‘The Emperor’s New Groove’: The Music Of Disney’s Comedy Classic
Featuring Sting, Eartha Kitt, Tom Jones, and more, it’s a star-studded soundtrack that still shines.
Since hitting cinemas in 2000, Disney’s The Emperor’s New Groove has become a cult classic. The movie’s blend of sharp comedy, wacky slapstick, and arch metafiction set it apart from the studio’s previous decade of animated adventure epics, from 1989’s The Little Mermaid to 1999’s Tarzan. Add a couple of much-loved songs written specially for the movie by Sting, and you’ve got a Disney classic with a difference. But the movie could have turned out very differently.
Production began in 1994, with director Roger Allers — hot off the back of the phenomenal success of that year’s The Lion King — tasked by the studio with creating a story that explored the culture of the ancient Incas. Allers and his team developed Kingdom Of The Sun using elements of the Incan creation myth, Mark Twain’s 1881 novel The Prince And The Pauper and The Prisoner Of Zenda, the 1894 novel by Anthony Hope, and visited Machu Picchu, Peru, to study Incan artifacts and architecture.
Looking to the success of Elton John’s songs for The Lion King, Disney approached Sting to write original material for Kingdom Of The Sun. It was a no-brainer for the former frontman of The Police, as he explained to the Daily Record in 2000, “I’ve grown up with Disney — films such as The Jungle Book, Pinocchio, and Sleeping Beauty — and I thought, OK, if you’re going to have a legacy into the future, what better way than to write for one of these films that people are going to watch in 30 years’ time. And I have six children. I thought my stock would rise if they saw their dad doing a Disney film.”
As well as an opportunity to impress his kids, the project presented Sting with a challenge as a songwriter and an opportunity to break out of his comfort zone. “I leapt at the idea of writing for Disney characters. Writing funny songs, sad songs, love songs… songs that have nothing to do with my life.” Sting and collaborator David Hartley set to work writing songs based on the snippets of plot information given to them by the production team.
Sting and Hartley ended up writing six songs for Kingdom Of The Sun. Among them, “Snuff Out The Light” was a highlight — a sultry, Latin-flavored dance number sung by Eartha Kitt as Yzma, the villain of the film, detailing her determination to do whatever it takes to keep her youthful looks. Elsewhere, the jaunty earworm “Walk The Llama Llama” — originally intended to introduce the movie’s hero, humble villager Pacha, and underline the importance of the llama to the Incans — was performed with gusto by country favorites Rascal Flatts. Meanwhile, the sophisticated pop of “One Day She’ll Love Me,” a duet sung by Sting and Shawn Colvin, was intended to soundtrack the burgeoning relationship between Pacha and the emperor’s partner, Nina.
Despite the strength of the songs, Kingdom Of The Sun underwent a radical shift in direction following a screening of a work-in-progress version for executive producers Thomas Schumacher and Peter Schneider. “I remember people saying there’s too many elements in the movie,” story supervisor Steve Anderson told Vulture. “It was The Prince And The Pauper. It was also the transformation of somebody into a llama. It was Yzma, who wants to raise the dead, snuff out the light, and have a world of darkness, but she also wants eternal youth and beauty. So it’s like, OK, but which one does she want?” Mark Dindal replaced Allers as director, and the original idea for Kingdom Of The Sun drastically changed. The project would now be a zany and irreverent buddy movie called The Emperor’s New Groove, focusing on a spoiled emperor being turned into a llama.
That meant that Sting and Hartley needed to come up with two new songs for The Emperor’s New Groove. The rambunctious Latin hip-shaker “Perfect World” sets the scene perfectly, introducing us to Emperor Kuzco with a witty lyric from the perspective of the emperor’s personal singer, which heaps praise upon the ruler (“He’s the sovereign lord of the nation, he’s the hippest dude in creation”). Though Disney wanted Sting to sing “Perfect World,” he felt it should be sung by a younger artist. When it was decided that the emperor’s singer would be a Vegas-style lounge lizard, the production team hit upon the idea of using Tom Jones, who belts out the song with his customary vim and vigor, despite being 11 years Sting’s senior. Over the course of the accompanying sequence, it becomes apparent that Kuzco is absurdly indulged and ruling with fear, suggesting that Jones’ character is a decidedly unreliable narrator. A reprise toward the end of the film changes the lyric to underline the importance of friendship, emphasizing the lessons learned by Kuzco along the way.
Sting and Hartley also contributed “My Funny Friend And Me,” which played over the film’s credits and earned the songwriting duo an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song at the 73rd Academy Awards in 2001 (they lost out to Bob Dylan’s “Things Have Changed” from Wonder Boys). The moving ballad is sung by Kuzco to Pacha, describing the way that their unlikely friendship has changed him. The lyric, “The world is not my playground, there are other things that matter,” reflects that journey and complements the film’s ending, in which Kuzco decides not to go ahead with his plan to destroy Pacha’s village to build a theme park.
In the end, The Emperor’s New Groove was a hilarious and lovable classic that has a special place in the hearts of Disney fans. And there was a happy ending for the songs Sting worked on for Kingdom Of The Sun, as they went on to appear on The Emperor’s New Groove soundtrack album — so now you too can “Walk The Llama Llama.”
