#7 - Anika Noni Rose as Tiana - The Princess and the Frog (2009)
Best Song: Almost There
I love my Broadway ladies. I really do. Most of my favorite female singers are from Broadway. Ruthie Henshall, Kerry Ellis, Linda Eder, Bernadette Peters, Audra McDonald, Kristin Chenoweth... I'm a gay theater nerd through and through, and these are some of my very favorite singers. And I have to say, if I looked up more of Anika Noni Rose's stuff, I wouldn't count out her being right up among these upper echelons of quality. With one performance in a Disney movie, she impressed the HELL out of me with her voice. And I've heard a lot, by the glory of YouTube, so it becomes harder and harder to impress me.
But she does. I can listen to Almost There, the Down in New Orleans reprise at the end, and even the end of the otherwise-kind of annoying "Dig a Little Deeper", just for those last few notes of hers, over and over again. Add to this a nice and likeable, charismatic performance through the rest of the movie, and you've got yourself a real winner and the star of the show in The Princess and the Frog.
And honestly, I don't have TOO much more to say than that. We've gotten to the point in the list where the only reason someone isn't higher is because she isn't the people above her. These Top 7 are, for my money, the elite of the elite, where I have virtually no complaints about their vocal performances in their films. The only thing I would really want from Anika's voice to make it even better is a little more grit. If any of you are as familiar with musical theater as I am, or if you read into my comparatively low placement of Paige O'Hara correctly, you'll know that the singers I REALLY love have a certain "edge" to their voice, particularly when they're belting, that I just don't get from Anika Noni Rose.
Granted, I've never really sought out other performances by her, and that could tip the balance in her favor, but for now, I'm very happy with where she is. The Princess and the Frog was a wonderful return to classic form from Disney, that had me ecstatic when I saw it in the theaters for the first time, and it is in large part thanks to this brilliant performance. I can only hope that y'all feel the same way about it.
Next HINT: Anastasia probably should've been an honorable mention, by definition. However, I would defend anybody putting this next character on any list of "Disney Princesses", even though she's not technically a princess by any definition.