Lin-Manuel Miranda’s latest #Hamildrop, a hashtag describing loose songs from various cast members/musical pals of the famous Hamilton Broadway musical, is a track called “First Burn." It features five of the women who have played Eliza Hamilton onstage. The actor, singer, and writer also shared the music video via Twitter.
According to Billboard, Miranda and fellow Broadway actor Ben Platt charted on the Hot 100 with “Found/Tonight” in March, with “First Burn” likely to do the same in May. Miranda himself confirmed on Twitter that this is “a first draft” of the Hamilton song “Burn.” This version features Arianna Afsar, Julia Harriman, Lexi Lawson, Rachelle Ann Go, and Show Narayan.
“It’s different, but it’s a mood,” said Miranda. When asked why this track wasn’t included on The Hamilton Mixtape, he said that some of these songs can stand on their own, while others don't stand as well on their own. He also wrote that it took two-and-a-half drafts to reach this final version, which explains the title.
Unfortunately for many of us, the Broadway musical remains extremely difficult to attend. On the bright side, we can listen to the music itself, and vicariously peek into Miranda’s writing process.
