<P> "I'll Make a Man Out of You" has received mostly positive reviews from film and music critics, some of whom dubbed it the film's best song, while praising Osmond's performance . Critics have also drawn comparisons between the song and Disney's Hercules, while likening Mulan's role and transformation to actress Demi Moore's performance as Lieutenant Jordan O'Neil in the film G.I. Jane (1997). The song has since appeared on several "best of" Disney songs lists, including those of Total Film and the New York Post . Discussed by film critics, film historians, academic journalists and feminists, the song has gone on to be recorded and covered in several different languages--namely Mandarin, Cantonese and Spanish--by entertainers Jackie Chan and Cristian Castro, respectively . </P> <P> "I'll Make a Man Out of You" was written by composer Matthew Wilder and lyricist David Zippel, who were hired to write the songs for Mulan because, according to co-director Tony Bancroft, "Disney was trying to find different songwriters that...would give kind of different sound to each of the songs ." While Zippel, a Broadway lyricist, was recruited because the directors were impressed by the songwriter's work on Disney's Hercules (1997), at the time Wilder, a pop singer and record producer, was best known for his hit single "Break My Stride". Bancroft believes that, although the songwriters "had two different sensibilities...I think the blend (of their styles) worked well together, especially on (' I'll Make a Man Out of You')". </P> <P> Originally, songwriter Stephen Schwartz, who had just recently worked as a lyricist opposite composer Alan Menken on Disney's Pocahontas (1995) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), was slated to write the lyrics for Mulan, but he was replaced by Zippel "at the last moment ." Schwartz had written a song called "We'll Make a Man of You" for "when Mulan is trying to learn to be a soldier". The song was eventually replaced by Wilder and Zippel's "I'll Make a Man Out of You" when Schwartz was forced to resign from Mulan by Disney executives Peter Schneider and Michael Eisner because the songwriter had also agreed to write the songs for rival film studio DreamWorks' animated feature film The Prince of Egypt (1998). According to The Musical Theater of Stephen Schwartz: From Godspell to Wicked and Beyond, Schwartz believed that he would have been able to work on both films simultaneously, but ultimately chose The Prince of Egypt instead because he felt pressured by Disney . </P> <P> Before Mulan, American singer Donny Osmond had auditioned for the lead role in Hercules, a role for which he was ultimately not cast because the directors felt that his voice sounded "too old" and "too deep" for the character . Osmond later revealed in an interview with People that he was so embarrassed by his Hercules audition that he had nearly considered ending his singing career prematurely . A few months later, Disney contacted Osmond with interest in casting him as the singing voice of Shang after comparing his audition tapes to BD Wong and determining that both actors have "very similar voices ." In one scene, Osmond's character, Shang, is hit in the stomach while singing "I'll Make a Man Out of You". In order to sound as realistic as possible, Osmond punched himself in the stomach several times while recording the song . </P>

Who sings let's get down to business