"I Want" song


The "I Want" song is a popular type of song featured in musical theatre, and has become a particularly popular term through its use to describe a series of songs featured in 1990s Disney animated features that had the main character singing about how they are unsatisfied with their current life, and what they are searching for. The term I Want' song" is believed to have been coined by Lehman Engel.

Purpose

Composer Stephen Schwartz explains the concept in regard to the 1995 Disney film Pocahontas:

Placement within a musical

Musical 101 explains: "The Main "I Want" Song comes early in the first act, with one or more of the main characters singing about the key motivating desire that will propel everyone through the remainder of the show. It is often followed by a reprise.
In many cases, these songs literally include the words "I want", "I wish" or "I've got to". Classic examples include My Fair Ladys "Wouldn't It Be Loverly", Carnivals "Mira", The Sound of Musics "I Have Confidence", Wicked "The Wizard and I", The Book of Mormon "You and Me ", Hamilton "My Shot", and The Producers "King of Broadway".
Bob Fosse said there were only three types of show songs from a director's point of view: "I Am" songs – a song that explains a character/situation, "I Want" songs – desire and motivations, and New songs – A song that doesn't fit the other categories.

Beyond a musical

Schwartz also notes "I Want" songs are usually those which have a life beyond the music they were featured in:

Historical composition

Schwartz has also written "I Want" songs for live action musicals, including "Corner of the Sky" for Pippin and "The Wizard and I" for Wicked.

Disney

has a long tradition of "I Want" songs in Disney animated musicals going back to the Disney Renaissance era. The term has retroactively been used to describe older "I Want" songs. In a top ten list of Disney, The Daily Dot ranked Robin Hoods "Not in Nottingham" as the best "I Want" song. The site also noted that these could be sung by antagonists, ranking The Hunchback of Notre Dames "Hellfire" at number 5. FanPop listed "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid as the best song of this type. The WFPL article Great 'I Want' Moments in Musicals listed "Belle", "Somewhere That's Green", "Wouldn't It Be Loverly", "Lonely Room", "Corner of the Sky", and "Part of Your World".