How Far I 'll Go " is a song from Disney 's 2016 animated feature film '' Moana '' . It was written and produced by Lin-Manuel Miranda . The song was performed in the film by American actress and singer Auliʻi Cravalho in her role as Moana . It was released along with the album on November 18 , 2016 . Canadian singer Alessia Cara also recorded the song for the '' Moana '' soundtrack . The song was nominated for Best Original Song at the 89th Academy Awards and Best Original Song at the 74th Golden Globe Awards but lost both to " City of Stars " from '' La La Land . '' " How Far I 'll Go " was composed as Moana 's " I Want " song , following in the long tradition of " I Want " songs in 1990s Disney animated musicals . It replaced an earlier attempt called " More " , for which the demo version recorded by Marcy Harriell was released as an outtake on the deluxe version of the soundtrack album . Although Miranda has stressed that he is still " very proud of " the song as a first draft , " More " was not good enough in retrospect because it merely expressed Moana 's vague desire to see more since she had already figured out everything about the island . In contrast , " How Far I 'll Go " expresses a deeper , richer message : Moana 's struggle with the irresistible impulse to explore beyond the reef notwithstanding her genuine love for her island , her family , and her people . As Miranda explained to '' People '' : " To me that 's much more complicated than , ' I hate it here and I want to get out , ' ... To say , ‘ I love it here , I love my parents , but why ca n't I stop walking to the ocean and fantasizing about getting out of here ? ' And questioning that instinct ? It 's even more confusing . And that 's a valid story too . " To make himself write a song more compelling than " More " , Miranda " went method " . According to Miranda , he locked himself in his childhood bedroom at his parents ' residence for an entire weekend in order to force his mind back to age 16 ( the same age as Moana in the film ) , a time when he was facing what seemed like an " impossible distance " between the reality of his pleasant middle-class childhood which had no connection to show business whatsoever , and his dreams of a career in show business . He was well aware that he was composing the next Disney " I Want " song after " Let It Go " and that whatever he wrote had to be different from " Let It Go "
74th Golden Globe Awards
74th Golden Globe Awards
How Far I'll Go