I See the Light

I See the Light is the love theme from Disney's 2010 animated feature film, Tangled. It was written by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater. A duet, the song was recorded by American singer and actress Mandy Moore and American actor Zachary Levi in their co-starring film roles as Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. "I See the Light" is a down-tempo love ballad that combines elements of folk, musical theatre and pop music. Its lyrics describe how Rapunzel and Flynn feel about each other, knowing now that they have found each other, they can finally "see the light."

"I See the Light" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 83rd Academy Awards in 2011, becoming composer Alan Menken's fourteenth nomination in the category, but lost to Randy Newman's "We Belong Together" from Disney/Pixar's Toy Story 3. The song won a Grammy Award for Best Song Written For Visual Media as well as Best Song at the Las Vegas Film Critics Society. Renditions of the song can be heard in Disney Dreams!, Mickey's Soundsational Parade and The Magic, the Memories and You.

Plot
Rapunzel's dream to see the "floating lights" was finally fulfilled with the help of Flynn Rider. That evening, Flynn rowed Rapunzel out in a small dinghy to the middle of an adjacent lake to get a good view of the lantern release. However, as she felt the thing she always asked for, she felt something different, as both she and Flynn found their new dream.

Lyrics
Rapunzel: All those days watching from the windows All those years outside looking in All that time never even knowing Just how blind I've been

Now I'm here, blinking in the starlight Now I'm here, suddenly I see Standing here, it's all so clear I'm where I'm meant to be

And at last I see the light And it's like the fog has lifted And at last I see the light And it's like the sky is new And it's warm and real and bright And the world has somehow shifted All at once everything looks different Now that I see you

Flynn: All those days chasing down a daydream All those years living in a blur All that time never truly seeing Things, the way they were

Now she's here shining in the starlight Now she's here, suddenly I know If she's here it's crystal clear I'm where I'm meant to go

Rapunzel and Flynn: And at last I see the light

Flynn: And it's like the fog is lifted

Rapunzel and Flynn: And at last I see the light

Rapunzel: And it's like the sky is new

Rapunzel and Flynn: And it's warm and real and bright And the world has somehow shifted All at once, everything is different Now that I see you Now that I see you...

Background
Soon after completing scores for The Shaggy Dog (2006) and Enchanted (2007), eight-time Academy Award-winning composer Alan Menken was called upon to score and compose new songs for Tangled, then titled Rapunzel. Menken asked lyricist Glenn Slater to collaborate with him.

Originally, Menken and Slater wrote a song called "You Are My Forever", which was to be sung to Rapunzel first by Mother Gothel in a motherly way, and then by Flynn in a romantic rendition. The song was eventually scrapped and replaced by two new songs, Gothel's "Mother Knows Best" and a duet between lovers Rapunzel and Flynn called "I See the Light".

Composition and film setting
"I See the Light" was written by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater. In the film, the song is performed by Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) and Eugene "Flynn Rider" Fitzherbert (Zachary Levi) during the launching of thousands of flying lanterns.

Cover versions

 * Jackie Evancho included the song on her 2012 album Songs from the Silver Screen.
 * On 2012 album Disney - Koe no Oujisama Vol.2 (ディズニー 声の王子様 第2章), which features various seiyus covering Disney songs, this song was covered by Hikaru Midorikawa and Takahiro Sakurai
 * David Harris included the song (as a duet with Lucy Durack) on his 2011 album 'At This Stage'

Trivia

 * The romantic moment/scene has often been compared to the famous, romantic ballroom dance from Beauty and the Beast, the Kiss the Girl scene from The Little Mermaid and A Whole New World from Aladdin. The song Set the Record Straight from the Phineas and Ferb episode "The Great Indoors", which was premiered just before the movie went to DVD, also has the similarties.
 * At one point, a lantern floats very low and near the boat and Rapunzel gently guides it back up to the sky. It appears that this is the lantern her parents released, because it has a sun print on it, which is what the King and Queen lifted up, and virtually every other lantern does not have a sun print and are diiferent.
 * I See The Light is the fifth duet preformed by a Disney Princess and Prince, the first being So This Is Love from Cinderella, the second being Once Upon a Dream from Sleeping Beauty, the third being A Whole New World from Aladdin, and the fourth being If I Never Knew You from Pocahontas. This is also the second duet not sung onscreen, the first was So This Is Love.