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"I Want" Song: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:belle_hope_song_2427.jpg|link=Beauty and The Beast (Disney)|
{{quote|''I want it all<br />
''I want it all<br />
''I want it all<br />
''And I want it'' '''NOW'''|'''[[Queen]]'''}}
In most American musicals, the hero is a little guy (or girl) who doesn't amount to much right now, but dreams of a brighter future. Usually, they do this with an [["I Want" Song]], where they sing of how this little town is too small and they know there's a great big world out there for them. This is always so the audience can identify with them. Because the hero, [[This Loser Is You|just like you]], isn't a movie star or a princess or anybody else officially special, but is really special deep down if they try, and (unlike those conformist drones around you) wants to try. The lyric to the song may well include the actual words "I want" or some variant thereof to hammer the point home.
If well written, the [["I Want" Song]] can do an excellent job of establishing the character of the protagonist and their one burning desire that will motivate their actions from here on. (This motivation is particularly important given that they will often be asked to make difficult choices and sacrifices in order to achieve their goal, and their response to those choices will become a mark of their moral development.)
If written badly, however, the lyrics may convey only the vaguest sense of longing that allows nearly anyone in the audience to associate with the hero by proxy, but doesn't establish enough to motivate the plot. This gets even worse if the hero doesn't actually do anything to achieve their dreams, but happens to stumble into something big later. A lot of writers realize this, because the I Want Song is the single biggest target for a [[Dark Reprise]]. If there isn't a song specifically for the most unhappy part of the hero's life (usually halfway through Act II), it will be a [[Dark Reprise]] of their earlier song. Alternatively, if / when they achieve their goal, they may sing a triumphant reprise of their I Want song upon doing so at the very end of the story.
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== Anime and Manga ==
* "Koi wa Nandarou?" in ''[[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch]]'' is an [["I Want" Song]] that's also [[Magic Music]]. It's slightly more upbeat and energetic, though. Actually, a lot more.
== Films -- Animation ==
* The [[Disney Animated Canon]], being mostly musicals, has many examples (nearly always sung by the [[
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j6HI_dno_U "I'm Wishing"] from ''[[Snow White and The Seven Dwarves (Disney)|Snow White and The Seven Dwarves]]''.
*** And its [[Affectionate Parody]], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vr8wU4aUsM "True Love's Kiss"], in ''[[Enchanted]]''.
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjIssqHQJ6o "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes"], from ''[[Cinderella (Disney)|Cinderella]]''.
*** There's also [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAsHtz_mb1g "More Than A Dream"] from ''[[Cinderella (Disney)|Cinderella]] III: A Twist in Time''. Inverted with the [[Tear Jerker]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q27LQFVAuEk reprise], where Cinderella resigns herself to the fact that her dreams might never come true after all.
*** Also, Cinderella's step-sister Anastasia gets her own [["I Want" Song]] at the end of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jxhP75mHq4 Perfectly Perfect] where she hopes to someday find someone who will love her.
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtP60NmDKqc "In a World Of My Own"], from ''[[Alice in Wonderland (Disney)|Alice in Wonderland]]'' (becomes a case of [[Be Careful What You Wish For]]).
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLn9IMNPxG4 "I Wonder"], from ''[[Sleeping Beauty (Disney)|Sleeping Beauty]]''.
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGoXtSw0Ias "Part of Your World"] from ''[[The Little Mermaid]]''. However, the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgA2xo0HYrE reprise] is arguably the most famous scene in the entire movie.
*** The Broadway musical added an [["I Want" Song]] for Prince Eric ("Her Voice") as well.
*** "I Want the Good Times Back" from [[The Little Mermaid]]'s Broadway adaptation is both an [["I Want" Song]] and a [[Villain Song]].
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeDPySP4nIw "Belle (Reprise)"] from ''[[Beauty and The Beast (Disney)|Beauty and The Beast]]''.
*** Again, the Broadway musical added an [["I Want" Song]] for the male lead ("If I Can't Love Her").
*** Also in the musical version and later added into the special edition DVD is a rare "mass I Want Song", where all the enchanted objects sing about being [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MetM68Lr9U8 "Human Again"].
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv1HX80u5x4 "Jack's Lament"] in ''[[The Nightmare Before Christmas]]'' is more or less one of these. Jack is famous and adored in his role as the Pumpkin King, but craves fresh change and meaningful inspiration. The song's less upbeat and more sorrowing than the standard. Some of Jack's later songs also fit.
*** Especially "What's This" which even climaxes with the line "I want it! Oh ,I want it! Oh, I want it for my own!"
** Possibly deconstructed in ''[[The Lion King]]'' with [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXs8OS6EdAE "I Just Can't Wait To Be King"], which is an [["I Want" Song]] whose narrative purpose is to paint the singer as an immature egotist. (And to ironically contrast with his refusal to reign when he actually should.) The in-story purpose is so that Simba and Nala can dump their babysitter. Catchy, though.
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DE5a80I8EU "Just Around the River Bend"] from ''[[Pocahontas]]'', possibly the example on this page with the vaguest "I Want" lyrics of all -- it basically boils down to "I want something, but I have no idea what that is. But I'm sure I want it."
*** Actually, the song is about just that - she wants that feeling of not knowing what's coming. She doesn't know what she wants, she just knows she wants it to come, and she wants it to be a surprise, unexpected, something to discover. If she knew what she wanted, she might as well {{spoiler|marry Kocoum}} and be done.
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** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEOFQAJAcss "Out There"] from ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]''.
*** Also [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iECANaKSWUA "God Help the Outcasts"], except with pathos instead of excitement.
*** Not to mention what may be the darkest [["I Want" Song]] ever sung in a [[What Do You Mean
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5jDlLJPz1A "Go The Distance"] from ''[[Hercules (Disney)|Hercules]]''.
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiLOVazwnWM "Reflection"] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm3ijOVsraA "A Girl Worth Fighting For"] from ''[[Mulan]]''.
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** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DfTzlHte3U "I'm Still Here (Jim's Theme)"] and from ''[[Treasure Planet]]''. It was made by John Reznick of The Goo Goo Dolls.
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljdAYTH5QSY "Almost There"] from ''[[The Princess and The Frog]]'' could be considered a subversion, in that Tiana is singing not that she wants something, but rather that she's close to getting it because she's worked hard to earn it.
*** The movie also has a straight [["I Want" Song]] in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH_XAcsZ6JI "When We're Human"] (hmm, sounds suspiciously like the Beauty and the Beast I Want Song)...which then ''also'' gets subverted when Tiana rolls her eyes at it all and spends ''her'' verse on how she's actually going to ''work'' to get she wants ("When I'm a human being/At least I'll ''act'' like one...")
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYFPlyWUXIM&feature=related "When Will My Life Begin?"] from ''[[Tangled]]''. Rapunzel sings about how she longs to see the world beyond her tower.
*** Also, "I've Got A Dream" is another [[Crowd Song|Crowd Want Song]]. The thugs at the Snuggly Duckling sing about all the very non-violent dreams they have.
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