Something There (Beauty And the Beast) Lyrics — Disney: 60 Years of Musical Magic

Song Overview

Review and Highlights

Quick summary

1. Mid-film montage number where Belle and the Beast admit, quietly, that the story has shifted.
2. Written fast as a replacement for the longer cut sequence "Human Again", so the romance would feel earned.
3. Built as voiceover soliloquy, with the castle staff commenting from inside the scene.
4. On the 1991 soundtrack it appears as Track 7, and later reissues reposition what follows it in-film.
5. The 2017 film keeps the tender shape, but changes the texture of the montage and adds a more naturalistic tone.

Beauty and the Beast (1991) - animated film - not. Montage at the castle: snow play, reading, learning manners, and the slow un-knotting of fear into curiosity. Why it matters: this is the hinge that turns a fairy-tale premise into a relationship the audience can believe, beat by beat, without a big declaration.

What makes this number work is its restraint. Menken and Ashman write it like a whispered confession you are not supposed to overhear, then let the orchestration do the smiling. The melody is simple enough to feel like thought, not performance, and the scene stays honest by keeping the leads from belting straight at each other. When the supporting voices join in, it plays like the castle itself is eavesdropping and taking notes.

I have always liked how the lyric avoids a neat epiphany. Belle does not rewrite the past, and the Beast does not pretend he has become civilized overnight. They just notice the change in the air, like stepping outside after a storm and realizing the silence has a different color.

Creation History

The song arrived late in production. The creators had a larger sequence called "Human Again", but once it was cut as too expansive for the film at that moment, Ashman and Menken wrote this smaller, more contained replacement at speed. The aim was practical and dramatic: the ballroom romance needed a bridge, and the bridge had to feel earned rather than forced.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

After the wolf attack and the uneasy recovery that follows, Belle and the Beast begin to share ordinary time: a snowball fight, a lesson in dining, a pause by the fire with a book. Each small action is a step away from the bargain that trapped her there and toward a choice she is beginning to make for herself. Meanwhile, the enchanted staff watches the shift with a mix of hope and disbelief, like people who have seen too many false starts to celebrate too early.

Song Meaning

The message is not "love fixes everything". It is "attention changes everything". Belle notices gentleness inside a rough exterior; the Beast notices he can be touched without being feared. The emotional arc moves from suspicion to startled warmth, then to a calm acceptance that the new feeling is real. This is the film saying: the curse is not broken by a grand speech, but by repeated acts of care.

Annotations

"There is something sweet and almost kind."

Lyric excerpt

That "almost" is the honest detail. The lyric refuses to claim the Beast has become a different person. Belle is registering effort, and effort is the point.

"When we touched, she did not shudder at my paw."

Lyric excerpt

This is the Beast measuring intimacy in millimeters. A moment that would be nothing in another romance becomes proof that he can be near someone without being treated as a threat.

"New and a bit alarming."

Lyric excerpt

The line is a small masterstroke: delight arrives with nerves attached. Romance is not framed as destiny, but as a risk that feels oddly worth taking.

Genre and rhythm

It sits in common time with an allegretto pulse, but the real engine is the phrasing: the vocal lines glide over the beat like private thoughts. The style blends Broadway clarity with film-score softness, so even the jokes from the household staff land gently instead of stopping the scene.

Instrumentation

Strings do the heavy lifting, leaning into a warm, lilting bed that suggests a waltz-like tenderness without switching meter. Woodwinds flicker in and out like little nudges of comedy, and the harmony stays friendly, because the conflict here is internal, not external.

Historical touchpoints

In musical-theater terms, this is a classic "we are changing" montage number, the kind that replaces exposition with feeling. According to the Los Angeles Times, the writing advances plot by putting emotion and story points into song with unusual economy, and this track is a prime example of that approach.

Technical Information

1. Artist: Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Jerry Orbach, Angela Lansbury, David Ogden Stiers (1991 cast recording)
2. Featured: Ensemble voices as the castle staff
3. Composer: Alan Menken
4. Producer: Howard Ashman; Alan Menken
5. Release Date: October 22, 1991 (soundtrack album)
6. Genre: Musical theater; film musical ballad-montage
7. Instruments: Orchestra (strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion), mixed vocals
8. Label: Walt Disney Records
9. Mood: Tentative, warming, quietly hopeful
10. Length: 2:19 (soundtrack track listing)
11. Track #: 7 (1991 soundtrack)
12. Language: English
13. Album: Beauty and the Beast: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
14. Music style: Voiceover duet with commentary lines from supporting characters
15. Poetic meter: Accentual with conversational pickups over steady common time

Questions and Answers

Why was this song needed in the story?

Because the romance needed a believable bridge: small shared moments that justify the later ballroom confession.

Is it a duet in the usual sense?

Not exactly. The leads sing like inner monologue while the castle staff comments from within the scene, so it feels observed rather than performed.

What is the main dramatic reveal?

Belle stops seeing only threat, and the Beast stops expecting rejection. The change is mutual, which is why it lands.

How does the montage shape the meaning?

By stacking tiny acts: play, etiquette, reading. Each one is ordinary, and that ordinariness is the miracle.

What is the musical hook, if it is not a big chorus?

The hook is the repeated realization that something has changed. It is a refrain that sounds like someone talking themselves into honesty.

How did the 2017 film treat the number?

It kept the same emotional blueprint but altered details of the montage, including the tone of the dining moment and the outdoor snow sequence.

Where does it sit on the 1991 soundtrack?

Track 7, positioned so it can pivot into the title song sequence.

What key and tempo are commonly cited?

D-flat major and about 108 BPM are frequently noted in reference descriptions and arrangements.

What is a common performance challenge?

Under-singing. The temptation is to treat it like background music, but the scene needs clear diction and active storytelling at a soft volume.

Awards and Chart Positions

This track was not promoted as a standalone commercial single in the early 1990s. The soundtrack campaign focused on the film's title song for radio and awards strategy, while the album itself became a major charting release and an awards juggernaut. According to Grammy.com, the 1991 soundtrack earned an Album of the Year nomination, a rare feat for an animated film soundtrack.

How to Sing Something There

Commonly cited key: D-flat major. Tempo: about 108 BPM. Time signature: common time. Range (combined leads): roughly A-flat 3 to E-flat 5 in reference descriptions, with transpositions common in vocal books and stage practice.

1. Tempo first: Keep the allegretto moving. If it drags, the montage loses sparkle and the scene feels longer than it is.
2. Diction at low volume: Sing it like close-up film acting. Crisp consonants, easy vowels, no extra weight.
3. Breath planning: Because phrases read like thoughts, take quick, quiet breaths between clauses, not only at bar lines.
4. Blend over belting: The number is about realizing, not declaring. Use a forward, mixed tone and save power for later songs.
5. Rhythm and rubato: Allow slight conversational elasticity, but keep the underlying pulse steady so the montage edits still feel musical.
6. Character focus: Belle is curious and cautious; the Beast is surprised and self-conscious. Make those colors audible.
7. Ensemble awareness: When the supporting voices enter, do not compete. Think of them as observers narrating from the room.
8. Pitfalls: Over-sentimentality, scooping into notes, and treating it like background. It is short, so every phrase has a job.

Additional Info

There is a neat bit of craft trivia in the background story: Ashman used a single word as direction in the recording booth, pushing the singer toward a specific vocal color associated with a classic pop-theater phrasing style. It is the kind of shorthand you only get when the writers know exactly what the scene needs and do not have time for long speeches.

The special edition film version changes the neighborhood around this number, placing the reinstated "Human Again" after it before the title-song sequence. That tweak underlines what the creators were chasing in the first place: give the romance one more step on the staircase so the big dance does not arrive too soon.

And the afterlife keeps growing. Teen Vogue and Vanity Fair both treated the 2017 clip as a key proof-of-concept moment for the remake, focusing on how the snow and dining beats were reimagined while the core tenderness stayed intact.

Key Contributors

Sources: Something There (song) - Wikipedia, Beauty and the Beast (1991 soundtrack) - Wikipedia, Grammy.com - Beauty and the Beast: 3 Grammy facts, Vanity Fair - official musical clip coverage (2016), Teen Vogue - Something There duet clip coverage (2017), DisneyMusicVEVO - Something There (audio only), Hal Leonard product listings for Disney Songs for Singers, Beauty and the Beast (2017 soundtrack) - Wikipedia