Three months later, Menken stated that his work on the film's music had been put on hold due to Miranda and Marc Platt's schedules with Mary Poppins Returns.

[4] On May 20, 2019, Menken stated that The Little Mermaid would be his next project, following the release of the live-action adaptation of Aladdin,[5] and on July 9, he and Miranda started working on new songs for the film.

He also recalled that Miranda was "daunted" by the prospect of following in the footsteps of the late Howard Ashman, the lyricist who worked with Menken to write the original film's songs.

[9] On November 24, 2021, in a recent interview with Collider, Miranda talked about his admiration for The Little Mermaid and how Ashman and Menken helped shape his childhood.

On February 17, 2022, during a podcast interview with Variety, Miranda revealed that one of the new songs for the live-action film, "For the First Time", will take place when Ariel is on land in her human form.

"[12][13][14][15] Menken then provided more details on the new songs, revealing that the first of the four that was written during the film's development was a solo for Prince Eric, "Wild Unchartered Waters", resulting from Marshall wanting "...a new song for this moment of waves and all the wildness of what's out there in the ocean...[Ariel] represented that to [Prince Eric]; she is the girl who saved his life.

The song was featured as an additional track on a physical version of the soundtrack released as a HSN exclusive.

"[18] The soundtrack album was made available to pre-save and pre-order on March 13, 2023. and will be released digitally on May 19, 2023, and on physical CD and vinyl on May 26, 2023, by Walt Disney Records.

[1][2] The deluxe edition of the soundtrack featuring Menken's complete original score was also released on the same date.

[21] An outtake of "Impossible Child", performed by Javier Bardem, was released as a digital single on September 8, 2023.