Lin Manuel-Miranda Says Writing Songs for ‘Mufasa’ “Raised the Bar” Because ‘The Lion King’ Album Was “All Bangers”

Lin Manuel-Miranda opened up about writing seven songs for Mufasa: The Lion King, the upcoming prequel to the beloved Disney animated classic.

The Grammy-winning artist stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where he discussed his upcoming stint in Broadway’s All In: Comedy About Love, recent concept album Warriors and Mufasa, among other things.

Miranda explained to the late night host that he was writing the concept album and the music for the Disney movie simultaneously, and sometimes, they overlapped.

“Anytime Mufasa started cursing, I was like, ‘That’s the wrong one,'” he said. Actually, honestly, I think working on Mufasa raised the bar for me because I knew was stepping into the world of Lion King. That original album is like an all bangers, no skip album.”

He continued, “It’s only five songs. Everyone forgets that the original movie is only five songs. ‘Circle of Life,’ ‘I Just Can’t Wait to Be King,’ ‘Be Prepared,’ Hakuna fricking Matata,’ ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight?’ I went into every song in Mufasa with that energy of, ‘This is a no skips album.'”

The Hamilton creator noted that when he was writing the music for the prequel, he didn’t have to listen to The Lion King album because it’s so ingrained in people’s bloodstream by now. He also noted he was excited to work with LEBO M, the South African producer and composer who worked on the original film.

When asked by Jimmy Fallon if he prefers happier songs to ballads, he pointed out that for Mufasa, he got to write a “for real ballad.”

“All of the Disney characters I’ve written for have been very like empowered heroines who don’t need a man, but I got to write like a ballad,” Miranda said. “And then the other thing was, I remember reading online someone saying, ‘Lin doesn’t write villain songs.’ Like Michael Jordan, I took that personally. I wrote a villain song, and Mads Mikkelson sings it because he’s the big villain in the movie, and he’s terrifying.”

Mufasa: The Lion King hits theaters Dec. 20.