Who better to kick off Disney’s World Princess Week than Brandy, Disney’s first Black on-screen princess?
The Grammy Award-winning recording artist delivered a magical performance of “Starting Now” at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. The song is the theme song of the second annual Ultimate Princess Celebration.
In the video shared exclusively with RoyalTee, Brandy, 43, stands in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle wearing a hot pink tube dress. As she performs, images of the various Disney princesses are projected onto the castle, including the newest princess, Raya from Raya and the Last Dragon.
Brandy is no stranger to Disney magic. She was the first Black actress to portray Cinderella when she starred in 1997’s Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, alongside Whitney Houston.
“My dream when I was a young girl was to be a singer, have my own band and meet Whitney Houston. That was it,” Brandy shared with Good Morning America about her iconic role. “I had no idea that my destiny would take me to a role [like] Cinderella, [or that I would] be the first woman of color to play her. And then for Whitney Houston to be my Fairy God Mother… you gotta be kidding me.”
Watch Brandy’s performance below:
In honor of the movie’s 25th anniversary, ABC will air a special cast reunion and the original film on Aug. 23 at 8 p.m. EST.
“We’re delighted that the 25th anniversary of this landmark incarnation of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella is being celebrated on its original network,” Imogen Lloyd Webber, SVP at Concord Theatricals, of The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, told Entertainment Weekly. “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s unforgettable score is truly timeless — still enchanting listeners 80 years after their partnership began and 65 years since their Cinderella first charmed the largest audience in television history.”