Throughout recent years, Disney movies have had more hit soundtracks, thanks to songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda. Behind the scenes, Miranda has been busy, busy, busy. Recently, on December 20th, Mufasa: The Lion King was released in theaters and was number one at the box office in the first weekend of 2025. Miranda wrote the soundtrack for Mufasa, and many songs have been recognized online. In recent years, Miranda has written the soundtracks for Disney’s Encanto and Moana and wrote and starred in Disney+’s film version of Hamilton, releasing in 2020. Despite coming off a busy slope, Mufasa’s director, Barry Jenkins, asked Miranda for help on the soundtrack, and being a long-time fan of the franchise, Miranda agreed. Even though Miranda has created lots of creativity for Disney this decade, have we been kind to him in return?
Hamilton’s release appeared to make the musical popular overnight. I heard the soundtrack everywhere, through people singing it and the internet using many songs for trends. With Hamilton’s release, I saw people learn a lot more about Miranda. It seemed like the world didn’t realize how much he’d done, including me.
While writing all of his soundtracks, Miranda has written a motivational book, gained millions of followers on YouTube, and did many TV show cameos in media like Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother, and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
While discovering more and more of Miranda’s work, the world also witnessed much hate towards the composer. Like many celebrities, people found ways to bash Miranda and his work throughout the peak of his success. People disagreed with how Miranda did Hamilton, some even going as far as to say he ruined the musical by putting himself in it. Miranda became a meme on social media through his interviews, press, and acting. I did not realize that Miranda was behind the writing and singing of Moana’s soundtrack, but the hate confused me. I enjoyed the soundtrack before and after I realized it was Lin-Manuel Miranda. Before Mufasa, the release of Moana 2, which was highly anticipated, the world was excited and missed Moana. However, whether you’re a Miranda fan or not, something did not seem right about Moana 2, specifically the soundtrack.
I saw Mufasa and Moana 2 over winter break and Mufasa was arguably better. It would have been hard for Moana 2 to live up to its original movie, but Miranda’s songwriting sure would have helped. Miranda’s soundtracks have a certain style; they are bouncy and fun, with beats and beauty that make you want to sing while tugging on your emotions. Miranda’s soundtracks create a story that ties in with the movies they’re written for. Miranda writes beautifully about history, family, and love, giving it a modern twist.
While Lin-Manuel Miranda should be resting and relaxing, it’s been recently announced that Hamilton will be touring for its 10th anniversary. With that going on, we’ll just have to see what projects Miranda will take on for Disney and the musical world.
