It’s a dream come true for Hamilton fans: a new Lin Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis album. Titled Warriors, the work is a concept album, meaning the songs are centered around a central theme and are often intended to be listened to in just one sitting. In this case, the album is the soundtrack for a musical, featuring 26 songs and 1 hour and 20 minutes of content.
Warriors is based on the 1965 book and 1979 film of the same name. Its history extends past the 20th century, though. Author Sol Yurick drew inspiration for the novel from the ancient Greek story Anabasis, the narrative of the Greek mercenary soldiers who fought for Cyrus the Younger. The Paramount Pictures movie The Warriors follows a fictional gang, called the Warriors, in New York City over the course of one long night. The gang must travel from the north end of the Bronx to their home turf in Coney Island after being framed for the murder of another gang leader, escaping the police and other gangs along the way. Though the album is more of a tribute to the film and book than an exact remake, this main story is preserved throughout the songs.
A prominent way that the album differs from its inspiration is the characters. In the previous iterations, all of the Warriors were men, but Miranda and Davis decided to create an all-female gang instead. The album approaches the traditional plot from a more modern perspective, highlighting the increased equality women experience today and showcasing how their role in society has expanded since the writing of the book. Warriors is indicative of other societal progress as well, as LGBTQ+ characters are represented through the relationship between two women.
One of the most noteworthy aspects of the album is the tracklist’s diversity. Songs like “Call Me Mercy,” “The Park at Night,” and “Luther Interlude” draw attention to the vocal talent of the cast. Other songs, such as “Make Way for Cyrus” and “Outside Gray’s Papaya,” emphasize certain instruments–drums and electric guitar, respectively. The songs vary in style too. “Going Down” is clearly rock, while “Orphan Town” has a musical theater vibe, and “Quiet Girls” has a heavy beat similar to EDM. The versatility extends to the language of the lyrics as well. “Leave the Bronx Alive” features singing in Spanish, and some of “We Got You” isn’t in English either. A few of the songs, including “A Track Fire and a Phone Call” and “Cardigans,” are just dialogue consolidated onto one track–they aren’t really songs at all.
A common thread throughout the album is the rapping. “Survive the Night”–a motif that is repeated throughout the entire tracklist–features rap alongside the melody, as do “We Got You” and “Still Breathin’.” “Still Breathin”’ also includes parallels to Hamilton. The topic of the song relates to Hamilton’s “Stay Alive,” and the pattern of rapping and singing in “Still Breathin’” alludes to many of the musical’s tracks.
Hamilton is not the only musical piece that influenced the album. The dialogue interludes in the Warriors songs are similar to how conversation is interspersed in songs in In the Heights, another musical written by Miranda. In the Heights also contains Latin music with Spanish words, just like “Leave the Bronx Alive.”
Eisa Davis’ contributions to the project are not to be overlooked. Her history as a singer-songwriter, especially her highly-regarded Angela’s Mixtape and Pulitzer-Prize finalist play Bulrusher, makes Davis just as qualified to co-produce the project as Miranda.
The concept album format of Warriors plays to the album’s advantage in multiple ways. The album features a star-studded cast, from Hamilton actress Philipa Soo to rappers Nas and Lauryn Hill. Many of these people wouldn’t have been able to perform eight shows a week. Voice recording, on the other hand, was much more feasible. In doing so, Davis and Miranda were able to get the singers they wanted and didn’t have to reduce the quality of their work to accommodate the high demands of stage performances.
The song “Reunion Square” takes advantage of the lack of imagery accompaniment. The song uses the sound of a train squealing to suggest a certain outcome, which could be a hard visual to successfully communicate on stage. Similarly, the “Finale” song is very chaotic, with lots of different elements going on at once, and it might be difficult to visually portray it all in an aesthetically pleasing way.
The audience is forced to truly listen to the music as a result of the album’s unique format. When watching a stage production, attention is divided between the choreography, blocking, props, technical elements, plot, music, and other aspects of the show. But the exclusively auditory means of production eliminates many of these factors, leaving just the lyrics and music to appreciate and focus on.
Those other stage elements aren’t just for visual appeal, however. They help communicate the plot, so although Warriors has frequent signposting via the characters taking attendance in songs like “Roll Call,” it is still harder to understand what’s happening in the storyline. Without being able to see the characters speaking, it is more difficult to know who is talking and thus follow the plot. Frequent listeners of musical soundtracks or fans of these particular cast members may have an ear attuned to the singers’ distinct voices, but for the average Warriors listener, it can be hard to tell the characters apart with solely the audio.
The idea of a concept album may seem strange, but other musicals have done the same and experienced widespread success–most notably Jesus Christ Superstar and Hadestown. These musicals were staged on Broadway, so can audiences expect a similar result from Warriors? While the future of the album remains uncertain, it’s clear that Warriors already has a lot to offer.
