Oh yes, villain songs – though they are a fairly new Disney tradition, they tend to be one of the high points of every Disney movie. But I didn’t want to ignore the older ones, so I decided to include “villain themes” too. The only one I didn’t list is “Cinderella” – there is some sort of music playing when Lady Tremaine locks her into the tower, but I wouldn’t call it her theme. Her menacing presence works more over the visuals, over the play with light and shadow, than over the sound. That’s not a bad thing, but let’s have a look how the right music can enhance a villain.

9. Pocahontas: Truthfully, it hurts me to put Pocahontas on this position, because I really, really love “Savages” (original version!). It’s one of my favorite Disney Songs, powerful and memorable. What doesn’t really work is the context. “Savages” is set up as a song in which both sides are in the wrong in some way or another. It shouldn’t be a villain song, but sadly it’s used this way in the movie. And the other, more official villain song “Mine, Mine, Mine” drags the movie even further down. I appreciate the play of words in the song, but there is nothing menacing about a villain, who is prancing around, whining that he wasn’t allowed to play with the cool guys back at home. A villain song can be played for laugh, but I don’t think that the ridiculousness here is intended. Also, I’m confused of John Smith singing during it – is that meant to be a contrast to Ratcliffe, or is it meant to show that he is greedy too, just another variant of greediness?

Fanpop says: Ladyhadfang has an answer to my question: “It really does set up the contrast between Ratcliffe, who just wants...everything in sight (i.e. the gold) and John Smith, who just wants to do the right thing, who wants adventure. (I especially love the part where Pocahontas is listening to him sing, a la Jack and Sally in the graveyard in NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. Okay, I know NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS is...slightly younger than POCAHONTAS, but you get my point)” Nevertheless, “Mine, Mine, Mine” got voted as the worst. “Savages” on the other hand is more popular, and reached the third place. “this is so amazing.it tells a big and sad truth.that's why white men killed indians in reality.because they thought the same things with the lyrics.” (PociandSmith)

8. The Princess and the Frog: “Friends on the Other Side” starts out very well. Again, I appreciate the word plays in the text, and the tune has a chilling note to it. But what kills it is the last quarter – “transformation center, transformation center” – yeah, yeah, I heard it, are you ready yet? And it really doesn’t help that the masks are more impressive than Facilier – that makes him look weak in comparison, hence less menacing than he should be.

Fanpop says: This is one of those middle songs which fly mostly under the radar, neither particular liked or disliked.

7. Aladdin: The “Prince Ali” Reprise is simply too short, and offers nothing more than the villain gloating a little bit. Under normal circumstances I would have put it lower if not for one thing: The contrast between Jafar and Genie singing this song works very well. It underlines that Jafar has made Genie’s power his own, a truly terrifying prospect.

Fanpop says: Third worst, apparently it’s too short to leave much of an impact.

6. Beauty and the Beast: Three villain songs are a little bit much for one movie, but in this case they are necessary, to show the decent of Gaston from a more or less normal man to some sort of bloodthirsty beast. Not that he was ever a truly decent human being. As the song “Gaston” shows, he is and arrogant egoist, with a penchant for brutality. But at this point he is nothing more than a jerk. In the “Reprise” he makes the transition to someone, who is ready to do something truly despicable, something which can't explained away by ignorance. The “Mob Song” is the point at which he truly becomes the villain, when he convinces the villagers to “kill the beast!”. The way the darkness of the situation is mirrored by the dark tune of the song makes it nearly perfect. There is only one point of critic (yeah, I'm nitpicking again, but otherwise, I would never manage to get a proper ranking): It has no relation to “Gaston” over the melody, making the connection between those songs less obvious than it should be.


Fanpop says: The voting for “Gaston” was all over the place. Second worst, but also a lot of best votes. “I love this song- the melody is great and the lyrics are hillarious!” (Maria7Potter) Guess it depends on of you appreciate a Villain Song which is more on the funny side or not. The “Mob Song” stuck in the middle, but it has its fans.“IT HAS RICHARD WHITE SINGING. No more argument is needed, it makes it the best villain song. And as I said, it might be my favorite Disney song. It is that good <3” (JonnaSe). Some people seem to dislike both, “Gaston” and the “Mob song”

5. Mulan: No, there is no villain song in the movie. And that’s a good thing, because a singing Shan Yu would have been - odd. But there is a theme which is connected to him, a truly menacing theme which can be heard most prominently during “Attack at the Wall”, but turns up more or less every time when the Huns are one the screen.
The piece just screams “dark and dangerous”.

Fanpop says: Nothing – I didn’t put the scores up to vote.

4. Snow White: “The Queens’s theme” is okay. It’s dark enough, but not the most memorable I can imagine. What put Snow White on this position is the second theme “Magic Mirror” which gets played every time the Queen is questioning the mirror. That one truly chills me to the bone – while I was hearing through the soundtracks for this article, I went downstairs to fetch something and got distracted. But the computer was still on auto play, and when I came back, not bothering to turn on the light for the stairs, this theme was playing. It nearly made me turn around again, because it caused such a dangerous atmosphere.

Fanpop says: Again, nothing.

3. Tangled: Imho “Mother knows best” is a much underappreciated song. To me, it’s fear inducing because it hits so close to home. Mother Gothel doesn’t seem to have any powers, but that makes her much more realistic than other Disney Villains. And isn’t the way she warns about the dangers out there were similar to what our own mothers tell us? If she wouldn’t touch Rapunzel’s hair the whole time, we would be inclined to believe that she has good intentions. The Reprise demonstrates the darker site of this kind of well-meaning (or not so well-meaning) manipulation, a kind of danger we know from our everyday life. I also appreciate the double meaning in it. Take away the context and it sounds like Mother Gothel sings about Rapunzel’s virginity, which is pretty bold for a Disney movie.


Fanpop says: “this song is boring and it doesn't suit a villain.It doesn't give that evil vibe” (irmafan) But it was also voted as second best.

2. The Little Mermaid: The decision between place two and three was not an easy one, not at all. A lot of people might disagree, but I see “Mother knows best” and “Poor unfortunate Souls” on the same level, the former is even superior in the regard that the main song and the reprise contrasting well with each other and show a true development, while and the somewhat Reprise to the latter“ Vanessa’s Song” is more whimsical. And really, if it were up to me alone, I would have put it one place lower, since “Mother knows best” also works well out of context, while “Poor unfortunate Souls” does not. But I taking the voting into account, and considering that I’m a sucker for good organ music, I stuck to the popular opinion this time around.



Fanpop says: Well, this was voted as the best, but strangely, nobody seemed passionate enough about it to really comment on it.

1. Sleeping Beauty: Maleficent is one of the most impressive Disney Villains, and the score which underlines her appearances is one of the reasons for her success. But the most chilling moment is when she puts Aurora in trance, to the tune of “Maleficent’s Evil Spell”. Until this day I can’t really tell if the instruments seem to sing “Aurora”, or if there is an actual singer, but either way, the calling sound so unearthly, it gets to me every time I hear it. The unusual tune, the way the music crescents until Maleficent reveals Aurora’s limb body, is the reason I decided to put a score rather than a song on place one this time around.