Survivors' Anthem Series #3: “Part of Your World” — Jodi Benson
- Shannon Brown
- Jan 28
- 5 min read
The Voice That Became My Safe Place
Some songs make you feel something.
Some songs become memories.
And then there are songs that do something deeper… something more sacred.
They become safety.
They become escape, not in the “run away from life” way, but in the way a child survives. In the way imagination becomes a lifeline. In the way a voice on a screen becomes a companion when the world feels too loud, too dangerous, too painful.
This is Survivors' Anthem #3, and it is one of the most personal songs in my entire life:
“Part of Your World” from Walt Disney’s The Little Mermaid
sung by Jodi Benson, the original voice of Ariel.
If you’ve read my memoir Because of Jane (available on Amazon), you know that imagination played a huge role in my survival. It wasn’t just something I did for fun. It was something my mind used to protect me when reality was too hard and too dark.
And The Little Mermaid was one of the brightest lights in my childhood.
Ariel Was More Than a Character to Me
When people talk about Disney movies, they often talk about magic, and yes, it is magical.
But for me, it was more than that.
Ariel wasn’t just a mermaid.
She was the beginning of a world where I could breathe.
A world where I wasn’t trapped inside what I couldn’t control.
A world where I could dream, explore, and hope.
There were dark times in my childhood, times I couldn’t explain, times I didn’t have the language for yet, times I couldn’t tell anyone about.
But I could watch Ariel.
I could sing with her.
I could imagine the ocean.
And for a little while, I could feel like I lived somewhere else… somewhere beautiful, somewhere safe.
That mattered more than I can fully express.
Why “Part of Your World” Is a Survivor Anthem
This song is often seen as a dreamy “I want more” kind of song.
But when you listen to it through the heart of a survivor… it becomes something else entirely.
Because this song is about longing.
It’s about reaching for something beyond the world you’re stuck in.
It’s about believing you were made for more than what you’re living through.
And that is what survival is.
Survivors understand yearning.
Survivors understand wanting another life.
Survivors understand trying to picture yourself in a different future when the present feels unbearable.
Ariel sings what so many of us felt silently:
“I want to be where the people are…”
“I want to see, want to see ’em dancin’…”
“Wish I could be… part of that world.”
It’s not just a wish.
It’s a vision.
And sometimes, as a child, a vision of something better is what keeps you going.
The Lyrics That Wrapped Around My Heart
This is one of those songs that isn’t just a song, it’s a feeling.
To this day, when I hear “Part of Your World,” something in me softens. Something in me remembers. Something in me holds that little girl who needed somewhere to go.
Because when you’re living through the unthinkable, the smallest things can become survival tools:
a movie you can escape into
a song you can sing when you can’t speak
a character who feels like a friend
a voice that makes you feel less alone
Jodi Benson’s voice became that for me.
It became comfort.
It became a safe place.
It became the sound of hope.
Meeting Jodi Benson in 2024: A Dream I Never Knew I’d Live
In 2024, I had the honor of meeting Jodi Benson at a convention.
And I truly don’t even have the right words for it.
I met the voice that carried me.
I met the woman behind the mermaid who opened up a whole world inside my imagination as a child, a world that helped me survive.
I can’t explain how my heart soared meeting her.
It felt like one of those full-circle moments that life rarely gives you. It wasn’t just “Oh my gosh, a celebrity!”
It was:
You have no idea what your voice did for me.
You have no idea how many nights I held onto your song.
You have no idea how much you helped me escape and keep going.
It was emotional in the deepest way.
Meeting her felt like meeting a part of my own story, a part of my childhood self, and telling her:
We made it.
Why This Song Still Heals Me
Even now, as an adult, “Part of Your World” still feels like healing.
Because it reminds me:
that my imagination was powerful
that the little girl I once was deserved magic
that I always had a spark inside me, even when things were dark
that longing is not weakness, it is evidence that you know you deserve more
Ariel didn’t settle for the small world she was given.
And neither did I.
This song reminds me that survival isn’t just enduring pain, it’s holding onto wonder until it becomes real.
My Go-To Karaoke Song (Because I Feel It in My Soul)
As an adult, “Part of Your World” didn’t just stay in my past.
It followed me.
And in the best way.
This song is my go-to karaoke song, the one I always come back to, the one that somehow still feels like it was written for me. I don’t just sing it… I feel it. Deeply. Like it lives in my bones.
When I sing it, it’s not just a Disney moment.
It’s personal.
It’s like my heart is speaking in a language it learned long before I had the words for what I survived. It reminds me of the little girl who needed Ariel, who needed that ocean world, who needed that dream.
But it also reminds me of the woman I am now, the one who made it through.
Karaoke is supposed to be fun (and it is!), but when I sing this song, it’s also something more: a release, a reclaiming, a reminder that I still have magic in me.
And after meeting Jodi Benson in 2024, this song became even more meaningful. It would be an absolute honor, a true dream, to someday sing “Part of Your World” with her. Even just one verse, one chorus… one shared moment.
Because that wouldn’t just be singing with a Disney legend.
That would be singing with the voice that helped save my childhood.
A Thank You to Jodi Benson
Jodi Benson, thank you.
Thank you for giving a voice to a character who became a safe place for so many of us. Thank you for singing with so much tenderness and longing that it felt like a friend sitting beside us in the dark.
Thank you for being part of my story, even without knowing it.
Your voice carried childhood hope. It carried imagination. It carried light.
And for survivors like me, that matters more than you’ll ever know.
From the bottom of my heart: thank you for helping me believe in another world, and for helping me make it through this one.
What’s Next in the Survivors' Anthem Series
Each Survivor’s Anthem post will include:
a featured song
why it mattered to me
what it helped me survive or process
and a reel where I sing a short piece of it while honoring the artist behind it on my authors social media pages
If you’re reading this and music has ever helped you survive… I hope this series reminds you that what saved you matters.
That what carried you matters.
And most importantly:
You are not alone.
Follow the growing Survivors' Anthem Playlist on Spotify:
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