"Burn" is the fifteenth song in Act 2 of the musical Hamilton, which tells the story of Alexander Hamilton. The musical first performed on Broadway in 2015. Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote both the music and lyrics for the song. The song is sung by the character Eliza Hamilton, who was originally performed by Phillipa Soo.

Background

In his book Alexander Hamilton, which inspired the musical, Ron Chernow writes that Eliza Hamilton was a humble and unassuming woman who reportedly burned her letters and attempted to remove her name from historical records. The song reflects Lin-Manuel Miranda's portrayal of Chernow's belief that Eliza destroyed some letters she wrote to her husband.

Synopsis

The pamphlet titled "Burn" follows "The Reynolds Pamphlet," in which Alexander Hamilton publicly confesses to an affair in an effort to protect his reputation. His wife, Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, feels deeply hurt and betrayed by the revelation. The sadness and embarrassment she experiences lead her to burn the letters that Alexander had written to her.

Analysis

Several critics noticed that some of the song's lyrics appear to reference the song's own creation.

Writing for The New Yorker, Michael Shulman stated, "Miranda seems to be making fun of his lack of original documents when showing this moment in the Hamiltons' marriage. However, by accepting the mystery the song highlights, he brings attention to a bigger issue in women's history: public records are less detailed, the environment was mainly focused on home life, and more guesswork is needed. What were Eliza's true thoughts? Was burning her letters the only choice she had left?"

HuffPost's Elizabeth Logan added, "It is important that Eliza repeatedly mentions Angelica's perspective on the crisis [of Hamilton's cheating]. This marriage involved more than just the two of them."

Critical reception

The song received a lot of praise from experts, especially for Soo's performance. Nora Dominick from Entertainment Monthly wrote, "the track leaves a strong impression on the Hamilton album as a whole" and said, "it is sure to become another classic song from Hamilton, and this is because of Soo and her emotional performance as Eliza."

Matt Rice from The Young Folks placed the song at number 13 among the album's 46 tracks.

Mixtape version

"Burn" is a song from The Hamilton Mixtape performed by Andra Day. When Day recorded the song, she had not yet seen the musical on Broadway, but she knew the story. She said she was very interested in Alexander Hamilton during school. She decided to cover "Burn" because she felt a strong connection to Eliza's emotions in the song. She explained she already understood Eliza's feelings and said, "The guy's a bad person."

A music video for the song was released on August 29, 2018. The video was directed by Aurora Guerrero. Guerrero was suggested to Lin-Manuel Miranda by director Ava DuVernay after Miranda asked DuVernay for help finding a new director. Miranda later said he was very impressed with the video Guerrero created.

Marissa Martinelli from Slate ranked the song as number 4 out of the album's 23 songs. She described Day's version as "devastating" and noted that, "Although the cover follows the original closely, Day's powerful emotions make it more than just a copy."

"First Burn"

"First Burn" is the fifth promotional song from the Hamildrops collection. It was released on April 30, 2018, and includes five actresses who played Eliza Hamilton in well-known productions of the musical: Arianna Afsar (original Chicago company), Julia Harriman (first and third national tour), Shoba Narayan (original second national tour company), Rachelle Ann Go (original West End company), and Lexi Lawson (Broadway).

The song is the first version of "Burn" written by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Miranda explained that in the final version of "Burn," Eliza Hamilton makes a choice to destroy Hamilton’s best qualities. In this early version, however, Eliza is more angry and acts without making her own decisions.

Miranda also noted that while the draft worked as a song, it did not function well as a scene. This was because the song began with Eliza burning letters immediately, which reduced the build-up of suspense. Additionally, some lyrics in the draft revealed details about the final song in the musical, which weakened its impact.