The song takes place during Ariel's second day as human. Ariel and Eric are in a boat and Sebastian tries to set a romantic mood in order to inspire Eric to kiss Ariel.
Lyrics
The lyrics of the song are written in 6 stanzas of 7 verses each, each stanza closing with the refrain sung as a slight variation of expressing the expectation of what happens when "You kiss the girl". The variations of the single verse refrain start with "You wanna kiss the girl", going through slight variations in each stanza until the closing stanza which sings the refrain as "You gotta kiss the girl". The song closes with an outro which repeats each version of the refrain one after the other.[1] The song's lyrics express the expectations of a boyfriend about to bestow a first kiss to his romantic interest.[2] For the 2023 live-action film, some of the lyrics were updated in response to viewers who have gotten "sensitive about the idea that [Prince Eric] would, in any way, force himself on [Ariel]."[3]
When The Little Mermaid was re-released in cinemas, Peter André recorded a version of the song, which reached #9 on the UK Singles Chart.
Music video
The video shows Andre performing the song in a recording studio. Scenes from the film are intercut with the video or shown on a backdrop behind Andre and the backing singers. There are slight references to water and the undersea world in the video. As Andre performs a beautiful girl comes in carrying water. Andre sees her and is immediately taken with her. He helps her clean up the water as she spills it and follows her into the next room where they gaze at each other through a fishtank. Andre tries to kiss the girl but she backs away. He follows her again as she goes outside and they kiss.
In 2006, when The Little Mermaid was re-released on DVD as a 2-Disc Platinum Edition, another rendition of the song was recorded by Ashley Tisdale. It was included on the Special Edition re-release of the film's soundtrack.[6] It was later included on DisneyMania 5.[7]
Music video
The music video, released on September 6, 2006, consists of a girl at a school dance. As she hangs out with her friends, she notices a boy repeatedly glancing at her. The boy's friend encourages him to talk to Tisdale, but every time he gets close, she goes somewhere else. The video ends with Tisdale asking him to dance, and then at the end she kisses him on the cheek. Tooth Tunes included the song in one of their products.[8] The music video is included as a bonus feature on the 2006 Platinum Edition release of the film.[9]
Charts
In the first week of April 2007, Tisdale's version of "Kiss the Girl" debuted on the Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles at #16. One week later, the song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at #81.
Suburban Legends covered the song on their Disney covers EP, Dreams Aren't Real, But These Songs Are, Vol. 1, in 2013. The band regularly performs the song on tour and at Disneyland's Tomorrowland Terrace.
Disney - Koe no oujisama
The 2012 album Disney - Koe no Oujisama Vol.2, which features various Japanese voice actors covering Disney songs, contains a version of this song covered by Hiro Shimono.
The members of Vocal Point including the three vocalists; Zack Dalley, Carson Trautman, & Nathan Moser, covered the song for the 2022 album Magic: Disney Through Time.
References
^"Kiss the Girl" lyrics. Lyrics on demand. Retrieved 2.22.2022. [1]
^"Kiss the Girl" lyrics. Lyrics on demand. Retrieved 2.22.2022. [2]
