BLACKPINK's Jennie Leads Netflix's Steps Soundtrack With Someone to Hold

A new song brings Jennie into Cinderella's world

BLACKPINK's Jennie has recorded "Someone to Hold" for Steps, Netflix's animated adventure that puts Cinderella's stepsisters at the center of a kingdom in trouble. The song, the film and its companion soundtrack are scheduled for release on November 20, 2026, giving listeners and viewers access to the music and its story on the same day.

Netflix announced Jennie's involvement on October 15 through its Steps soundtrack announcement. A preview of the track appears in the official trailer. Netflix describes the song as accompanying the film's emotional crescendo, the point where the characters' feelings reach their greatest intensity, and capturing the bond between its sisters.

The project marks Jennie's first song for an animated film. Alongside her contribution, the soundtrack features songs performed by Rose Gray, EMEI and Amanda Seyfried, who also voices Cinderella. Grammy nominee Justin Tranter wrote and produced the four original songs, with Netflix also identifying songwriting contributions from the performers. Kris Bowers composed the instrumental score.

Steps changes more than the viewpoint of a familiar fairy tale. Lilith and Margot disrupt the royal ball, a new villain takes the throne, and Lilith must work with Cinderella to repair the damage. The music follows that movement from resentment and rivalry toward a stronger relationship.

Why Jennie joined the project

Jennie said the characters' personalities and the warmth of the story drew her to Steps. The BLACKPINK singer described making the song as an enjoyable first experience in animation.

In Netflix's announcement, Jennie explained her connection to the film:

I am so excited to join the Steps family, and it was really fun making my first song for an animated film. I love how much heart and personality the characters have, and I'm so happy I got to be a little part of their world.

Directors Alyce Tzue and John Ripa describe "Someone to Hold" as representing the sisterhood between Lilith, Cinderella and Margot. That gives the track a specific purpose within the adventure: it accompanies a relationship that the characters must fight to preserve.

Netflix calls the track a powerful ballad, while Tranter describes its sound as "pure danceable joy" inspired by vintage dance pop. Together, those descriptions point to a song intended to carry both the film's emotional weight and the rhythmic energy running through much of its soundtrack.

Four songs, four different dramatic jobs

The soundtrack brings together four original songs rather than a continuous sequence of musical numbers. Steps began production as a full musical before developing into more of an action comedy. Its remaining songs are tied to particular characters and moments.

Tranter, the songwriter and producer behind the collection, explained the musical connection between the tracks:

The story in Steps lends itself beautifully to a variety of voices and sonics, and the main throughline in the soundtrack is dance music.

Rose Gray's "Meet Me on the Dance Floor" plays during the palace ball. The directors identify it as the song belonging to Priscilla, the villain voiced by Nikki Glaser. Tranter describes its style as modern electro dance pop, giving the antagonist a dance track within the royal setting.

Gray also helped write "Smile and a Song," which Seyfried performs as Cinderella to the townspeople of Alouette, the land where the film takes place. Tranter describes that number as drawing on traditional musical theater. Its character focus is Cinderella trying to heal the world while needing to address her own pain.

EMEI contributes the fourth song, titled "Understudy" in Netflix's announcement and "The Understudy" in other soundtrack descriptions. An understudy is a performer who prepares to take another actor's place. Here, the idea connects with Lilith's frustration at being overlooked while Cinderella receives the attention.

EMEI gives Lilith's resentment a voice

EMEI helped write her contribution, which the directors describe as capturing Lilith's underdog anger. Tranter places the song in the sound of French electro house, a form of electronic dance music, while describing its central message as an anthem for someone struggling to be noticed.

EMEI, a singer and songwriter who described herself as a theater enthusiast and animation lover, said Lilith's feelings were familiar to her:

'Understudy' is such a special song, as often in my life I've felt overlooked and misunderstood, just like Lilith.

The song also includes references to theater language and ends with a scream that EMEI singled out as a favorite recording moment. Those details give Lilith's frustration a different musical expression from the bond celebrated in Jennie's song.

The four songs therefore trace distinct parts of the story. Lilith gets an outlet for anger, Priscilla takes possession of the dance floor, Cinderella sings to her community, and "Someone to Hold" centers the sisters' connection. Their shared soundtrack brings competing feelings into the same adventure.

How the stepsisters change the fairy tale

Ali Wong voices Lilith, while Stephanie Hsu plays her sister Margot. Tired of living in Cinderella's shadow, Lilith steals the Fairy Godmother's magic wand and hijacks the royal ball with Margot. Their disruption allows Priscilla to seize the throne and impose her rule on the kingdom.

Lilith then has to join forces with Cinderella, voiced by Seyfried. Their journey takes them past hostile pursuers and through the Screaming Woods as they try to save the kingdom. Repairing their relationship is a central part of that mission.

The premise gives the stepsisters responsibility for the crisis and a role in resolving it. Cinderella, meanwhile, becomes Lilith's partner in an adventure rather than simply the figure whose good fortune the sisters resent. Their changing relationship supplies the emotional setting for Jennie's song.

Priscilla's rise also moves the conflict beyond the family. A fight over attention at a royal ball has consequences for everyone living under the new ruler. The sisters must deal with both the public damage caused by their actions and the private tensions that helped set those actions in motion.

A director's experience of feeling outside the story

Tzue, a Student Academy Awards gold medal winner, connects Steps to her experience growing up as an awkward, artistic Taiwanese child in suburban New Jersey. She said she often felt that the promise of a happy ending was meant for other people.

Explaining the personal idea behind the film, Tzue told Netflix:

I wanted to create a film for everyone who has ever felt like they didn't belong — and show how a single act of kindness can change everything.

Tzue describes the story as bringing together two very different sisters, one who fits into the fairy tale kingdom and one who does not, as they discover how much they share. That focus helps explain why the film's central musical moment concerns sisterhood rather than romance.

Ripa, who previously co-directed Raya and the Last Dragon, said the story and its message about belonging attracted him to the project. The directors' stated focus connects the film's action, family conflict and music: the characters are trying to find their place while learning to see one another differently.

Kris Bowers builds a wider musical world

Kris Bowers's score was recorded at Abbey Road Studios. Unlike the four featured songs, a score is the instrumental music that accompanies scenes, helping shape their mood and connect events through recurring musical ideas.

Bowers combines a full orchestra with instruments including mouth harp, erhu, guzheng, synthesizers and harpsichord. The erhu is a Chinese bowed instrument with two strings, while the guzheng is a Chinese plucked string instrument. Their sounds sit alongside electronic textures and the more familiar orchestral language of fairy tale films.

Bowers, whose credits include Bridgerton and The Wild Robot, described how the music responds to the movie's changing treatment of its storybook setting:

There are moments where the score goes into this lush fairy-tale sound, and it's doing that either very purposefully because of where the story is or playfully in a more comedic way.

The score therefore has a different job from the pop songs. It can support a sincere emotional scene, help turn a familiar royal setting into a joke, or carry the action between musical performances. The combination suits a film that developed from a musical into an adventure comedy while keeping four original songs.

Who brings Alouette to life?

The voice cast extends beyond Wong, Hsu and Seyfried. Daniel Radcliffe plays the Prince, Young Mazino voices Gef, and Peter Dinklage plays Roderick. WWE wrestler Damian Priest voices Cracktor, bringing another performance background into the ensemble.

Bette Midler voices the Fairy Godmother whose stolen wand starts the crisis. Midler describes this version of the familiar character as having good intentions while also being a bumbler and a schemer. Glaser's Priscilla takes the story in a more dangerous direction when she claims the throne.

Amy Poehler, Jane Hartwell and Kim Lessing produce Steps, with Poehler and Lessing working through Paper Kite Productions. The screenplay credits name Ava Tramer, James Madejski, Jen Chuck, Dana Schwartz and Felicia Ho. Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci also share story credits with Tramer, Madejski, Schwartz and Ho.

Steps is Netflix Animation Studios' first feature fully produced within the studio. For this release, the company is pairing a familiar fairy tale with an ensemble cast, original pop songs and an orchestral score, all arriving together rather than on separate release schedules.

When the film and soundtrack arrive

November 20, 2026, is the scheduled release date for both Steps on Netflix and Steps (Soundtrack from the Netflix Film) on digital music platforms. The trailer already offers a preview of "Someone to Hold," ahead of the full recording.

The announced schedule is:

• October 15, 2026: Netflix announces Jennie's soundtrack involvement, with a preview of "Someone to Hold" in the film's trailer.
• November 20, 2026: Steps premieres on Netflix, and the full song and companion soundtrack are scheduled for digital release.

For Jennie, the release adds an animated film song to her work beyond BLACKPINK. For viewers, the same date brings both the adventure and the music attached to its main relationships, from Lilith's resentment to the sisters' eventual effort to protect one another.

Key Points

• Jennie performs "Someone to Hold," her first song for an animated film, for Netflix's Steps.
• The film and its companion soundtrack are scheduled for release on November 20, 2026.
• The soundtrack features four original songs, with performances by Jennie, Rose Gray, EMEI and Amanda Seyfried.
• Justin Tranter wrote and produced the songs, with songwriting contributions also credited to participating artists.
• Kris Bowers composed the score, which was recorded at Abbey Road Studios.
• Ali Wong and Stephanie Hsu voice stepsisters Lilith and Margot, while Seyfried voices Cinderella.
• The story follows a disastrous royal ball, Priscilla's seizure of the throne and Lilith's alliance with Cinderella.