In the moments of The Little Mermaid where Ariel can talk and more importantly sing, it’s mesmerizing. The same can be said about the actress/singer behind the princess as Halle Bailey is an equally angelic and wholesome human with the voice of an angel. We learned all of this by watching the lovely performer on the big screen as the iconic Disney character, but for Melissa McCarthy, she got to witness Bailey’s signing firsthand, and her story about it is adorable.
As folks have started to see this new version of The Little Mermaid, reviews and viewers have been saying that Halle Bailey’s performance is a real highlight. Turns out she was a ray of light for The Little Mermaid cast as well. Melissa McCarthy explained how the actress could be found humming to herself on set constantly, and the Ursula actress loved it, telling Triple J Radio:
Halle is at all times incredibly quietly humming. There is always this beautiful, it’s a different melody, it’s so quiet, but we were mic’d because sometimes we were so far away from each other that if we whispered to each other we could fully hear it in our earpiece. So she would just be sitting, a lot of times in the eyeline, because a lot of time I was up and she’d be sitting in this little tiny ball just on the ground and just so quietly but always humming.
To be on the receiving end of Halle Bailey's singing sounds like a dream, and to witness her just humming to herself would be incredible. I love that both McCarthy and The Little Mermaid’s boom operator were so enamored by the movie’s star, and her voice. The Bridesmaids actress continued to tell this sweet story, saying:
There’s always music generating, it is the most beautiful thing in the world. And sometimes the sound guy, I would watch and just see him and he would have the boom there and he’s like [makes an adorable face]. And then he saw [me] and I went ‘Can you hear it?’ And he goes ‘I can always hear it, it’s my favorite thing.’
This story is my favorite thing. While I was blown away when I heard Bailey sing “Part of Your World” on the big screen, being able to just hear her humming all day long sounds like the best thing ever. What really made this story so special is that McCarthy explained that she doesn't think her co-star knew she was singing to herself and everyone could hear, saying:
Sometimes I don’t even think you knew you were doing it, it just comes from you…it truly was divine.
Devine is a great way to describe this situation, and as McCarthy told the story I could tell that Halle Bailey, who was sitting right next to her, seemed flattered by the sweet re-telling. You can see the two actresses' adorable moment for yourself here:
@triplejradio ♬ original sound - triple j
Isn’t that the best? While Ursula despises Ariel in The Little Mermaid, it’s as clear as day that Melissa McCarthy absolutely loved working with Halle Bailey. To see the voice that the actress has been gushing about left and right, you can check out the remake of the Disney classic in theaters now; you can also go back and watch the OG Little Mermaid with a Disney+ subscription.
Luckily for all of us, we’ll have another opportunity to see Halle Bailey and her gorgeous voice on screen again as she’s set to star in The Color Purple. So make sure you are paying attention to the 2023 movie schedule so you are up to date on both actresses' upcoming projects.
