Hailee Steinfeld has returned to music with Magic, a new version of the 1984 hit by The Cars. Released through Walt Disney Records on October 23, the recording brings her voice to a familiar pop-rock melody for the animated film Hexed. She also voices its central character, Billie Doe, connecting the soundtrack release with her acting role in Disney's upcoming coming-of-age adventure.
A familiar 1980s pop-rock song has returned through Hailee Steinfeld's voice and the world of Disney's Hexed. Her version of Magic by The Cars arrived on Friday, October 23, as a standalone digital release and the first musical selection presented from the forthcoming soundtrack. The recording connects an established melody with the animated story in which she voices the central character, Billie Doe.
The cover keeps the original composition's strong musical identity, with the pop and rock elements associated with The Cars remaining points of reference. A different singer provides another interpretation rather than erasing the recording's period character. That balance allows listeners who know the older song to recognize it while introducing the melody within a new cinematic setting for another audience.
Ric Ocasek wrote Magic for Heartbeat City, the band's fifth studio album, released in 1984. The Boston group had developed a sound joining guitars and keyboards with new-wave influences, and the record extended its American commercial reach. The original single reached number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming one of the recordings associated with that successful phase of the band's career.
The song belongs to a catalog that also includes Drive, You Might Think and Shake It Up. Its recognizable melody and rhythm have helped it retain a place beyond the moment of its initial release. For the Disney project, choosing an existing song brings those associations into the film's musical presentation while allowing a contemporary performance to reach listeners unfamiliar with the band.
Hailee Steinfeld voices Billie, a teenager who discovers abilities she did not know she possessed. The revelation takes her out of a familiar suburban environment and into the witch realm of Hexe, where the adventure becomes connected with family secrets. The title Magic provides an immediate link with that setting, although the soundtrack's use of the recording has not been assigned to a particular scene publicly.
Billie's mother, Alice, is voiced by Rashida Jones. Their different ways of responding to problems become part of a mother-and-daughter relationship that is central to the story. Disney has not presented Hexed as a musical, and the release does not establish that Billie sings this cover within the narrative. The recording forms part of the film's musical identity without that additional assumption.
Demitri Lerios, a childhood friend of the singer, produced the new version. Hailee Steinfeld has described the opportunity to sing for the film as something that arose naturally, with their existing friendship making the studio experience personal. The collaboration brought someone she had known for years into a project that already joined two areas of her working life.
Music and acting meet here through a single production: her speaking performance helps create the protagonist, while the separate recording introduces an aspect of the soundtrack. She has discussed the importance of both activities in her creative life. The cover provides another example of that connection, without requiring the song's narrator and the animated character to be treated as the same person.
The new recording follows Dangerous, released in April 2025 in connection with Sinners, a film in which she also acted. That earlier project likewise paired her screen work with music. Hailee Steinfeld has described bringing the disciplines together as a particularly fulfilling creative experience, making Magic part of an existing pattern of recordings linked with acting roles.
Her solo musical profile began developing more widely with Love Myself in 2015. Starving, with Grey and Zedd, reached number twelve on the Hot 100 in 2016, followed by songs exploring other aspects of her pop voice. That recording career has continued alongside her work in film rather than replacing it, giving the soundtrack performance a background beyond the specific Disney release.
No new solo album has been announced alongside Magic. Its connection with Hexed is specific, and the cover has been presented as a soundtrack contribution rather than confirmation of a full new recording campaign. The release offers another performance from the singer without establishing a larger project or timetable that she has not herself announced.
The complete soundtrack is scheduled for November 20, 2026, and will include original music by Kris Bowers, whose work includes The Wild Robot. His score will create the musical setting for Billie's adventure, while Hailee Steinfeld's cover serves a different function as a recognizable song available before the film. The complete collection will reveal more of the production's orchestral side.
Hexed is due in American cinemas on November 25 and in Britain on November 27. Its voice cast also includes Jodie Foster, Walton Goggins, Tracey Ullman and Stephen Fry. Fawn Veerasunthorn and Jason Hand direct, with Josie Trinidad co-directing. Those release plans put the song several weeks ahead of the audience's first opportunity to see the full animated production.
Hailee Steinfeld's Magic is now available through Walt Disney Records as a standalone digital single. For listeners familiar with The Cars, it revisits a composition from 1984; for followers of her screen and recording work, it joins both activities in another film project. The soundtrack follows on November 20, before Billie Doe's adventure reaches cinemas later that month.
