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What Is This Song We See Christina Aguilera Singing for Mulan That Is Not ‘Reflection’?

You may have to pay $30 plus a Disney+ subscription fee in order to stream the new, live-action version of Mulan on September 4, but at least you can watch this music video for free. In it, Christina Aguilera, the pop star chosen to cover “Reflection” back when the original came out in 1998, returns to sing a song that is somehow not “Reflection.” Instead, it’s “Loyal Brave True,” the new, “please give us awards for this” song for the live-action remake, written by Jamie Hartman, Harry Gregson-Williams, Rosi Golan and Billy Crabtree, and produced by Jamie Hartman. Not sure why Disney felt the need to bring back Aguilera, and not have, say, a Chinese or Chinese-American pop star cover a song, or what exactly the styling in this video is attempting to accomplish other than to make us wonder if anyone involved has read anything written in the last 22 years about cultural appropriation. But anyway, interesting choices all around. In addition to “Loval Brave True,” Aguilera has also done a new 2020 cover of “Reflection” (now that makes more sense), which will come out alongside the Mulan soundtrack on September 4. That’ll feature the score composed and conducted by Harry Gregson-Williams, as well, which means we can all revel in the epic minor-chord substitution in the orchestral version of “Reflection” you can hear in the trailer (at 1:33 to be specific, when it gets all dark and stormy). We can only hope Xtina also incorporates this advance in musical theory into her 2020 “Reflection” cover as well.

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What Is This Mulan Song We See Christina Aguilera Singing?