Lin Manuel miranda:His writing is brilliant but he needs to stop singing
Madison k Ashby
August 5th, 2015. In the heart of Manhattan amongst all the lights, honking horns, and bustling tourists, a new musical premiered on Broadway. At this time, the country was an open forum for modern, progressive, and arguably controversial topics. It was the peak of the Obama administration. Nothing screamed 2015 American pop culture like Hamilton did.
Shows were consistently sold out. It was a national sensation. Since tickets went for an arm and a leg, I first heard Hamilton from the backseat of my mom’s four-door sedan. Listening to the soundtrack for the first time playing out of the car’s speakers, I was only 10 years old, but I wasn’t dumb. You would have to have been living under a rock to not immediately recognize the creativity and intelligence poured into every line in every song. Goosebumps scattered my arms, a chill ran down my spine, and yet there was something off about it all. Someone was incredibly off-key. “Mom, who is that singing right now?”
She told me it was Lin Manuel Miranda, the brilliant mind who not only wrote each lyric but composed and cast the entire musical. He cast himself as the main character, “Alexander Hamilton.” Resembling a dying bird undergoing a robotic conversion surgery, Miranda’s voice plagued the whole soundtrack. He ruined his own beautiful creation. Herein lies the unbreakable curse of Lin Manuel Miranda.
1999. Lin Manuel Miranda was just a sophomore in college at Wesleyan University but he wasn’t spending his free time being a sexually rampant fraternity brother. He was writing his first big musical. Miranda spent nearly a decade perfecting In the Heights. As a Puerto Rican American, he put his heart and soul into the show, interweaving his personal experience growing up with an immigrant family with a broader humanities issue. He composed a musical masterpiece. In 2008, In the Heights took on Broadway. With an all-Latino cast, this musical commemorates the struggles of Latin American immigrants living in New York. Immigrant alienation and gentrification were not topics America was itching to confront.
But this is Lin Manuel Miranda we are talking about so there was something off about the show or better yet off-key. He cast himself as the main character “Usnavi.” He would take center stage sporting a bright crimson shirt and an unsettling smile that reached past the apple of his cheeks. The audience was then forced to listen to his choppy and congested version of “singing.” Miranda’s overwhelming vocal presence tainted his very own work yet again. His voice would strain as he attempted to increase his volume almost as if he was trying to drown out the voice of anyone else singing.
December 19, 2018. Lin Manuel Miranda was a household name at this point but his career was far from over. He took his writing expertise to Disney, collaborating with other talents to compose a sequel to the cherished classic, Mary Poppins. Mary Poppins Returns, serves as a musical continuation to the beloved 20th century movie. It brought back memories for older generations and created new memories for younger generations. It was nostalgic, heart-warming, and due to his presence sounded like someone’s cat was trying to cough up a hairball. There he was again, playing “Jack” the chimney sweeper and starring alongside Emily Blunt as “Mary Poppins.” He took on a comically bad British accent, threw on a newsie's cap, and sang his heart out, completely off-pitch.
It goes like this. Lin Manuel Miranda creates this innovative, amazing composition. He then proceeds to cast himself as the main character, squeezing himself into roles where he doesn’t really belong. Since his voice equates to a small child pinching their nose to impersonate Voldemort, he’s the worst part of his own work every single time.
Millions of people have pointed out Miranda as the “weak link” in his very own compositions. YouTube and TikTok are both flooded with bad reviews of his singing and humorous reaction videos with people physically cringing at his voice. One post on a public blog sparked a thread where hundreds of anonymous users bashed Miranda’s singing, questioning why he continues to cast himself in these main roles. On a public blog called DC Urban Moms and Dads, a post made in January of 2022 brought Lin Manuel Miranda to the stage. “So can we talk about how bad Lin-Manuel Miranda’s music (his voice) is?” It immediately blew up, with countless others responding with their own thoughts. “I find his voice a little grating,” an anonymous user said. “I think it's annoying that he casts himself in roles instead of giving them to good singers.” Another anonymous user replied, “I also dislike his voice and thought it was ridiculous he kept himself cast as Hamilton for so long when his singing is just so awful.”
Though mainstream social media platforms host a compilation of Lin Manuel Miranda hate, news outlets seem to dance around the topic, not fully confronting the monstrosity that is Miranda’s voice. One article published, talks about how Miranda almost cast himself as “Aaron Burr” in the Hamilton musical, instead of allowing the very talented and deserving Leslie Odom Jr. to play the role. “Miranda is an incredibly talented performer, but Odom Jr. certainly has a greater vocal range,” said the Screen Rant article. It’s like they are trying not to hurt Miranda’s feelings, saying he is bad without really describing how horrible he is at singing.
Lin Manuel Miranda is an exceedingly talented writer. There is no denying his incomparable ‘it’ factor when it comes to musical composition in addition to his performance-directing genius. However, he’s addicted to casting himself in these main feature roles that are well beyond his vocal ability. You don’t need any musical talent to recognize he is a horrible singer. So why does he keep doing this and more importantly, why is no one telling him to stop? Why is the media protecting his ego?
Well, Lin Manuel Miranda actually answers it for himself. “If I want to play the main guy, I have found, I have to write it,” Miranda said in an interview with Screen Rant. “I get to be cockier than I really am; I get to be smarter than I really am; I get to be more impulsive than I really am - it’s taking the reins off your id for two and a half hours." He is placing himself in these main roles not to make a better experience for the audience but to make it a better experience for himself. I would argue it demonstrates a certain level of self-obsession and narcissism. He continues this maddening cycle because he doesn’t know how bad he is. He craves this limelight that he truly believes is inaccessible to him unless he is starring in these feature roles. I think Icarus flew too close to the sun.
As to why the media continues to avoid addressing the elephant in the room, people aren’t attracted to the vocalist Lin Manuel Miranda, they are attracted to the writer Lin Manuel Miranda. Since the two are currently one and the same, news outlets cannot bash Miranda as a singer without wounding his pride as a writer. The world truly loves the screenplay writer and composer to such an extent they are willing to look past his lack of vocal ability. He began creating these masterpieces to have his 15 seconds of fame as a performer. If the media had critiqued Miranda early on in his career, I speculate he would have stopped performing and writing altogether. While that may have been true in 1999 as a sophomore in college writing his first Broadway musical, he is a household name at this point. Miranda is a globally renowned figure that will go down in musical history.
It's time to rip the bandaid off and tell it as it is. As amazing as Lin Manuel Miranda is, he is the weak link in his performances. He doesn't need to fulfill his fantasy of fame through his characters anymore. He doesn't have to write things just so he can be in the spotlight. He is already a big deal. The world knows his name as a writer, which is a good thing. Now it is time to face the facts, acknowledge he is a horrible singer who should never perform again, and stick to what he is good at.