Warriors Album Review
Leo Josse ’28 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
Lin Manuel Miranda is truly one of the musical powerhouses of our generation. Chances are you’ve heard some of his work even if you aren’t well-versed in the musical world. His work with Disney is enough to make him a household name with most people around the world, writing the original music for Moana (Musker & Clements, 2016), Encanto (Bush & Howard, 2021), and the upcoming Mufasa: The Lion King (Jenkins, 2024), as well as new songs for the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid (Marshall, 2023), and extra songs for Disney’s JJ Abrams-directed Star Wars movies, The Force Awakens (Abrams, 2015) and The Rise of Skywalker (Abrams, 2019).
At the same time, he has become one of the biggest names on the Broadway scene, with his original musicals such as In the Heights and the one that propelled him into the limelight – Hamilton. With his national fame, anyone with two ears invested in Broadway musicals eagerly awaited his next musical, which has finally arrived, in the form of a concept album.
It is not unheard of for concept albums to turn into full-fledged staged productions, as evidenced by Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Jekyll & Hyde, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and Hadestown all starting as concept albums themselves. But Miranda and his co-writer on this album Eisa Davis are not focused on the logistics of staging their ideas for a Broadway stage; rather on telling their story to the best of their musical ability, which they truly have. Warriors is an impressive display of musical range and talent that will undoubtedly go down in the ever-expanding, impressive legacy of Lin Manuel Miranda’s music.
Since this is presented as a concept album, it tells a full story – based on the 1979 film The Warriors directed by Walter Hill, in its 80-minute runtime. To best explain my full thoughts on its musical brilliance, I will be going into story spoilers, so if you have yet to listen to the album and want to, listen to it and then come back after. You’ve been warned.
SPOILERS AHEAD
The story’s premise is that Cyrus, the leader of the Gramercy Riffs, organizes a meeting at Van Cortland Park where many different city gangs are meant to attend in peace. Our heroes, The Warriors from Coney Island, travel to the Bronx to attend. Once at the meeting, Cyrus gives a testimony, performed by the incredible Ms. Lauryn Hill. She is then shot dead by Luther, a member of the Rogues. Cleon—the leader of the Warriors—is the only one to see who shot Cyrus, so Luther blames the killing on the Warriors. The Warriors then have to return to their home turf in Coney Island, Brooklyn, from the Bronx.
What Miranda and Davis do with the musicality of this album is truly inspiring. Their mixing of musical genres to represent different gangs and parts of the city gives the album auditory texture and allows for a clearer image of the differences in the gangs without the use of visuals. For example, to capture the manic energy of the villains, the Rogues, Miranda, and Davis use heavy metal rock to convey their chaos, featured most prominently on the track “Going Down.” This diverges from Miranda’s typical sound but works brilliantly in the context of this story.
Another fantastic example of musical diversity is represented by the tracks “We Got You” and “We Got You (Reprise),” where the Warriors come across the Bizzies on their journey through Manhattan. For the plot to work, the Bizzies must seduce the Warriors into a false sense of security. So how do Miranda and Davis use music to charm the Warriors, and us, the listeners? The Bizzies are a boyband/K-pop gang. You heard me right. But this genre changer effectively captures their charisma canonically, allowing us to emotionally relate with the Warriors, as they are charmed by these men. It also provides an ever-changing auditory experience, keeping you engaged throughout the album’s runtime.
But to the fans of Miranda’s usual hip-hop-induced style, don’t worry, there’s plenty here to love. The opening track “Survive the Night” instantly becomes a classic in his discography. Hip-hop is on full display–in fact, Miranda and Davis use the brilliant talents of multiple different MCs to give each borough its testimony. As I mentioned before, Ms. Lauryn Hill gives her hypnotic vocals to the track “If You Can Count,” and is even credited as a producer on the track, having ad-libbed multiple of the harmonies heard on the track. One of my personal favorites of the album, “Still Breathin’,” sees Colman Domingo rap alongside Aneesa Folds in a song that has a very standard Lin Manuel Miranda sound to it.
Not only is the musicality brilliant, but the story being told is just as captivating. The album takes the plot of the movie but gender bends the characters to allow for modern themes to shine through that otherwise weren’t possible with the original male dominated cast. In “The Park at Night,” the Warriors are approached by a man who attempts to hit on them. Ajax, having had enough at this point, decides to take out her aggression on the man and attack him until they realize he is an undercover cop intending to provoke them. This leads to her capture and by the end of the story, her fate remains unknown.
With an album so musically versatile telling a story so relatable, I hope everyone decides to give it a chance. There truly is something in there for everyone. Whether it gets a stage adaptation or not, Warriors will undoubtedly go down in Lin Manuel Miranda’s incredible discography. Damn you Lin, I was hoping for a non-theater-kid 2024 rewind!