Walt Disney(NEW YORK) — The Walt Disney Signature Collection edition of Disney’s original Aladdin arrives on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray Tuesday, featuring Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle’s award-winning duet “A Whole New World.” It’s still the only song from a Disney animated film ever to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the duo thinks it’s because of the song’s universal concept — and because they were the ones who sang it.
Regina tells ABC Radio she wanted Peabo to duet with her because they’d worked together before.
“We had a musical chemistry prior to ‘A Whole New World,'” says Regina.
“And a musical respect,” Peabo adds.
But Regina declares, “That ‘Whole New World’ concept…that is what really took us over the top. Because when you think about it, a ‘whole new world’ can be ascribed to most…everything…that has made a difference in your life.”
“It’s a song that represents every hope and every promise that you will ever have,” Peabo agrees. “I sang it in South Africa for the first time they allowed black South Africans to enter into the Miss South Africa beauty pageant.”
And because the video has been included on every release of Aladdin since the original, generations of fans continue to fall in love with it.
“A song like ‘A Whole New World’…represents their happy place,” says Peabo. “They’re adults now, but [it] can still make them cry.”
Regina’s still surprised at how enduring the song is, considering how sick she was when they recorded it.
“Believe it or not, I had a fever, like, 102. I had bronchitis!” she laughs. “And…I’m literally in the booth taking medication and trying to sing all at the same time and voila! Look what we have. So I’m really, really amazed.”
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