the "A" for "Atlantis".
Promotional single by Mýa
from the album Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Released June 5, 2001
Format CD Single
Recorded 2001
Genre
Length 4:00
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)

"Where the Dream Takes You" is a song by American recording artist Mýa, written by songwriter Diane Warren and composer James Newton Howard to promote Walt Disney Pictures' 41st animated feature film Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001). Produced by Jay Selvester, Robbie Buchanan and Ron Fair, the song was released as the only promotional single from the film's soundtrack on June 5, 2001.

Directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale agreed that Atlantis: The Lost Empire, their third animated Disney project, would not be a musical. However, the studio's marketing department insisted that at least one song be featured during the film's end credits in order to adhere to tradition. Disney hired Mýa to record a pop song for the Atlantis soundtrack because of the studio and singer's shared business relationship with A&M/Interscope Records. A downtempo pop and R&B ballad, "Where the Dream Takes You" is an inspirational song about following one's heart and self-discovery, alluding to the film's central plot about a young adventurer searching for the lost city of Atlantis. Both Warren and Howard collaborated on the song's melody, which borrows from Howard's own orchestral score, while Warren wrote the lyrics.

"Where the Dream Takes You" is the only song from Atlantis: The Lost Empire that features both music and lyrics. Upon release 10 days ahead of the film, the ballad failed to impress music critics, most of whom criticized the ballad for sounding generic and uninspired. Some critics also questioned Disney's decision to have Mýa to record the song, feeling the single would have benefited from a more experienced vocalist. However, the song was nominated for Best Original Song Written Directly for a Film at the World Soundtrack Awards.

Background and writing

Unlike most of Disney's animated releases, Atlantis: The Lost Empire lacks both songs and musical numbers to assist with its storytelling.[1][2][3] After having successfully directed two Disney musicals consecutively, Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale agreed that Atlantis: The Lost Empire, their third animated project for Disney, would not be a musical, nor would it feature any power ballads.[3] However, by the time the film was released in 2001, it had become standard practice for Disney to hire a young artist to record a pop song to include on their films' official soundtrack albums,[4] thus Disney's marketing department insisted that Atlantis: The Lost Empire feature at least one song during its closing credits as a compromise in order to maintain tradition.[3] Earlier that year, the releases of the blockbuster films The Mummy Returns and Pearl Harbor had also been accompanied by pop songs to attract a wider audience, a trend Disney would follow with Atlantis.[5] Chuck Taylor of Billboard believes that Disney recruited R&B singer Mýa because of the studio's professional relationship with the artist's then-record company A&M/Interscope Records.[6] At that time, Mýa had recently collaborated with recording artists Pink, Lil' Kim and Christina Aguilera on "Lady Marmalade" from the Moulin Rouge! soundtrack earlier that year,[7] the latter of whom made her musical debut recording "Reflection", the theme song from Disney's Mulan, in 1998.[8] Rob Burch of The Hollywood News believes that "Where the Dream Takes You" was initially intended to benefit Mýa's career similar to the way in which "Reflection" had benefited Aguilera's.[9]

Songwriter Diane Warren co-wrote "Where the Dream Takes You" with composer James Newton Howard.

"Where the Dream Takes You" was written by songwriter Diane Warren and film composer James Newton Howard.[10] While Howard, who scored the entire film, composed the song's melody, Warren contributed to the song's music while writing its lyrics on her own. On the co-writing process, Howard explained that Warren wrote the lyrics to accompany "a musical theme" he had composed, in addition to making some musical contributions of her own.[11] Therefore, while both Warren and Howard are credited as composers, only Warren retains a lyric writing credit.[12][13] By then already well known for writing several commercially successful pop songs for various artists, Warren had already established herself as a prolific songwriter by the time she wrote "Where the Dream Takes You", which lyrically adheres to a similar songwriting style for which she has become known.[14] Meanwhile, the song's melody is loosely based on a sample of the film's orchestral score itself.[15] Played during the film's end titles,[11] "Where the Dream Takes You" is the only song from the film that features both music and lyrics,[4] although it is not performed by any character within the context of the film itself because Atlantis: The Lost Empire is not a musical.[16][17]

Composition and release

"Where the Dream Takes You" is a "tender" pop power ballad with contemporary R&B, soul and lite rock influences,[18][19][7][20][3] performed in an urban contemporary style.[10] According to the song's official sheet music, published by Walt Disney Music Publishing on Musicnotes.com, "Where the Dream Takes You" is set in signature common time and performed at a moderate tempo of 88 beats per minute in the key of C major.[12] The Disney Song Encyclopedia author Thomas S. Hischak believes that the song's lyrics are "about following your heart to find your true self",[18] which begin "They'll try to hold you back, they will say you're wrong, but they will never understand, no, the journey that you're on."[12] A writer for Barnes & Noble agreed that, thematically, the single "correlates to the film's tale of an inexperienced young adventurer", Milo Thatch,[21] and its diverse cast of supporting characters, all of whom long to follow various dreams of their own as they search for Atlantis.[22] One of its verses reads, "There's something in your soul/That won't be denied/It's the faith to dream that keeps the dream alive/So you still believe and you know you must go",[22] encouraging listeners to follow their dreams despite others' opinions.[17] Lasting a duration of four minutes,[23] AllMusic cites the song's mood as both "earnest" and "mellow";[10] Mýa performs it using a "sweet vocal",[14] which spans two octaves from G3 to D♭5.[12] Based on a melody heard only briefly during the film,[9] "Where the Dream Takes You" encompasses "soft, contemporary beats" combined with the singer's "dulcet tones" that recall music played in a piano lounge, contrasting with the time period in which the film itself is set.[24] Its production, which has been described as "polished",[14] was handled by Jay Selvester, Robbie Buchanan and Ron Fair.[25]

Distinguished from most film soundtracks, Atlantis: The Lost Empire features "Where the Dream Takes You" as its first track instead of its last.[14] A&R/Interscope Records, Mýa's record company at the time, and Walt Disney Records released "Where the Dream Takes You" as the only promotional single from the Atlantis: The Lost Empire soundtrack. It was sent to Top 40 and adult contemporary radio stations on June 5, 2001 to support the film ten days ahead of its June 15 theatrical release date.[7] The single was accompanied by a music video starring Mýa, in which she performs the song interpolated with scenes from the film.[26] "Where the Dream Takes You" appears as the first track on the soundtrack before it is succeeded by Howard's orchestral score, which accounts for the remainder of the album.[27] Puerto Rican singer Chayanne covered the song in Spanish, entitled "Donde Va Tu Sueno", to promote the film's Latin American release.[28] Recorded in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Chayanne co-wrote his rendition's Spanish lyrics with Renato Lopez, Walterio Pesqueira and Manny Benito.[28] The two-disc Taiwanese release of the soundtrack includes three additional versions of "Where the Dream Takes You" performed in three different languages by three different artists: Jolin Tsai in Mandarin, Joey Yong in Cantonese, and Kangta in Korean.[29]

Reception

Ultimately, "Where the Dream Takes You" was both a commercial and critical disappointment despite Disney's efforts;[3] the song has been met with generally negative reviews from music critics, who dismissed it as standard and uninspired.[24][17] Jerry McCulley of Amazon.com described "Where the Dream Takes You" as "a serviceable slice of modern R&B boilerplate".[19] Although AllMusic's Jonathan Widran believed that the song could potentially become a "pop hit", he ultimately dismissed it as "fairly generic Diane Warren-written fare."[4] In Billboard, radio personality Charles Karel Bouley agreed that the song is "average pop fare" while acknowledging its Top 40 potential.[27] Film Score Monthly's Lukas Kendall strongly disliked the ballad, writing, "The less said about ...'Where the Dream Takes You,' the better."[30] James Barry of Soundtrack.net wrote, "If I had to pick something to dislike, it'd be the song 'Where the Dream Takes You'" because "it suffers from sounding like so much other disposable end-credits music."[31] Telenet's Thomas Glorieux opined that the song "fails to even stir up the attention because I find it a very ordinary song."[5]

Critics were also unimpressed by Mýa's performance.[9][24] Calling the singer "a curious choice" for "Where the Dream Takes You", Chuck Taylor, writing for Billboard, criticized Mýa's vocals for failing "to lift the ballad beyond the mundane, while making it more than obvious that her talents are best-suited for uptempo, beat-heavy fare", and felt that the single itself could have potentially benefited from a more powerful, seasoned vocalist.[6] Ranking "Where the Dream Takes You" among Disney's worst songs, Consequence of Sound's Dominick Suzanne-Mayer panned the ballad as "an addendum every bit as forgettable ... as the film in which it appears."[32] "Where the Dream Takes You" was nominated for Best Original Song Written Directly for a Film at the World Soundtrack Awards in 2001.[33]

References

  1. ↑ New Illustrated Treasury of Disney Songs (Songbook). United States: Hal Leonard Corporation. 1998. p. 22. ISBN 9781458489692 – via Google Books.
  2. ↑ "Atlantis". Voices of Hollywood. March 13, 2001. Archived from the original on April 2, 2003. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Ness, Mari (October 20, 2016). "An Expensive Adventure: Atlantis: The Lost Empire". Tor.com. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 Widran, Jonathan (May 22, 2001). "James Newton Howard – Atlantis: The Lost Empire (Soundtrack)". AllMusic. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  5. 1 2 Glorieux, Thomas (2001). "Atlantis: The Lost Empire". Telenet. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  6. 1 2 Taylor, Chuck (July 21, 2001). "Review & Previews". Billboard. p. 22. Retrieved February 7, 2017 – via Google Books.
  7. 1 2 3 "A&M/Interscope Recording Artist Mya Records Where the Dream Takes You for Atlantis: The Lost Empire Soundtrack On Walt Disney Records". The Free Library. May 18, 2001. Retrieved May 24, 2016.
  8. ↑ Willman, Chris (October 11, 1999). "Club Kid". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on January 3, 2015. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
  9. 1 2 3 Burch, Rob (October 18, 2013). "Disney 53: Atlantis: The Lost Empire". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 17, 2017. ... performed by Mýa, a rather odd and lightweight choice.
  10. 1 2 3 "James Newton Howard / Mya – Where the Dream Takes You – Composed by Diane Warren / James Newton Howard". AllMusic. 2001. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  11. 1 2 McCormick, Moira (June 16, 2001). "Howard Explores Mythic Realm of Disney's 'Atlantis'". Billboard. pp. 73–75. Retrieved February 6, 2017 – via Google Books.
  12. 1 2 3 4 "Where the Dream Takes You by Mya - Digital Sheet Music". Musicnotes.com. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  13. ↑ Tracey, Joe (2001). "Atlantis: The Lost Empire Artists". Digital Media FX. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
  14. 1 2 3 4 "Atlantis: The Lost Empire Soundtrack". Urban Cinefile. September 20, 2001. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  15. ↑ "Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)". The Year of Disney Project. March 3, 2015. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  16. ↑ Tracey, Joe (2001). "Atlantis: The Lost Empire FAQ". Digital Media FX. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  17. 1 2 3 Carrieri, Andrew (May 19, 2015). "Movie Review: Atlantis the Lost Empire". The Mouse For Less. Retrieved March 17, 2017.
  18. 1 2 Hischak, Tomas S.; Robinson, Mark A. (2009). The Disney Song Encyclopedia. United States: Scarecrow Press. p. 225. ISBN 9780810869387 – via Google Books.
  19. 1 2 McCulley, Jerry (2001). "Atlantis: the Lost Empire Enhanced, Soundtrack". Amazon.com. Archived from the original on 2017-02-06. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  20. ↑ "Mýa* – Where The Dream Takes You". Discogs. 2001. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  21. ↑ "Atlantis: The Lost Empire (Soundtrack)". Barnes & Noble. 2001. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  22. 1 2 Sparks, Daisy (August 10, 2015). "Music Mondays: Where the Dream Takes You (Atlantis)". DisneyDaze. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  23. ↑ "Atlantis: The Lost Empire (Original Soundtrack) – James Newton Howard". iTunes. May 22, 2001. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  24. 1 2 3 "Atlantis: The Lost Empire – animated film review". MySF Reviews. March 6, 2015. Retrieved March 17, 2017.
  25. ↑ "James Newton Howard – Atlantis: The Lost Empire (An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack)". Discogs. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  26. ↑ Tracey, Joe (2001). "Atlantis: The Lost Empire Multimedia". Digital Media FX. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
  27. 1 2 Bouley, Charles Karel (June 16, 2001). "Soundtracks and Film Score News". Billboard. Retrieved February 6, 2017 – via Google Books.
  28. 1 2 "Latin Music 6-Pack – Dreamer Chayanne". Billboard. July 16, 2001 – via February 7, 2017.
  29. ↑ "Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)". SoundtrackCollector. 2001. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  30. ↑ Kendall, Lukas (2001). Film Score Monthly, Volume 6. United States: Lukas Kendall. p. 32 – via Google Books.
  31. ↑ Barry, James (June 21, 2004). "-The Lost Empire". Soundtrack.net. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  32. ↑ Shoemaker, Allison; Suzanne-Mayer, Dominick (November 29, 2016). "Ranking: Every Disney Song From Worst to Best". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  33. ↑ "Belgian Film Fest To Host World Soundtrack Awards". Billboard. September 5, 2001. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
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