If I Never Knew You

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"If I Never Knew You"

Single by Jon Secada and Shanice
from the album Pocahontas soundtrack
Released	September 12, 1995
Format	CD-Single
Recorded	1995
Genre	Pop
Length	4:10
Label	Walt Disney Records
Chart positions
* #51 (UK)
Jon Secada singles chronology
"Mental Picture" (1995)	"If I Never Knew You" (1995)	"Too Late Too Soon" (1997)
Shanice singles chronology
"I Wish" (1994)	"If I Never Knew You" (1995)	"When I Close My Eyes" (1999)

If I Never Knew You is the love theme and the second single from Disney's 1995 animated feature Pocahontas.

The song was originally developed for the prison scene where Pocahontas visits John Smith before he is to be put to death for the alleged murder of Kocoum, a trusted Powhatan warrior. The musical number, which was about 90% animated, was to be a duet performed by the pair as they acknowledge their love for each other. Because during test screenings with child audiences their attention "seemed to wonder from the film", Alan Menken, the composer of the songs for Disney's Pocahontas, suggested it be cut because he also felt that it slowed the pace of the movie, with another song, Savages, not five minutes after. Though cut from the movie itself, If I Never Knew You was still performed by Jon Secada and Shanice at the end credits and released as a single. In 2006, it was performed by the Cheetah Girls as part of DisneyMania 4.

In 2005, Disney released the tenth anniversary edition of Pocahontas, which had the song fully animated and integrated into the film, but was an optional feature that you could refuse and watch the original theatrical version instead.