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The cult classic film The Warriors is getting a new interpretation from Lin-Manuel Miranda, featuring Lauryn Hill among others.
For many, The Warriors is a beloved film from the late 1970s that has been celebrated since its release. A new album reimagining the original story from award-winning playwrights Lin-Manuel Miranda and Elsa Davis is set to be released on October 18, and it features Grammy Award-winner Lauryn Hill playing the role of Cyrus, and the titular street gang from Coney Island played by notable actresses Kenita Miller, Sasha Hutchings, Phillipa Soo, Aneesa Folds, Amber Gray, Gizel Jiménez, Jasmine Cephas Jones and Julia Harriman.
Lauryn Hill’s addition to the album already rounds out the highly-impressive cast on the project. “We just had to have her, you know what I mean? There was no plan B, whatsoever,” Davis said of reaching out to the singer. The album also features Nas (who’s an executive producer), Ghostface and The RZA, Busta Rhymes, Cam’ron, Chris Rivers, and reggae artist Shenseea, along with actors Colman Domingo and Billy Porter. Original cast members James Remar and David Patrick Kelly also appear on the project. “Eisa and I crafted our letter with care and just stayed in touch with her manager over the course of the year, never having a plan B, texting back and forth until one day we had a Dropbox file with all of these harmonies,” Miranda said.
For the Hamilton actor and producer and Davis, an Obie Award winner her performance in Passing Strange, the Warriors being portrayed by all women isn’t just a mere gender-swap. It’s a choice inspired by the online vitriol that the two observed in Gamergate and tying it to the moment Cyrus is killed by Luther and his gang. “I made that connection and then thought, “Well if the Warriors are women, how does that change the narrative?” At every point, it complicates it in a really compelling way,” Miranda explained. “I think that it’s just so crucial to think about this — it’s a group of women that no one believes. Everyone is accusing you falsely, as Lin is saying, and what is it that you do? What is it that you try?” Davis stated.
The two did say there are no plans to turn this version into a feature film. The Warriors concept album is out October 18.
Tony Award-winning composer Lin-Manuel Miranda and Pulitzer Prize finalist Eisa Davis are set to release a new concept album titled WARRIORS, inspired by the cult-classic 1979 film The Warriors and its source novel by Sol Yurick.
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The 26-song project, which will be available everywhere on Oct. 18 via Atlantic Records, follows a fictitious New York City gang from Coney Island to the Bronx and back when they are framed for the murder of a respected gang leader, Cyrus.
“We’ve spent the past three years musicalizing the Warriors’ journey home, from the South Bronx to Coney Island,” the co-writers stated in a joint announcement. “Along the way, we’ve gotten to work with a lot of our favorite artists, and we’ll be announcing their roles on the album in the weeks ahead. We can’t wait to share these songs with you on Oct. 18.”
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The project boasts some serious hip-hop credentials behind the scenes. Grammy Award-winning rapper Nas serves as executive producer, bringing his New York City roots to the table. Meanwhile, Grammy-winning musician Mike Elizondo takes the helm as producer.
While the full cast remains under wraps, the creators tease a “star-studded” lineup of voices to be revealed in the coming weeks.
Lin-Manuel Miranda has already achieved notable Billboard success with projects like Hamilton, The Hamilton Mixtape, and the Encanto soundtrack.
Hamilton‘s cast recording won a Grammy in 2016 for best musical theater album. It became the first-ever Broadway cast recording to be certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America.
The Hamilton Mixtape debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and Encanto‘s soundtrack, featuring the hit “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” dominated the charts, making Miranda Billboard’s Top Hot 100 Songwriter of 2022.
He also contributed to the Moana soundtrack, earning a Grammy and an Oscar nomination for “How Far I’ll Go.”
The project also adds to the diverse body of work of Eisa Davis, who is an award-winning actor, writer, and singer-songwriter known for her work on stage and screen.
Davis was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for her play Bulrusher and wrote and starred in Angela’s Mixtape. She’s also written for television series such as Netflix’s She’s Gotta Have It and FX’s Justified: City Primeval, and she has appeared in numerous theater productions and films.
WARRIORS is out Oct. 18
Lin-Manuel Miranda has already won a slew of impressive accolades, including a Pulitzer Prize, Grammys, Tonys and Emmys and now he can add yet another distinction to his resume: he’s No. 1 on the 2022 year-end Hot 100 Songwriters chart.
The multifaceted talent finishes the year at No. 1 thanks to his work on Disney’s Encanto soundtrack, including its five-week Billboard Hot 100 leader “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” credited to Carolina Gaitan, Mauro Castillo, Adassa, Rhenzy Feliz, Diane Guerrero, Stephanie Beatriz and the Encanto Cast. Miranda is credited as the sole songwriter on the track, helping boost his chart points (as he does not split chart points with multiple writers). During its 20-week run on the chart, “Bruno” earned the distinction as the biggest Disney song of all time, based on Billboard’s Greatest Of All Time methodology.
Explore All of Billboard’s 2022 Year-End Charts
In total, Miranda earned eight songwriting credits on the Hot 100 in the 2022 chart year, all from Encanto, which all contributed to his placement on the year-end ranking. Here’s a look at where each song peaked on the Hot 100—Miranda is the only credited writer on each song:
Peak Position, Artist Billing, TitleNo. 1, Carolina Gaitan, Mauro Castillo, Adassa, Rhenzy Feliz, Diane Guerrero, Stephanie Beatriz & Encanto Cast, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”No. 8, Jessica Darrow, “Surface Pressure”No 20, Stephanie Beatriz, Olga Merediz & Encanto Cast, “The Family Madrigal”No. 27, Diane Guerrero & Stephanie Beatriz, “What Else Can I Do?”No. 36, Sebastian Yatra, “Dos Oruguitas”No. 48, Stephanie Beatriz, “Waiting On A Miracle”No. 71, Stephanie Beatriz, Olga Merediz, John Leguizamo, Adassa, Maluma & Encanto Cast, “All of You”No. 100, Carlos Vives, “Colombia, Mi Encanto”
Billboard’s year-end music recaps represent aggregated metrics for each artist, title, label and music contributor on the weekly charts dated Nov. 20, 2021 through Nov. 12, 2022. The rankings for Luminate-based recaps reflect equivalent album units, airplay, sales or streaming during the weeks that the titles appeared on a respective chart during the tracking year. Any activity registered before or after a title’s chart run isn’t considered in these rankings. That methodology details, and the November-November time period, account for some of the difference between these lists and the calendar-year recaps that are independently compiled by Luminate.
Prior to 2022, Miranda had only landed seven songs on the Hot 100 as a songwriter (he’s billed as an artist on four of them). He first charted in July 2016 with “Love Make The World Go Round” with Jennifer Lopez (No. 72 peak), and then with four songs from Moana soon after: Opetaia Foa’l and Miranda’s “We Know The Way” (No. 93 peak), Alessia Cara’s “How Far I’ll Go” (No. 56), Dwayne Johnson’s “You’re Welcome” (No. 65) and Auli’I Cravalho’s “How Far I’ll Go” (No. 41). After that, he charted with “Almost Like Praying,” featuring Artists for Puerto Rico (No. 20) and “Found / Tonight” with Ben Platt (No. 49)
His work on the Moana songs helped Miranda finish as the No. 28 Hot 100 Songwriter of 2017.
Miranda is also credited as a producer on all eight of his Encanto chart hits. “Colombia, Mi Encanto” was produced by Miranda and Carlos Vives, while the other seven entries were produced by Miranda and Mike Elizondo.
Miranda’s production work enables his finish as the No. 12 Hot 100 Producer of 2022, while Elizondo finishes just behind him at No. 13.
Just below Miranda on the year-end Hot 100 Songwriters ranking, Glass Animals’ Dave Bayley finished at No. 2, thanks to his writing credit on the band’s “Heat Waves.” The song spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in March-April and spent 37 weeks in the top 10 (beginning on Nov. 13, 2021—the beginning of Billboard’s chart year). The song also made history in October when it passed The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” as the longest-charting song in the Hot 100’s 64-year history, with 91 total weeks spent on the chart.
As “Heat Waves” debuted on the Hot 100 in January 2021, Bayley finished 2021 as the No. 8 songwriter of the year.
Plus, Taylor Swift finishes at No. 3 on the Hot 100 Songwriters recap, thanks to a whopping 50 songwriting credits on the Hot 100 during the chart year, which all contributed to her year-end placement. The songs encompass many of the tracks from Red (Taylor’s Version), which she released in November 2021 and her new LP Midnights, which debuted in the next-to-last week of Billboard’s 2022 chart year, helping boost her final totals.
Of the 50 songs helping Swift’s year-end placement, 11 reached the top 10 on the weekly Hot 100 and two hit No. 1: “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” and “Anti-Hero.”
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Rounding out the top 5 of the year-end Hot 100 Songwriters ranking, Harry Styles finishes at No. 4 (thanks to 13 writing credits, including the No. 1, “As It Was”) and Doja Cat close out at No. 5 (eight writing credits).
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