Waiting On A Miracle

Album: Encanto (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2021)
Charted: 48
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Waiting On A Miracle" is a Colombian waltz sung by Stephanie Beatriz, who played Rosa Diaz on the TV series Brooklyn Nine-Nine, for the Disney Movie Encanto. Beatriz plays Mirabel Madrigal, a Colombian teenager raised in a household where everybody else has a special supernatural gift. Because Mirabel is the only member of her family with no magical powers, she feels like an outsider.

    At first, Mirabel pretends she's fine just supporting the rest of her family, but as the song proceeds, she longs for a magical gift of her own. "'Waiting on a Miracle' is Mirabel's yearning to belong," Beatriz explained in a Behind the Lyrics Featurette. "There's something that clicks inside her where she realizes the wheels are in motion for her to chase down her destiny. I like these heroine songs so much. You go on this major journey with a character and suddenly you know her better from the inside."
  • Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote "Waiting On A Miracle," along with all the other Encanto songs. He found it one of the most difficult tunes to write for the movie. "The 'I want' song is always hard," he told Variety. "You have to make the whole movie to understand the journey that Mirabel's got to go on and what the question is going to be, so you have to go at it backwards."
  • Back in 2018, Miranda accompanied scriptwriters Jared Bush and Byron Howard on a research trip to Colombia. What finally cracked "Waiting on a Miracle" was going back to listening to the music they recorded while visiting the South American country. "There were so many Colombian waltzes that were in three-quarter time," he said. "In my head, I had to write a big Disney pop anthem. But once I committed to the three-quarter time, the song wrote itself."
  • Stephanie Beatriz was waiting for her own personal little miracle when she recorded her vocals for his hopeful ballad. The actress was in labor as she laid down "Waiting on a Miracle."

    "I didn't want to tell anybody at Disney because I didn't want anyone to freak out," she told Variety, "but I was already having some contractions when we were scheduled to record that day. I was like, 'Well, fingers crossed I finish the song before [the baby] comes!'"

    Beatriz gave birth the very next day to daughter Rosaline.

Comments: 1

  • Calvirno from Don't Want To SayThis song tells that she feels left out from being the only one without magical powers
see more comments

Editor's Picks

George Harrison

George HarrisonFact or Fiction

Did Eric Clapton really steal George's wife? What's the George Harrison-Monty Python connection? Set the record straight with our Fact or Fiction quiz.

Jonathan Edwards - "Sunshine"

Jonathan Edwards - "Sunshine"They're Playing My Song

"How much does it cost? I'll buy it?" Another songwriter told Jonathan to change these lyrics. Good thing he ignored this advice.

David Bowie Leads the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Long-Haired Men

David Bowie Leads the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Long-Haired MenSong Writing

Bowie's "activist" days of 1964 led to Ziggy Stardust.

Michael W. Smith

Michael W. SmithSongwriter Interviews

Smith breaks down some of his worship tracks as well as his mainstream hits, including "I Will Be Here For You" and "A Place In This World."

Jeff Trott

Jeff TrottSongwriter Interviews

Sheryl Crow's longtime songwriting partner/guitarist Jeff Trott reveals the stories behind many of the singer's hits, and what its like to be a producer for Leighton Meester and Max Gomez.

Dean Pitchford

Dean PitchfordSongwriter Interviews

Dean wrote the screenplay and lyrics to all the songs in Footloose. His other hits include "Fame" and "All The Man That I Need."