It’s sound check time with one of the soundtrack stars of Disney’s newest animated movie The Princess and the Frog. Ne-Yo’s song “Never I Knew I Needed” is part of the Frog-gy song lineup, and he talks about his song in this Q&A!

Text and images courtesy of Disney

What attracted you to The Princess and the Frog?
What drew me into this project, for starters, was the opportunity to be a part of something I grew up with—Disney. I grew up watching all of the Disney films. Let’s just say that Disney and I have known each other for a very, very, very long time. Also, it was the opportunity to be a part of something as classic as a Disney film. This is a brand new Princess for Disney—the first African-American Princess. So, it just made perfect sense for me to dive in. I was presented with the opportunity, and I jumped at it.

What did you think of The Princess and the Frog when you first heard about it?
When I heard that Disney was going to create their first African-American Princess film, I wasn’t worried…I knew that it was going be done with class. I knew that going into the project, and I just wanted to make sure that my contribution was going to be up to par with what Disney was putting together.

What was your inspiration for the song, “Never Knew I Needed”? How did it come about?
In putting this song together, I saw bits and pieces of the movie to get a better grasp of who the characters were. And from there, they really didn’t give me much more direction than that, other than that it needs to be something that sums up what you feel the essence of this film is—two people, two different walks of life, two different, set paths.

[“Never Knew I Needed”] needed to be Disney, but at the same time, it needed to be contemporary enough for regular, everyday radio. So, I had to make sure that the melodies were sweet, sweet like classic Disney, but at the same time…‘edgy’ enough to grasp the attention of someone who may not be that big a Disney fan—maybe someone who is new to what Disney is. You know, it’s taking the classic Disney fan, and the new Disney fan, and trying to bring them together through this one, very well written, very finely produced song.