From Ariel to “Angel”! The Little Mermaid star Halle Bailey made her solo musical debut with her track “Angel,” and the song has a very meaningful message.
Keep reading for details on the track, release date and our lyric breakdown.
When Is Halle Bailey Releasing Solo Music?
Halle’s song “Angel” dropped on Friday August 4. The track marks the singer-songwriter’s first solo song outside of her and her sister Chloe Bailey‘s musical group Chloe x Halle.
In the first teaser of “Angel,” which was released on Wednesday, July 31, multiple videos of Halle growing up were clipped together, while an eerie yet nostalgic solo orchestral instrument plays in the background. Some of the clips included a young Halle gushing about getting her first guitar, to performances with Chloe on stage and finally, to her first live performance singing solo.
The song is definitely about growing up.
Halle Bailey ‘Angel’ Song Lyric Breakdown, Meaning
Fans initially got a taste of the song when Halle shared a clip of the “Angel” lyrics. But when the track was fully released, the meaning was so much more powerful.
“Some might hate and they wait on your fall / They don’t know there’s a grace for it all / My flaws don’t make me,” Halle sings. “Beautiful and real are you, they cannot compare, all you / Perfectly a masterpiece in all of me, even my scars.”
Fans were quick to theorize that the song addresses the internet’s explosive and divisive reaction to her being cast as Princess Ariel in Disney’s live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, which premiered in May 2023.
“Getting that role felt very surreal. It was much of a shocker for me,” Halle said about getting the part of Ariel on the Facebook Watch series Talks With Mama Tina in December 2021. “Even when I was asked to audition, I looked at it and I was like me? For Ariel? That just doesn’t … ‘Cause you know, my image of Ariel that I’ve had is the red hair, the pale skin, and the tail, and she was amazing to me. I loved her, like we all did. But that’s what I’ve seen her as for so long.”
She continued, “So, even the auditioning process, I remember being so scared and so nervous. I think my dad, he one time was like, ‘Let’s run through the lines.’ And I started reading them and I just started sobbing. He’s like, ‘Halle, what’s wrong? What’s wrong?’ I’m just, ‘I can’t believe I’m even gonna go for this.’ But [I’m] so grateful that I kind of get to reinvent Ariel and show other young, beautiful Black and Brown children that hey, you can be this too. You are magical and mythical and all of the wonderful things in between as well.”
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