best. At the beginning of the COVID‑19 pandemic, a full re-edit of the film was carried out in order to make the story as poignant as possible. The editing process was challenging, as multiple post-production companies were working on the film all remotely. Fordjour noted how the George Floyd protests began as the film was in post-production, describing it as "divine intervention" and adding: "Being able to do something that was a love letter to fellow women and men, and our culture, in a time when we need a pick-me-up, that is something that I will never forget." Beyoncé and Derek Dixie acted as music directors, while MeLo-X, Derek Dixie, and James William Blades contributed to the score; MeLo-X described working on the film on Twitter, writing: "Truly an amazing and eye opening journey. @Beyonce always pushes for greatness. This is nothing less". Music Black Is King is based on the music of The Lion King: The Gift, with each song on the album receiving corresponding visuals in the film. An extended version of "Black Parade" was used for the film's credits. The film's score was composed by James William Blades, MeLo-X, and Derek Dixie, while Beyoncé and Derek Dixie acted as music directors. The score contains traditional African music from the UNESCO Collection of Traditional Music and released by Smithsonian Folkways. Ethnomusicologist and retired Smithsonian Folkways associated director Atesh Sonneborn commented that the choice of songs used were notably lullabies and children's songs, with the selection showing that Beyoncé was trying "to reach back to her own sense of African heritage". Sam Adams of Slate wrote that the inclusion of this selection of recordings in Black Is King "underline the way in which tradition is passed down through music" as well as "how that transmission can be exploited by outside parties for profit". Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote that the use of the traditional African recordings as transitions in the film reinforces the theme of "the continuity of old and new". In Black Is King, Beyoncé included Solomon Linda's 1939 song "Mbube", which was adapted as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" in the original The Lion King. Linda received no credit for his song's inclusion in the film, and neither he nor his descendants were financially compensated. Brooke Obie of Esquire noted that the inclusion of the original recording where the adaptation would have been in The