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“Unfortunately, I think ‘No bad person should ever benefit from our success’ is a pretty difficult principle to run a business on,” wrote Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei in a note to staff obtained by WIRED.

We don’t know much about the new Trump Mobile phone or the company’s data plan, but we sure do have a lot of questions.

Les équipes du studio d’animation Fortiche dévoilent le clip de la chanson Ma Meilleure Ennemie. Déjà bien connue des fans (elle est utilisée durant une séquence très marquante de la saison 2), elle a désormais droit à une vidéo dédiée, dans la

Meet Martha Swope, the Legendary Broadway Photographer Who Captured Iconic Moments From Hundreds of Productions and Rehearsals She spent nearly 40 years taking theater and dance pictures, providing glimpses behind the scenes and creating images that the public couldn’t otherwise access Stephanie Rudig - Freelance Writer June 11, 2025 Photographer Martha Swope sitting on a floor covered with prints of her photos in 1987 Andrea Legge / © NYPL Martha Swope wanted to be a dancer. She moved from her home state of Texas to New York to attend the School of American Ballet, hoping to start a career in dance. Swope also happened to be an amateur photographer. So, in 1957, a fellow classmate invited her to bring her camera and document rehearsals for a little theater show he was working on. The classmate was director and choreographer Jerome Robbins, and the show was West Side Story. One of those rehearsal shots ended up in Life magazine, and Swope quickly started getting professional bookings. It’s notoriously tough to make it on Broadway, but through photography, Swope carved out a career capturing theater and dance. Over the course of nearly four decades, she photographed hundreds more rehearsals, productions and promotional studio shots. Unidentified male chorus members dancing during rehearsals for musical West Side Story in 1957 Martha Swope / © NYPL At a time when live performances were not often or easily captured, Swope’s photographs caught the animated moments and distilled the essence of a show into a single image: André De Shields clad in a jumpsuit as the title character in The Wiz, Patti LuPone with her arms raised overhead in Evita, the cast of Cats leaping in feline formations, a close-up of a forlorn Sheryl Lee Ralph in Dreamgirls and the row of dancers obscuring their faces with their headshots in A Chorus Line were all captured by Swope’s camera. She was also the house photographer for the New York City Ballet and the Martha Graham Dance Company and photographed other major dance companies such as the Ailey School. Her vision of the stage became fairly ubiquitous, with Playbill reporting that in the late 1970s, two-thirds of Broadway productions were photographed by Swope, meaning her work dominated theater and dance coverage. Carol Rosegg was early in her photography career when she heard that Swope was looking for an assistant. “I didn't frankly even know who she was,” Rosegg says. “Then the press agent who told me said, ‘Pick up any New York Times and you’ll find out.’” Swope’s background as a dancer likely equipped her to press the shutter at the exact right moment to capture movement, and to know when everyone on stage was precisely posed. She taught herself photography and early on used a Brownie camera, a simple box model made by Kodak. “She was what she described as ‘a dancer with a Brownie,’” says Barbara Stratyner, a historian of the performing arts who curated exhibitions of Swope’s work at the New York Public Library. An ensemble of dancers in rehearsal for the stage production Cats in 1982 Martha Swope / © NYPL “Dance was her first love,” Rosegg says. “She knew everything about dance. She would never use a photo of a dancer whose foot was wrong; the feet had to be perfect.” According to Rosegg, once the photo subjects knew she was shooting, “the anxiety level came down a little bit.” They knew that they’d look good in the resulting photos, and they likely trusted her intuition as a fellow dancer. Swope moved with the bearing of a dancer and often stood with her feet in ballet’s fourth position while she shot. She continued to take dance classes throughout her life, including at the prestigious Martha Graham School. Stratyner says, “As Graham got older, [Swope] was, I think, the only person who was allowed to photograph rehearsals, because Graham didn’t want rehearsals shown.” Photographic technology and the theater and dance landscapes evolved greatly over the course of Swope’s career. Rosegg points out that at the start of her own career, cameras didn’t even automatically advance the film after each shot. She explains the delicate nature of working with film, saying, “When you were shooting film, you actually had to compose, because you had 35 shots and then you had to change your film.” Swope also worked during a period of changing over from all black-and-white photos to a mixture of black-and-white and color photography. Rosegg notes that simultaneously, Swope would shoot black-and-white, and she herself would shoot color. Looking at Swope’s portfolio is also an examination of increasingly crisp photo production. Advances in photography made shooting in the dark or capturing subjects under blinding stage lights easier, and they allowed for better zooming in from afar. Martha Graham rehearses dancer Takako Asakawa and others in Heretic, a dance work choreographed by Graham, in 1986 Martha Swope / © NYPL It’s much more common nowadays to get a look behind the curtain of theater productions via social media. “The theater photographers of today need to supply so much content,” Rosegg says. “We didn’t have any of that, and getting to go backstage was kind of a big deal.” Photographers coming to document a rehearsal once might have been seen as an intrusion, but now, as Rosegg puts it, “everybody is desperate for you to come, and if you’re not there, they’re shooting it on their iPhone.” Even with exclusive behind-the-scenes access to the hottest tickets in town and the biggest stars of the day, Swope remained unpretentious. She lived and worked in a brownstone with her apartment above her studio, where the film was developed in a closet and the bathroom served as a darkroom. Rosegg recalls that a phone sat in the darkroom so they could be reached while printing, and she would be amazed at the big-name producers and theater glitterati who rang in while she was making prints in an unventilated space. From left to right: Paul Winfield, Ruby Dee, Marsha Jackson and Denzel Washington in the stage production Checkmates in 1988 Martha Swope / © NYPL Swope’s approachability extended to how she chose to preserve her work. She originally sold her body of work to Time Life, and, according to Stratyner, she was unhappy with the way the photos became relatively inaccessible. She took back the rights to her collection and donated it to the New York Public Library, where many photos can be accessed by researchers in person, and the entire array of photos is available online to the public in the Digital Collections. Searching “Martha Swope” yields over 50,000 items from more than 800 productions, featuring a huge variety of figures, from a white-suited John Travolta busting a disco move in Saturday Night Fever to Andrew Lloyd Webber with Nancy Reagan at a performance of Phantom of the Opera. Swope’s extensive career was recognized in 2004 with a special Tony Award, a Tony Honors for Excellence in Theater, which are given intermittently to notable figures in theater who operate outside of traditional awards categories. She also received a lifetime achievement award from the League of Professional Theater Women in 2007. Though she retired in 1994 and died in 2017, her work still reverberates through dance and Broadway history today. For decades, she captured the fleeting moments of theater that would otherwise never be seen by the public. And her passion was clear and straightforward. As she once told an interviewer: “I’m not interested in what’s going on on my side of the camera. I’m interested in what’s happening on the other side.” Get the latest Travel & Culture stories in your inbox.

“I want to make a big announcement,” said Faryar Shirzad, the chief policy officer of Coinbase, to a nearly empty room. His words echoed across the massive hall at the Bitcoin Conference, deep in the caverns of The Venetian Expo in Las Vegas, and it wasn’t apparent how many people were watching on the livestream. Then again, somebody out there may have been interested in the panelists he was interviewing, one of whom was unusual by Bitcoin Conference standards: Chris LaCivita, the political consultant who’d co-chaired Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. “I am super proud to say it on this stage,” Shirzad continued, addressing the dozens of people scattered across 5,000 chairs. “We have just become a major sponsor of the America250 effort.” My jaw dropped. Coinbase, the world’s largest crypto exchange, the owner of 12 percent of the world’s Bitcoin supply, and listed on the S&P 500, was paying for Trump to hold a military parade.No wonder they made the announcement in an empty room. Today was “Code and Country”: an entire day of MAGA-themed panels on the Nakamoto Main Stage, full of Republican legislators, White House officials, and political operatives, all of whom praised Trump as the savior of the crypto world. But Code and Country was part of Industry Day, which was VIP only and closed to General Admission holders — the people with the $199 tickets, who flocked to the conference seeking wisdom from brilliant technologists and fabulously wealthy crypto moguls, who believed that decentralized currency on a blockchain could not be controlled by government authoritarians. They’d have drowned Shirzad in boos if they saw him give money to Donald Trump’s campaign manager, and they would have stormed the Nakamoto stage if they knew the purpose of America250. America250 is a nonprofit established by Congress during Barack Obama’s presidency with a mundane mission: to plan the nationwide festivities for July 4th, 2026, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. “Who remembers the Bicentennial in 1976?” the co-chair, former U.S. Treasurer Rosie Rios, asked the crowd. “I remember it like it was yesterday, and this one is going to be bigger and better.” But then Trump got re-elected, appointed LaCivita as co-chair, and suddenly, the party was starting earlier. The week before the conference, America250 announced that it would host a “Grand Military Parade” on June 14th to celebrate the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday, releasing tickets for prime seats along the parade route and near the Washington Monument on their website, hosting other festivities on the National Mall, and credentialing the press covering the event. (Their celebrations and events are a different operation from the U.S. Army, which had never planned for a parade to celebrate its 250th birthday, much less a military parade, but is now spending up to $45 million in taxpayer dollars to make the parade happen.) According to the most recent statements from Army officials, the parade will include hundreds of cannons, dozens of Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters, fighter jets, bombers, and 150 military vehicles, including Bradley Fighting Vehicles, Stryker Fighting Vehicles, Humvees, and if the logistics work out, 25 (or more) M1 Abrams tanks. Trump had spent years trying to get the government to throw a military parade — primarily because he’d attended a Bastille Day parade in France and became jealous — and now that he was back in office, he’d finally eliminated everyone in the government who previously told him that the budget didn’t exist for such a parade, that the tank treads would ruin the streets and collapse the bridges, that the optics of tanks, guns and soldiers marching down Constitution Avenue were too authoritarian and fascist. June 14th also happens to be Donald Trump’s birthday.And Coinbase, whose CEO once told his employees to stop bringing politics into the workplace, was now footing the bill — if not for this military parade watch party, then for the one inevitably happening next year, when America actually turns 250, or any other festivities between now and then that may or may not fall on Trump’s birthday. (This wasn’t the first party they helped fund, though. Earlier this year, Coinbase wrote a $1 million check to Trump’s inauguration committee. One month later, the SEC announced that it was dropping an investigation into Coinbase.) I had to keep reminding myself that I was at the Bitcoin Conference. I’d been desperately looking for the goofy, degenerate party vibes that my coworkers who’d covered previous crypto conferences told me about: inflated swans with QR codes. Multimillionaires strolling around the Nakamoto Stage in shiba inu pajamas. Folks who communicated in memes and acronyms. Celebrity athletes who were actual celebrities. “Bitcoin yoga,” whatever that was. Afterparties with drugs, lots of drugs, and probably the mind-bending designer kind. And hey, Las Vegas was the global capital of goofy, degenerate partying. But no, I was stuck in a prolonged flashback to every single Republican event I’ve covered over the past ten years – Trump rallies, conservative conferences, GOP conventions, and MAGA fundraisers, with Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” playing on an endless loop. There was an emcee endlessly praising Trump, encouraging the audience to clap for Trump, and reminding everyone about how great it was that Trump spoke at the Conference last year, which all sounds even stranger when said in an Australian accent. In addition to LaCivita, there were four GOP Congressmen, four GOP Senators, one Trump-appointed SEC Commissioner, one Treasury Official, two senior White House officials (including David Sacks, the White House crypto and A.I. czar), and two of Trump’s sons. All of them, too, spent time praising Trump as the first “crypto president.” (Vice President J.D. Vance would be speaking the next day to the general admission crowd, but he was probably going to praise Trump, too.) The titles of the panels seemed to be run through some sort of MAGA generative AI system: The Next Golden Age of America. The American Super Grid. Making America the Global Bitcoin Superpower. The New Declaration of Independence: Bitcoin and the Path Out of the U.S. National Debt Crisis. (Speaker: Vivek Ramaswamy.) Uncancleable: Bitcoin, Rumble & Free Speech Technology. (Speaker: Donald Trump Jr.) The only difference was that this MAGA conference was funded by crypto. And if crypto was paying for a MAGA conference, and they had to play “God Bless the USA,” they were bringing in a string quartet.Annoyed that I had not yet seen a single Shiba Inu — no, Jim Justice’s celebrity bulldog was not the same thing — I left Nakamoto and went back to the press area. It hadn’t turned into Fox News yet, but I could see MAGA’s presence seeping into the world of podcasters and vloggers. A Newsmax reporter (great blowout, jewel-toned sheath dress, heels to the heavens, very camera-ready) was interviewing White House official Bo Hines (clean-cut, former Yale football player and GOP congressional candidate, nice suit), right before he was hustled onstage for a panel with a member of the U.S. Treasury. Soon, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) was doing an interview gauntlet while his senior aides stood by, one wearing a pink plaid blazer that could have easily been Brooks Brothers. Over on the Genesis Stage, the CEO of PragerU, a right wing media company that attacks higher education, was interviewing the CEO of the 1792 Exchange, a right-wing nonprofit that attacks companies for engaging in “woke business practices” such as diversity initiatives. (Leveraging Bitcoin’s Values to Shift the Culture in America.) I walked into the main expo center, past a crypto podcaster in a sequined bomber jacket talking to a Wall Street Journal reporter. For some reason, his presence was a relief. Even though he was clearly a Trump supporter — his jacket said TRUMP: THE GOLDEN AGE on the back — there was something more janky and homegrown, less corporate, about him. But the moment I looked up and saw a massive sign that said STEAKTOSHI, the unease returned. A ghoulish-looking group of executives from Steak ‘n Shake, the fast food company with over 450 locations across the globe, had gathered under the sign in a replica of the restaurant. They were selling jars of beef tallow, with a choice of grass-fed or Wagyu, and giving out a MAKE FRYING OIL TALLOW AGAIN hat with every purchase an overt embrace of the right-wing conspiracy that cooking with regular seed oils would lower one’s testosterone. (Relevant to the conference: they were also advertising that their restaurants now accepted Bitcoin.)Andrew Gordon, the head of Main Street Crypto PAC, had been to five previous Bitcoin Conferences and worked on crypto tax policy since 2014. He’d seen Trump speak at the last conference in Nashville during the election, and the audience – not typically unquestioning MAGA superfans – had melted into adoring goo in Trump’s presence. But now that Trump was using his presidential powers to establish a Bitcoin reserve, roll back federal investigations into crypto companies, and order massive changes to financial regulatory policies — in short, changing the entire market on crypto’s behalf with the stroke of a pen — Gordon clocked a notable vibe shift this year. “There are people wearing suits at a Bitcoin conference,” he told me wryly back in the press lounge. (He, too, was wearing a suit). The change wasn’t due to a new breed of Suit People flooding in. It was the Bitcoin veterans the ones who’d been coming to the conference for years, dressed in loud Versace jackets or old holey t-shirts – who were now in business attire. “They’re now recognizing the level of formality and how serious it is.”According to the Bitcoin Conference organizers, out of the 35,000-plus attendees in Vegas this year, 17.1 percent of them were categorized as “institutional and corporate decision-makers” — a vague way to describe politicians, corporate executives, and the rest of the C-suite world. Whenever they weren’t speaking onstage, they were conducting interviews with outlets hand-selected from dozens of media requests that had been filtered through the conference organizers, or in Q&A sessions with people who’d bought the $21,000 Whale Pass and could access the VIP Lounge. (Yes, the industry-only day of the conference had an even more exclusive tier.) They were sidebarring with crypto CEOs outside the conference for round tables, privately meeting Senators for lunch and White House officials for dinner. Gordon himself had just held a private breakfast for industry insiders, with GOP Senators Marsha Blackburn and Cynthia Lummis as special guests. And for the very, very wealthy, MAGA Inc., Trump’s primary super PAC, was holding a fundraising dinner in Vegas that night, with Vance, Don Jr., and Eric Trump in attendance. That ticket, according to The Washington Post, cost $1 million per person.It was the kind of amoral, backroom behavior that would have sent the General Admission attendees into a rage — and they did the next day, when the convention opened to them. During one extremely packed talk at the Genesis Stage called Are Bitcoiners Becoming Sycophants of the State?, a moderator asked the four panelists what they’d like to say to Vance and Sacks and all the politicians who’d been there yesterday. And Erik Cason erupted.“‘What you’re doing is actually immoral and bad. You hurt people. You actively want to use the state to implement violence against others.’ 
That’s like, fucked up and wrong,” said Cason, the author of “Cryptosovereignty,” to a crowd of hundreds. “If you personally wanna like, go to Yemen and try to stab those people, that’s on you. But asking other people to go do that – it is a fucked up and terrible thing.” He grew more heated. “And also fuck you. You’re not, like, a king. You’re supposed to be liable to the law, too. 
And I don’t appreciate you trying to think that that you just get to advance the state however the fuck you want, because you have power.”“These are the violent thugs who killed hundreds of millions of people over the last century,” agreed Bruce Fenton of Chainstone Labs. “They have nothing on us. All we wanna do is run some code and trade it around our nerd money. Leave us alone.”The audience burst into cheers and applause. Bitcoin was the promise of freedom from the government, who’d murdered and stolen and tried to control their lives, and now that their wealth was on the blockchain, no one could take their sovereignty. “Personally, I don’t really care what they [the politicians] think,” said American HODL, whose title on the conference site was “guy with 6.15 bitcoin,” the derision clear in his voice. “They are employees who work for us, so their thoughts and opinions on the matter are irrelevant. Do what the fuck we tell you to do.
 I don’t work for you. I’m not underneath you. You’re underneath me.” But the politicians weren’t going to listen to them, much less talk to them. The politicians spent the conference surrounded by aides and security who stopped people from approaching – I’m sorry, the Senator has to leave for an engagement now – or safely inside the VIP rooms with the $21,000-dollar Whale Pass holders and the million-dollar donors. By the time American HODL said that the politicians worked for him, they were on flights out of Vegas, having gotten what they wanted from Code and Country, an event that was closed to General Admission pass holders.Coinbase’s executives were at Code and Country, however. Coinbase held over 984,000 Bitcoin, more coins than American HODL could mine in a lifetime. And Coinbase was now a sponsor of Donald Trump’s birthday military parade. The Nakamoto Stage during Code + Country at the Bitcoin Conference.After David Sacks and the Winklevoss twins finished explaining how Trump had saved the crypto industry from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (or as one Winklevoss called her, “Pocahontas”), I was jonesing for a drink. A few other reporters on the ground had told me about “Code, Country and Cocktails,” the America250 afterparty held at the Ayu Dayclub at Resort World, and I signed up immediately. Reporters at past Bitcoin Conferences had promised legendary side-event depravity, and I hoped I would find it there. As I entered the lush, tropical nightclub, I saw two white-gloved hands sticking out the side of the wall, each holding a glass of champagne at crotch level. I reached out for a flute, thinking it was maybe just a fucked-up piece of art, and gasped as the hand let go of the stem, disappeared into the hole, and emerged seconds later with another full champagne glass. Past the champagne glory hole wall — there was really no other way to describe it — was a massive outdoor swimming pool, surrounded by chefs serving up endless portions of steak frites, unguarded magnums of Moët casually stacked in ice buckets, the professional Beautiful Women of Las Vegas draped around Peter Schiff, the famous economist/podcaster/Bitcoin skeptic. When not booked for private events, the crescent-shaped pool at Ayu would be filled with drunk people in swim suits, dancing to DJ Kaskade. No one was in the pool tonight. Depravity was not happening here. In fact, there was more networking going on than partying, and it was somehow more engaging than Bone Thugs-N-Harmony suddenly appearing onstage to perform. And it was distinctly not just about making money in crypto. A good percentage of this crowd wore some derivative of a MAGA hat, and anyone who could show off their photos of them with Trump did so. This, I realized, was how crypto bros did politics — a new game for them, where success and influence was not necessarily quantifiable. “Crypto got Trump elected,” Greg Grseziak, an agent who manages crypto influencers, told me, showing me his Trump photo opp. “In four years, this is going to be the biggest event in the presidential race.”Grzesiak walked off to do more networking, I finished my glory hole champagne, and in the meantime, Bone Thugs had started performing “East 1999”. A fellow reporter leaned over. “Who do you think those guys are?” he asked, pointing to a group of extremely tall white men in suits and lanyards, standing behind a velvet rope to the left of the stage.I walked over to investigate. They looked like the group of Steak ‘n Shake executives I met at the Expo Hall — the ones with the beef tallow jars and derivative MAGA hats — and they were lurking next to the stage, watching the rappers like vultures but barely moving to the music. This scene was too preposterous to actually be real: Steak ‘n Shake executives, at the Bitcoin Conference, attending a party for America250, in the VIP section, during a Bone Thugs-n-Harmony set? “Shout out to Steak ‘n Shake for being the first fast food restaurant to accept Bitcoin!” announced one of the Bones. The company logo appeared on a screen above his head.No flashy Vegas magic (or dancers in cow costumes, now shimmying onstage with Steak ‘n Shake signs) could mask what I just saw. This party was co-sponsored by a MAGA-branded fast-food chain owned by Sardar Biglari, a businessman who had purchased Maxim, became its editor-in-chief, and used the smutty magazine to endorse Trump in 2024. So was Frax, the stablecoin exchange, and Exodus, one of the biggest crypto wallet companies in the market. Bitcoin Magazine’s logo flashed across the stage at one point, as editor-in-chief David Bailey, in his own derivative MAGA hat, tried to hype up the crowd for J.D. Vance’s speech the next day. (“You only get to live history once,” he said, to faint cheers.)For some unknown reason, these companies were all putting their money into America250, and as I had to keep reminding myself, America250 — the government nonprofit in charge of planning the country’s celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration’s signing — was currently working to get tanks in the streets of Washington DC for Donald Trump’s birthday. I went for one last champagne flute from the glory hole, just for the novelty, and as the hand disappeared back into the wall, I caught something I’d missed earlier: above the hole was a logo for TRON, the blockchain exchange run by billionaire Justin Sun. He had faced several fraud investigations from the SEC that magically disappeared after he invested $75 million in a Trump family crypto company, and seemed more than happy to keep throwing crypto money at Trump. Recently, he won the $TRUMP meme coin dinner, spending over $16 million on the token in exchange for a private and controversial dinner with the president.TRON was also cosponsoring the America250 party.Earlier, I’d run into the Australian emcee in the elevator of The Palazzo. She’d spent the day teetering across the Nakamoto Stage in dainty kitten heels, a pinstriped blazer and miniskirt suit set, and given the gratuitous Trump praising and the fact she was blonde, I had stereotyped her as MAGA to the core. But the program was over and she was holding her heels by their ankle straps, barefoot and sighing in relief. This was not her usual style, she told an attendee. She’d take a pair of sneakers over heels if she could. But the conference organizers had told her to dress up because there were senators in attendance. “Tomorrow, the real Bitcoiners are coming,” she said, and she’d get to wear flat shoes. And the next morning, on the day of Vance’s speech, I found myself stuck outside the conference with the “real Bitcoiners.” In spite of all the emails that the conference had sent me reminding me of how strict security measures would be, possibly to overcorrect from last year’s utter shitshow around Trump’s appearance, I’d woken up too late, eaten my bagel too leisurely, got sidetracked by a police officer-turned-Bitcoin investor excited I was wearing orange (whoops), and barely missed the cutoff for the Secret Service to let me in. But the conference had set up televisions with a live feed of Vance’s speech, and the rest of the general admission attendees were remarkably chill about it, opting to mingle in the hallways until the Secret Service left. I found myself in a smaller crowd near the expo hall door, next to a young man carrying a live miniature Shiba Inu (“It’s a tiny doge!” he said proudly), and the podcaster I’d seen earlier in the sequined bomber jacket. He introduced himself as Action CEO, and with nothing else to do but wait — “You can watch the [Vance] replay,” he reassured me, “these events are mainly about networking” — we got to talking. “I’m actually excited that Trump isn’t even here, I’ll be honest with you,” he said, speaking with a rapid cadence. Trump was ultimately just one guy, and the fact that he sent his underlings and political allies — the ones who could actually implement his grand promises for the crypto industry — proved he hadn’t just been paying lip service. That said, it had come with some uncomfortable changes, including the re-emergence of Justin Sun. “It’s a little bit concerning when you say, All right, we don’t care what you did in the past. Come on out, clean slate,” he continued. “That’s the concern right now for most people. Seeing people that did wrong by the space coming back and acting like nothing happened? That’s a little concerning.” And not just that: Sun was back in the United States, having dinner with Trump, and giving him millions of dollars. “If you’re sitting in a room and having a conversation, people are literally gonna go, yeah, it’s kind of sketch that this guy is back here after everything that’s happened. You’re not gonna see it published, because it’s not a popular opinion, but we’re all definitely talking about it.” If Action’s friends weren’t comfortable talking about it openly, that fraudsters with enough money were suddenly back in the mix, it was certainly not the kind of conversation the CEOs were going to have in front of the General Admission crowd. (Though it did mean that the emcee, looking much happier than she did the day before, got to wear low-heeled boots and shorts.) But behind closed doors — or at least at the Code and Country panels, where the base pass attendees couldn’t boo them — they gave a sense of what their backroom conversations with the Trump administration did look like.“I was actually at a dinner last night and one of the things that someone from the admin said was, What if we give you guys everything you want and then you guys forget? Because there’s midterms in 2026, and hopefully 2028, and beyond,” said Sam Kazemian, the founder and CEO of Frax, which had sponsored the America250 party. “But one of the things I said was: We as an industry are very, very loyal. The crypto community has a very, very, very strong memory. And once this industry is legalized, is transparent, is safe, all of the big players understand that this wasn’t possible without this administration, this Congress, this Senate. We’re lifelong, career-long allies.”“Loyalty” is a dangerous concept with this president, who’s cheated on his three wives, stopped paying the legal fees for employees who’d taken the fall for him, ended the careers of sympathetic MAGA Republicans for insufficiently coddling him, withdrew security for government employees experiencing death threats for the sin of contradicting him in public by citing facts. It was only weeks ago that he and Vance were publicly screaming at Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, who was at the White House to request more aid in the war against Russia, for not saying “thank you” in front of the cameras. It would be less than a week before he began threatening to cancel all of Elon Musk’s government contracts when the billionaire criticized the size of Trump’s budget, even though Musk had given him millions and helped him purge the government. And if you were to find a photo of any political leader, billionaire or CEO standing vacant-eyed next to Trump and shaking his hand, the circumstances are practically a given: they had recently made him unhappy, either for criticizing him, making an imagined slight, or simply asserting themselves. The only way they could avoid public humiliation, or their businesses being crushed via executive order, was to go to Mar-a-Lago, tell the world that the president was wonderful, and underwrite a giant party for his birthday military parade. Maybe Kazemian knew he was being tested, or maybe the 32-year old Ron Paul superfan had no idea what the administration was asking of him. Either way, he responded correctly. At least one person at the conference was thinking about ways that the government could betray the Bitcoin community. As the panel on Bitcoiners becoming sycophants of the state wrapped up, and the other panelists finished telling the government pigs to go fuck themselves and keep their hands off their nerd money, the moderator turned to Casey Rodarmor, a software engineer-turned-crypto influencer, for the last question: “Tell everyone here why Bitcoin wins, regardless of what happens.”“Oh, man, I don’t know if Bitcoin wins, regardless of what happens,” he responded, frowning. He had already gamed out one feasible situation where Bitcoin lost: “If we all of a sudden saw a very rapid inflation in a lot of fiat currencies, and there was a plausible scapegoat in Bitcoin all over the world, and they were able to make a sort of marketing claim that Bitcoin is causing this — Bitcoin is making your savings go to zero, it’s causing this carnage to the economy — 
If that happens worldwide, I think that’s really scary.” The moderator froze, the crowd murmured nervously, and I thought about the number of times Trump had blamed a group of people for problems they’d never caused. An awful lot of them were now being deported. “I take that seriously,” Rodarmor continued. “I don’t know that Bitcoin will succeed. I think that Bitcoin is incredibly strong, it’s incredibly difficult to fuck up. But in that case… man, I don’t know.” I had asked Action CEO earlier if Kazemian, the Frax CEO, was right — if the crypto world was unquestioningly loyal to Trump, if their support of him was unconditional. “Oh, it’s definitely conditional,” he said without hesitation, as his Trump jacket glittered under the fluorescent lights. “It’s a matter of, are you going to be doing the right things by us, by the people who are here?” We walked down the expo hall, past booths promising life-changing technological marvels, alongside thousands of people flooding into Nakamoto Hall, ready to learn how to become unfathomably rich, who paid $199 to be there.The audience of “Are Bitcoiners Becoming Sychophants of the State?”, Day Two of the Bitcoin ConferenceSee More:

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. This benchmark used Reddit’s AITA to test how much AI models suck up to us Back in April, OpenAI announced it was rolling back an update to its GPT-4o model that made ChatGPT’s responses to user queries too sycophantic.An AI model that acts in an overly agreeable and flattering way is more than just annoying. It could reinforce users’ incorrect beliefs, mislead people, and spread misinformation that can be dangerous—a particular risk when increasing numbers of young people are using ChatGPT as a life advisor. And because sycophancy is difficult to detect, it can go unnoticed until a model or update has already been deployed.A new benchmark called Elephant that measures the sycophantic tendencies of major AI models could help companies avoid these issues in the future. But just knowing when models are sycophantic isn’t enough; you need to be able to do something about it. And that’s trickier. Read the full story. —Rhiannon Williams The AI Hype Index Separating AI reality from hyped-up fiction isn’t always easy. That’s why we’ve created the AI Hype Index—a simple, at-a-glance summary of everything you need to know about the state of the industry. Take a look at this month’s edition of the index here. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Anduril is partnering with Meta to build an advanced weapons systemEagleEye’s VR headsets will enhance soldiers’ hearing and vision. (WSJ $)+ Palmer Luckey wants to turn “warfighters into technomancers.” (TechCrunch)+ Luckey and Mark Zuckerberg have buried the hatchet, then. (Insider $)+ Palmer Luckey on the Pentagon’s future of mixed reality. (MIT Technology Review)2 A new Texas law requires app stores to verify users’ agesIt’s following in Utah’s footsteps, which passed a similar bill in March. (NYT $)+ Apple has pushed back on the law. (CNN)3 What happens to DOGE now?It has lost its leader and a top lieutenant within the space of a week. (WSJ $)+ Musk’s departure raises questions over how much power it will wield without him. (The Guardian)+ DOGE’s tech takeover threatens the safety and stability of our critical data. (MIT Technology Review) 4 NASA’s ambitions of a 2027 moon landing are looking less likelyIt needs SpaceX’s Starship, which keeps blowing up. (WP $)+ Is there a viable alternative? (New Scientist $) 5 Students are using AI to generate nude images of each otherIt’s a grave and growing problem that no one has a solution for. (404 Media) 6 Google AI Overviews doesn’t know what year it isA year after its introduction, the feature is still making obvious mistakes. (Wired $)+ Google’s new AI-powered search isn’t fit to handle even basic queries. (NYT $)+ The company is pushing AI into everything. Will it pay off? (Vox)+ Why Google’s AI Overviews gets things wrong. (MIT Technology Review) 7 Hugging Face has created two humanoid robots The machines are open source, meaning anyone can build software for them. (TechCrunch) 8 A popular vibe coding app has a major security flawDespite being notified about it months ago. (Semafor)+ Any AI coding program catering to amateurs faces the same issue. (The Information $)+ What is vibe coding, exactly? (MIT Technology Review) 9 AI-generated videos are becoming way more realisticBut not when it comes to depicting gymnastics. (Ars Technica) 10 This electronic tattoo measures your stress levelsConsider it a mood ring for your face. (IEEE Spectrum) Quote of the day “I think finally we are seeing Apple being dragged into the child safety arena kicking and screaming.” —Sarah Gardner, CEO of child safety collective Heat Initiative, tells the Washington Post why Texas’ new app store law could signal a turning point for Apple. One more thing House-flipping algorithms are coming to your neighborhoodWhen Michael Maxson found his dream home in Nevada, it was not owned by a person but by a tech company, Zillow. When he went to take a look at the property, however, he discovered it damaged by a huge water leak. Despite offering to handle the costly repairs himself, Maxson discovered that the house had already been sold to another family, at the same price he had offered.During this time, Zillow lost more than $420 million in three months of erratic house buying and unprofitable sales, leading analysts to question whether the entire tech-driven model is really viable. For the rest of us, a bigger question remains: Does the arrival of Silicon Valley tech point to a better future for housing or an industry disruption to fear? Read the full story. —Matthew Ponsford We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.) + A 100-mile real-time ultramarathon video game that lasts anywhere up to 27 hours is about as fun as it sounds.+ Here’s how edible glitter could help save the humble water vole from extinction.+ Cleaning massive statues is not for the faint-hearted ($)+ When is a flute teacher not a flautist? When he’s a whistleblower.

Start SlideshowStart SlideshowDisney has enchanted us for decades with its resplendent animation and fantastical stories of princesses, wicked witches, and fire-breathing dragons, but music has always been its most indelible sprinkle of pixie dust. There are songs that move us, make us dance, and help us understand the characters that have already been so lovingly drawn. With over 350 songs in the Disney canon, it’s nearly impossible to narrow them down, but we’ve chosen the 23 in honor of the year 1923, when Walt Disney founded the company. These songs are the most magical and remind us why Disney has endured for over a century.Previous SlideNext Slide2 / 25List slides23. “Whistle While You Work” from Snow White and the Seven DwarfsList slides23. “Whistle While You Work” from Snow White and the Seven DwarfsWhistle While You Work - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Larry Morey and Frank Churchill’s merry tune about finding the joy in the most mundane of chores is quite simple, with only nine lines, yet incredibly catchy. Adriana Caselotti’s warbling, baby voice is fitting for this old-fashioned, operetta-style number and the entire sequence that features the big-eyed, adorable forest creatures helping her out. The squirrels sweep the dust with their tails, and the raccoons wash dirty clothes in a nearby watering hole to every sprightly beat. It’s difficult not to be beguiled by this little ditty, and you’ll find yourself humming it the next time you do your spring cleaning. Previous SlideNext Slide3 / 25List slides22. “The Family Madrigal” from EncantoList slides22. “The Family Madrigal” from EncantoStephanie Beatriz, Olga Merediz, Encanto - Cast - The Family Madrigal (From “Encanto”) Lin-Manuel Miranda’s fingerprints are all over modern Disney soundtracks. He is a master at crafting clever, fast-paced, and genre-blending earworms. The biggest ones to emerge from Encanto are “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” and “Surface Pressure,” where he blends classic Broadway stylings with punchier salsa and reggaeton genres. “The Family Madrigal” may not have reached the same level of pop culture infamy as the other songs in this film, but it’s a clever and economical way to introduce the Madrigal family and their powers. Stephanie Beatriz’s bubbly voice as Mirabel suits the song’s bouncy rhythm perfectly, while the Colombian folk instruments such as an accordion, caja vallenata, and guacharaca match the colorful energy of the magical town the Madrigals call home. Previous SlideNext Slide4 / 25List slides21.“Dig a Little Deeper” from Princess and the FrogList slides21.“Dig a Little Deeper” from Princess and the FrogDig a Little Deeper (From “The Princess and the Frog”/Sing-Along) Randy Newman’s toe-tapping blend of big-band swing and gospel choir refrains perfectly captures the vibrant soul of the New Orleans setting. The feisty Jennifer Lewis leads “Dig a Little Deeper” as Mama Odie, backed by the rousing Pinnacle Gospel Choir. The song’s brassy rhythms help Tiana let loose and Naveen to realize that he’s in love with her. The lessons Mama Odie imparts through the lyrics are wise and grounded: it doesn’t matter what you have or where you come from—that doesn’t define who you are. True fulfillment doesn’t come from material wealth, status, or outward appearances—it comes from understanding what you really want on the inside. The song crescendos with Anika Noni Rose’s powerful belt and the soulful shouts of Mama Odie’s bright flamingo chorus. Previous SlideNext Slide5 / 25List slides20. “I See the Light” from TangledList slides20. “I See the Light” from Tangled“I SEE THE LIGHT” | Tangled | Disney Animated HD The dreamy melody of “I See the Light” begins with a soft guitar. Glenn Slater and Alan Menken’s composition is fairly simple, allowing the glittering visuals to take center stage. The song takes place during the lighting ceremony that Rapunzel has yearned to visit after observing it from her tower for 18 years. Flynn and Rapunzel float on a gondola, surrounded by over 45,000 glowing lanterns floating in the air, dotting the sky and reflecting off the water that surrounds them. The characters sing the verses separately in their heads before their emotions burst, then they harmonize the chorus loudly, compelled by their realization that they’re in love. It’s a unique and touching way of framing a Disney love song. Previous SlideNext Slide6 / 25List slides19. “Friend Like Me” from AladdinList slides19. “Friend Like Me” from AladdinAladdin - Friend Like Me (HD 1080p) Howard Ashman’s playful lyrics and Alan Menken’s up-tempo, syncopated, vaudevillian song was the perfect musical playground for Robin Williams to fill with the zany impressions and quirky voices he was renowned for. A trumpet warbles in between one of the clever lyrics, sights and sounds so jam-packed with hilarity that you can barely stop to catch your breath. Robin Williams was so adept at improvisation that he had nearly an entire day’s worth of material. The animation is just as bonkers as his vocal performance, where Genie morphs into countless creatures—from a train whistle to a maître d’, a boxing trainer, a bunny, and a dragon. The Broadway-style showstopper culminates with a kick line under bright spotlights with monkeys, elephants, and dancing girls in crop tops and harem pants. “Friend Like Me” is a shining showcase for one of our finest comedic talents, the great Robin Williams. Previous SlideNext Slide7 / 25List slides18. “Baby Mine” from DumboList slides18. “Baby Mine” from DumboDisney’s “Dumbo” - Baby MineSongwriters Frank Churchill and Ned Washington are responsible for childhood traumas everywhere with “Baby Mine,” which takes place when Dumbo’s mother has been jailed as a “mad elephant” for fiercely protecting her son against his bullies. She reaches her trunk through the bars to cradle Dumbo to the soft, slumbering melody accompanied by haunting strings. Betty Noyes’ has that rich, rounded tone found in vintage singing, and it conveys Mrs. Jumbo’s maternal strength. The images of all the animals—zebras, tigers, monkeys, and even the underwater hippos—nestled in the love of their mothers, except for poor Dumbo, set against the song’s soothing orchestra, is absolutely heart wrenching. “Baby Mine” is the kind of song that inspires dreams of being comforted and cared for by a loving parental figure.Previous SlideNext Slide8 / 25List slides17. ”Once Upon a Dream” from Sleeping BeautyList slides17. ”Once Upon a Dream” from Sleeping BeautyOnce Upon A Dream | Sleeping Beauty Lyric Video | DISNEY SING-ALONGS Jack Lawrence and Sammy Fain craft a solo-turned-duet with a woozy, mysterious quality that perfectly complements the story of Sleeping Beauty. Mary Costa has such an elegant and operatic voice, with rich tones that make her sound far more mature than a 16-year-old girl. She’s soon joined by the strong, handsome voice of Prince Phillip, who appears unexpectedly in the forest. Their romance unfolds quickly, twirling together in the woods, surrounded by beautiful medieval-inspired, Gothic-Renaissance style visuals. The lilting orchestration and the grand choral ensemble add to the old-world mystique. The lyrics—of knowing someone before you truly know them, of seeing them in your dreams—add a tinge of mysterious excitement and mystical fate to their romance. Previous SlideNext Slide9 / 25List slides16. “Hellfire” from The Hunchback of Notre DameList slides16. “Hellfire” from The Hunchback of Notre DameHellfire - The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz crafted one of Disney’s darkest songs. It’s hard to imagine Disney taking this type of creative risk again. “Hellfire” is sung by a corrupt priest consumed by lust for the Romani woman Esmeralda. The deep-voiced Tony Jay plays the dishonorable Frollo, who paints himself as a virtuous man—even though he killed Quasimodo’s mother and nearly killed Quasimodo. A true Catholic would have helped them. Today, Disney would never dare to show that authority figures—especially religious ones—can often be wrong and hypocritical, if not outright evil. This is one of the most provocative villain songs, in which Frollo essentially confesses his horniness. He sings of being enraptured by Esmeralda’s smoldering eyes and raven hair—a desire that burns and threatens to turn him to sin. “Hellfire” also has a spooky quality in its use of Latin and the intense religious choir that looms over Frollo in judgment, cloaked in red with faces like empty black holes. It’s a haunting song of operatic grandeur, with notes that flare and fade like the flames dancing in front of him. Previous SlideNext Slide10 / 25List slides15. “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” from CinderellaList slides15. “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” from CinderellaA Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes (from Cinderella) Sung with silky warmth and a shimmering, ethereal vibrato by Ilene Woods as Cinderella, “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” is soft and soothing, yet carries an undercurrent of quiet determination. She sings to her loyal companions—adorable flocks of birds and mice—who wear the tiny outfits she’s lovingly made for them. They join in during a break of the song that is more playful and buoyant while she prepares for another grueling day of chores, yet she stays positive by believing her dreams will come true. “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” has become a marketing anthem for the studio—used in various ads to evoke nostalgia, magic, and the promise that dreams really do come true, with Disney theme parks as the place where that magic can happen. Previous SlideNext Slide11 / 25List slides14. Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride from Lilo & StitchList slides14. Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride from Lilo & StitchHawaiian Roller Coaster Ride (From “Lilo & Stitch”) The rich voice of Mark Kealiʻi Hoʻomalu and the cheerful Kamehameha Schools Children’s Chorus come together for a song that is as sweet and breezy as a summer’s day. “Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride” takes place during a touching moment of family bonding as Lilo, Nani, and David go surfing, gliding through the waves with ease. Stitch has been naughty, so he feels a little shy about enjoying the day with them, but he slowly begins to warm up to what it feels like to have a family. We see the adorable progression as the little thrill-seeker ends up riding the waves too. The song’s instrumentation—featuring ukulele, traditional Hawaiian fingerstyle guitar, and steel guitar—evokes the ocean waves and open skies, giving it that relaxed, beachy vibe. Both the animation and the song itself honors the film’s beautiful Hawaiian setting. Previous SlideNext Slide12 / 25List slides13. “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” from MulanList slides13. “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” from MulanMulan | I’ll Make a Man Out of You | Disney Junior UK “Let’s get down to business, to defeat the Huns” Donny Osmond sings in his perfectly crisp voice. The rousing number “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” by Matthew Wilder and David Zippel is the pump-up song for a training montage. It starts out comical as we see Mulan and her clumsy friends attempt to become the ideal Chinese soldier. The catchy chorus uses evocative nature metaphors for the type of strength and calm that Mulan needs to find, and the deep-voiced punctuation “Be a man!” at the end of each line adds to the hype. When Donny Osmond belts “Time is racing towards us, ‘till the Huns arrive,” you feel a thrilling rush of urgency and swell with courage. The final chorus plays against no instrumentation, the manly voices of the soldiers booming, allowing you to focus on Mulan and her friends now kicking ass. Previous SlideNext Slide13 / 25List slides12. “A Whole New World” from AladdinList slides12. “A Whole New World” from AladdinAladdin - A Whole New World (HD 1080p) Brad Kane’s voice carries an excited, breathy quality that draws you in as he whisks Jasmine away on a magic carpet ride. He sounds bright and earnest as he describes the shining, shimmering, and splendid world that Jasmine has never seen and he’s eager to show her. Lea Salonga, who is a Broadway legend in her own right, has an angelic innocence as Jasmine. Their voices come together in perfect harmony for this sweeping duet. “A Whole New World” is one of Disney’s most romantic love songs, with a melody that flutters and glides like the magic carpet itself. Written by Alan Menken and Tim Rice, the orchestration has lush strings that propel the adventurous animated sequence where they soar through the clouds, pass the Sphinx, and touch down near a group of horses. Previous SlideNext Slide14 / 25List slides11. “Strangers Like Me” from TarzanList slides11. “Strangers Like Me” from TarzanStrangers Like Me (1080p Full HD) - Tarzan (1999)Opening with a pulsing drum track, Strangers Like Me evokes the spinning wheels in Tarzan’s mind as he learns more about what lies beyond the jungle. The montage is gorgeously animated, featuring old-fashioned ink illustrations that Tarzan looks at through a magic lantern. He sees the city of London, a giant castle, the Sphinx, and even outer space for the first time. This flood of information drives the song’s urgent pace.The filmmakers craft the entire animated sequence as a response to the lyrics, as Tarzan watches Jane (“Every gesture, every move that she makes / Makes me feel like never before”) or shows off a pocket of the rainforest filled with parrots (“Come with me now to see my world / Where there’s beauty beyond your dreams”). Phil Collins’ bright voice captures Tarzan’s wonderment, especially in the soaring chorus, where Tarzan expresses his desire to learn more about strangers like him. You feel his hunger for the great, wide world in the song’s pounding, tribal drumbeats. Previous SlideNext Slide15 / 25List slides10. “I Won’t Say I’m in Love” from HerculesList slides10. “I Won’t Say I’m in Love” from HerculesHercules (1997) │ I Won’t Say (I’m In Love) [DPU HD 4K] The story of the ancient Greek hero Hercules has such a unique musical style, with lyricist David Zippel and composer Alan Menken blending doo-wop, Motown, and gospel soul. The muses serve as a literal Greek chorus, commenting on the action with their sassy perspective. In “I Won’t Say I’m in Love,” Megara’s velvet-voiced, sarcastic Susan Egan stands apart from other Disney heroines, who often sing fluttering arias about dreaming of a prince. Instead, Megara resists her feelings because she’s been burned too many times before, creating a comical juxtaposition with the Muses, who cheekily insist that she’s in love. They tease her with “Check the grin, you’re in love.” It’s a playful and flirtatious song that celebrates an unconventional Disney princess and musical choices. Previous SlideNext Slide16 / 25List slides9. “How Far I’ll Go” from MoanaList slides9. “How Far I’ll Go” from MoanaAuli’i Cravalho - How Far I’ll Go (from Moana/Official Video) Ever since their introduction in The Little Mermaid, Broadway-style “I Want” songs have become a hallmark of Disney princess films. They are passionate solos that reveal what each heroine desires most in the world. Whatever her heart longs for becomes the emotional engine driving the story forward. In “How Far I’ll Go,” composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Moana is torn between her dream of exploring what’s beyond her remote island and her duty to her family. She’s genuinely torn, even wondering if she’s wrong to yearn for what lies beyond the horizon. Auli’i Cravalho’s pure, heartfelt voice captures all the wistfulness and uncertainty of growing up. The melody swells and crashes gently like ocean tides, mirroring the push and pull of Moana’s inner conflict. Previous SlideNext Slide17 / 25List slides8. “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the BeastList slides8. “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the BeastBeauty and the Beast - Be Our Guest (HD) Music Video Broadway royalty Jerry Orbach helms this showstopper with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman. The suave candlestick Lumière uses the number to lure Belle out of her bedroom, and show that the enchanted castle is more friendly and exciting than spooky and depressing. “Be Our Guest” has clever, fast-paced lyrics sung in a classic “patter song” style which then explodes in a lively, French can-can finale. The living castle objects just want to serve and make someone happy again, offering Belle elaborate meals and dazzling entertainment. Everything is on the plate for Belle, from soup du jour, hot hors d’oeuvres, beef ragout, cheese soufflé, and of course, the grey stuff. What’s just as exciting about the number as its giddy music is the animation, with spoons swimming in punch bowls like a Busby Berkeley number, prismatic spotlights, sumptuous, brightly-colored cakes, a glowing chandelier, and dancing flatware. Previous SlideNext Slide18 / 25List slides7. “You’ll Be in My Heart” from TarzanList slides7. “You’ll Be in My Heart” from TarzanPhil Collins - You’ll Be in My Heart /Tarzan(ターザン)Phil Collins knocked it out of the park with the entire Tarzan soundtrack. Somehow his earthy voice, drum-infused instrumentals, and heartfelt lyrics were the perfect mix for this jungle story. Rather than a traditional Disney musical, Phil Collins acts as an omnipresent narrator, commenting on the action or voicing the character’s thoughts. “You’ll Be In My Heart” rightfully earned the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Originally written as a lullaby for his own daughter, the song starts off tender, with Phil Collins almost gently whispering against soft marimbas. Its lyrics of true love and devotion are moving, especially in the scene where Kala sings it to a baby Tarzan, who, despite being a different species, experiences a bond where love and care know no bounds. The song eventually crashes into driving drums, moving toward a bridge that sees the child fly free on their own: “When destiny calls you / You must be strong / I may not be with you / But you’ve got to hold on.” This song is touching for anyone who has ever loved someone and watched them grow, no matter what type of relationship. Previous SlideNext Slide19 / 25List slides6. “Under the Sea” from The Little MermaidList slides6. “Under the Sea” from The Little MermaidThe Little Mermaid - Under the Sea (from The Little Mermaid) (Official Video) Those solo calypso opening notes of “Under the Sea” immediately get you excited, and Samuel E. Wright delivers a rollicking underwater bash. His booming voice and vivacious energy are perfect for the overdramatic crustacean and his mission to convince Ariel that living under the sea “is the bubbles” with no troubles. “Under the Sea’ buoys the rainbow-colored montage of marine life that fills Ariel’s world—fish, dolphins, and coral reefs. The scene cleverly ties the instruments to various creatures and animation — harps echo the swirling school of fish, shells mimic steel pans, and a pair of octopuses intertwine their legs like bass lines. With its infectious Caribbean beat, Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s song is a true banger and impossible not to love, which is why it won the 1990 Oscar for Best Original Song. Previous SlideNext Slide20 / 25List slides5. “Colors of the Wind” from PocahontasList slides5. “Colors of the Wind” from PocahontasPocahontas - Colors of the Wind (Blu-ray 1080p HD) “You think the only people who are people / Are the people who look and think like you / But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger / You’ll learn things you never knew, you never knew.” In this increasingly polarized world, that message has never been more relevant. Pocahontas is not immediately smitten with John Smith; instead, she condemns his entire culture, which prioritizes gold and hatred over acceptance and the beauty of nature. Stephen Schwartz’s lyrics paint gorgeous pictures of the American wilderness, questioning why the white men who have invaded these lands cannot appreciate the world around them — from the grinning bobcats to the sweet berries to the trees that stretch toward the sky, if only we let them grow. Alan Menken’s surrounding score is rapturous, carried by Judy Kuhn’s passionate vocals. More than just the profound lyrics, it’s the visuals that make this musical number so unforgettable — particularly John Smith and Pocahontas dancing in a pastel-colored wind. It’s no surprise that “Colors of the Wind” won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Previous SlideNext Slide21 / 25List slides4. “When You Wish Upon a Star” from PinnochioList slides4. “When You Wish Upon a Star” from PinnochioPocahontas - Colors of the Wind (Blu-ray 1080p HD)Written by Leigh Harline and Ned Washington, “When You Wish Upon a Star” has come to define Disney itself, typically playing over the castle logo that opens every movie. The ethereal ballad is sung by Cliff Edwards as Jiminy Cricket, whose resonant yet quirky voice feels like someone sharing a story by a crackling fire. “When you wish upon a star / Makes no difference who you are / Anything your heart desires / Will come to you,” he tenderly sings over the opening credits. The gentle melody wraps you in a warm embrace of possibility. People often make fun of Disney adults, but perhaps one reason we hold on to Disney films long after growing up is that they offer hope in an increasingly grim world. This aspirational song reminds us there is more to life than the ordinary—if we just dare to imagine.Previous SlideNext Slide22 / 25List slides3. “Beauty and the Beast” from Beauty and the BeastList slides3. “Beauty and the Beast” from Beauty and the BeastBeauty and the Beast Tale As Old As Time HD As Mrs. Potts, Angela Lansbury’s warm, cheery English voice adds a rosiness to this powerful love ballad, backed by an orchestra of sumptuous strings. The lyrics aren’t the pure romanticism of past Disney love stories; there is no love at first sight here. Instead, Mrs. Potts gently reflects on how true love can take time to blossom, and how relationships sometimes require change, admitting your faults and working hard to set aside your vices and worst qualities. It’s a surprisingly mature outlook for a Disney love song. The accompanying animation is one of the most exquisite sequences in Disney history: Belle’s golden dress glides delicately across the floor as she and the Beast dance in the grand ballroom, the camera swirling to reveal the sparkling chandelier and Michelangelo-esque ceiling of painted cherubs above them. That Howard Ashman wrote this song while dying from complications of AIDS makes it all the more poignant. Previous SlideNext Slide23 / 25List slides2. “Part of Your World” from The Little MermaidList slides2. “Part of Your World” from The Little MermaidJodi Benson - Part of Your World (From “The Little Mermaid”)Before The Little Mermaid kicked off the Disney Renaissance (a period of more sophisticated storytelling and box office success) princess songs were mostly focused on their prince charmings. They had very few aspirations outside of dreaming about their prince or wishing for their prince. But the introduction of the songwriting team Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, who had worked on the off-Broadway show Little Shop of Horrors, helped develop a Disney princess that had greater ambitions. Ariel wanted to see the human world, and she would express that within a Broadway-style solo called the “I Want” song, where the protagonist sings about, well, what they want. “Part of Your World” has a flowing melody and a sweet yearning in Jodi Benson’s voice (and given a more soulful power in the live-action version from Halle Bailey). We see her comical misunderstanding of what her treasures are, all whozits and whatzits galore. “Wouldn’t I love to explore that shore up above?” her voice soars while reaching out through the top of her grotto towards the sun. In that moment, with her big eyes and aching voice, you completely understand how much the human world means to her.Previous SlideNext Slide24 / 25List slides1. “Circle of Life” from The Lion KingList slides1. “Circle of Life” from The Lion KingCarmen Twillie, Lebo M. - Circle of Life (From “The Lion King”) No Disney song is quite as epic as Elton John’s “Circle of Life.” The image of the rising sun, paired with the opening lines sung passionately in Zulu by Lebo M., without any instrumentals, immediately hooks you into this sweeping story of the African savannah. The title, “Circle of Life,” is fitting for this tale of birth, death, and everything in between. The lyrics somehow encompass everything about our big, beautiful world — how finite life is, and the experiences, both good and bad, that give us balance. There’s despair and there’s hope. There’s faith and there’s love. The lyrics are poetic and make you think about the wonder and mystery of existence. The song reaches a powerful peak at the end when the chorus rises together. It’s impossible not to get full-body chills on that final soaring note, “It’s the circle, the circle of life,” punctuated by the thunderous drumbeat, where the sight of Rafiki lifting Simba on Pride Rock cuts to black. “Circle of Life” is a beautiful song with a grand vision, especially for a film geared towards children.