"Let It Go" A critique of the two versions.
In the movie "Frozen", the movie's big pivotal moment and big sweeping songs comes from Queen Elsa, the song is called "Let It Go".
In it she sings about losing control of her powers to freeze everything and people finding out her secret, she also sings about her newfound freedom in isolation where she can be free.
Her voice is done by Idina Menzel, of broadway fame from "Wicked" and "Rent" and from TV's "Glee". She sings the song as it is heard in the movie. It was the version that was nominated (and won) an Oscar. It is magnificent in every way.
Her softness in the beginning portrays Elsa's sadness, but her voice gains strength as Elsa does and finishes strong. In fact when I saw the movie the first time I thought her singing was too good to belong to a young girl queen in a disney movie.
The "soundtrack" version of the song and the one that plays as the credits roll was performed by Demi Lovato, known for her work on the Disney Channel, and a few pop hits on the radio.
Her version is not bad. If I had never heard Menzel's version I probably would've liked Lovato's. Alas though that is not how it happened.
Lovato is singing a pop song and Menzel is singing a power ballad of transformation. In Menzel's version Elsa transforms and courageously embraces her reality, flaws and all. It is a powerful message to young girls. A message they have memorized word for word.
Lovato's pop song sounds good and feels good, and that's the problem. The pain and triumph are missing. The lyrics are those you hum blindly too or mistaken terrible never knowing the difference because knowing the phrase "Let It Go" is all that really matters in order to sing along.
There just isn't enough depth, there's no story.
The song tells a story and that's what makes it so great. Disney does that like few others in the entertainment business. It is certainly their magic in my opinion.
Take a few moments to listen to Lovato's and see what you think:
In a movie where Disney broke the norm in their story line, and with their big song, they should have stayed the course and broke tradition and not had a pop version recorded.
Frozen is quite notably the first movie Disney has done that explicitly points out in very deliberate fashion that you cannot marry a man you just met. The entire movie revolves around those you should truly trust and romance is removed from that equation. Repunzel toyed with this idea and Brave pursued it fully, but just not quite as loudly as Frozen did.
The fans got the final word on this matter though, Menzel's version topped Lovato's on the Billboard charts and she was invited to perform it at the Oscar's rather than Lovato.
Little girls everywhere belt the song out like Menzel, I think few even realize Lovato recorded the song as well.
It's probably best for Lovato to realize she is competing with a broadway star out of her league and just "Let It Go."
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