One of the things that makes a Disney animated movie is the music, and often some of the most recognizable songs are from the villains. Songs like Poor Unfortunate Souls, Friends on the Other Side, and Hellfire perfectly encapsulate the motives of the character and help us to figure out who they are.
But not all villains get songs. In fact, it is a relatively new practice, none of the classic villains like Maleficent or the Evil Queen were given music, but now it has become a traditional part of modern Disney musicals being found in mainly the animated musical films during and after the Disney Renaissance.
Except one.
The Emperor's New Groove
The Emperor's New Groove was developed as a more traditional Disney musical with music by Sting, centering around the Incan Empire, similar to the film we would end up seeing. Most characters we would eventually see in the final film were in the original version, including Kuzko, Pancha, and most importantly for this, Yzma.
Now, the basic character of Yzma was the same in this original version, but her motivation for wanting to take over the kingdom was a bit more complicated. She was given an extended backstory where she is given the ultimate goal of preventing herself from aging by blocking out the sun, which she blames for aging, while the moon keeps her young.
This along with many other aspects of the original script were deemed to just not be working and to save the film from being canceled they were removed, unfortunately, that also meant we lost the already written song for Yzma, Snuff Out the Light.
This song is great and should be one of the classic villain songs on the level of Be Prepared and other classics, but it remains mostly forgotten. It was meant to give Yzma her "I Want" song, describing her evil schemes after taking over the kingdom. But with that part of the movie not making it into the final cut, the song had no place in the film.
But, as a result of infighting in the creative team, infighting so complicated I'm not going to get into it here as it deserves its own discussion in the future, Sting was able to get Disney to include it on the Soundtrack for the film sung by the original voice actress for Yzma, Eartha Kitt.
But Disney, despite its lack of inclusion in the final film, has not completely forgotten this song.
At the 2018 event in Walt Disney Studios Park in the Disneyland Paris Resort, This song made its Disney Parks debut as part of the Max Live stage show. This show, unfortunately, was only performed this one day, and it included a mashup of different songs from the film, including Yzma singing Snuff out the Light, which I guess maybe makes this song officially associated to Yzma?
Even though it remains mostly forgotten, Snuff Out the Light remains one of the best songs ever cut out of a Disney movie, and we should be thankful that we have a full professional recording of it as it allows us some idea of what it would have been like in the movie.
Should they have found a way to keep this song in the movie? Let us know in the comments and consider subscribing to our email newsletter for more content like this! This is the first article in our new Disney Secrets series focusing in on secrets from Disney movies as opposed to the Disney Parks. Thanks for reading.
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