Let It Go

This article is about the song from Disney's Frozen. For other uses, see Let It Go (disambiguation).

"Let It Go"
Remixes cover
Single by Idina Menzel
from the album Frozen: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
PublishedWonderland Music Company
ReleasedJanuary 2014 (2014-01)
Recorded
  • 2012 (piano, vocals)[1]
  • 2013 (rhythm section, orchestra)
GenreShow tune
Length3:45
LabelWalt Disney
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Idina Menzel singles chronology
"You Learn to Live Without"
(2013) 		"Let It Go"
(2014) 		"Baby, It's Cold Outside"
(2014)
Music video (film sequence)
"Let It Go" on YouTube

"Let It Go" is a song from Disney's 2013 computer-animated feature film Frozen, whose music and lyrics were composed by husband-and-wife songwriting team Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. The song was performed in its original show-tune version in the film by American actress and singer Idina Menzel in her vocal role as Queen Elsa. It was later released as a single,[2][3] being promoted to adult contemporary radio by Walt Disney Records in January 2014.[4][5] Anderson-Lopez and Lopez also composed a simplified pop version (with shorter lyrics and background chorus) which was performed by actress and singer Demi Lovato over the start of the film's closing credits. Disney's music division planned to release Lovato's version of the song before Menzel's, as they did not consider Menzel's version a traditional pop song.[5] A music video was released separately for Lovato's version.

The song was a commercial success, becoming the first song from a Disney animated musical to reach the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 since 1995, when Vanessa L. Williams's "Colors of the Wind" from Pocahontas peaked at number four on the chart. The song is also Menzel's first single to reach the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making her the first Tony Award winner for acting to ever reach the top 10.[6] The song was the ninth-best-selling song of 2014 in the United States, with 3.37 million copies sold in that year.[7] As of December 2014, the song had sold 3.5 million copies in the US.[8] It was the biggest-selling foreign song from any original soundtrack in South Korea as of March 12, 2014.[9]

The song presents Queen Elsa, who flees her kingdom when she publicly loses control of her ability to generate ice. Up in the mountains and away from the townspeople, Elsa realizes that she no longer needs to hide her ability and rejoices in not only being able to use her power freely but also the freedom from others' expectations of her as a royal. She sheds her royal accessories, creates a living snowman, and builds an ice castle for herself.

"Let It Go" reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and won both the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2014 and the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media in 2015.[10] The song gained international recognition, becoming one of the most globally recorded Disney songs, with versions sung in 25 languages for the film's international releases.[11]

According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, "Let It Go" sold 10.9 million copies in 2014, becoming the year's fifth best-selling song.[12]

A remix EP was released digitally by Walt Disney Records on May 19, 2014.[13] The EP features four remixes by Dave Audé, Papercha$er, DJ Escape & Tony Coluccio and Corbin Hayes.[14][15] Armin van Buuren produced another remix of the song for the remix album, Dconstructed.[16]

  1. ^ Perlman, Jake (February 10, 2014). "On the Scene: 'Frozen' cast performs live for the first (and probably only) time ever". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on February 14, 2015. Retrieved February 10, 2014. It was the first time the cast had ever sung the songs live and the first time many had sung the songs at all since they recorded the soundtrack a year and a half ago.
  2. ^ "Listen to Club Remixes of "Frozen" Single "Let It Go" from Dave Audé, Papercha$er and More (Audio)". Playbill. March 21, 2014. Archived from the original on July 16, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  3. ^ Caulfield, Keith (March 20, 2014). "Idina Menzel, 'Let It Go' (Papercha$er Club Remix): Exclusive Dance Track Premiere". Billboard. Archived from the original on July 6, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  4. ^ Caulfield, Keith (January 20, 2014). "'Frozen' - The No. 1 Album That's Been Ignored by Radio". Billboard. Archived from the original on July 11, 2014. Retrieved June 3, 2014. That's partly owed to how none of the album's songs were promoted to radio outlets until two weeks ago, when Idina Menzel's version of the film's "Let It Go" -- the album's best-selling song with 606,000 downloads sold according to Nielsen SoundScan -- was officially serviced to adult contemporary radio stations by Disney.
  5. ^ a b Knopper, Steve (March 11, 2014). "How 'Frozen' Went From Small Soundtrack to Worldwide Phenomenon". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 26, 2014. Retrieved June 29, 2014. Yet Frozen took forever to develop – and that was part of Disney's marketing plan. A few weeks before the album made its debut last November 25th, the company's music division put out reliable pop star Demi Lovato's version of "Let It Go" – and it barely earned any radio play. But somewhere around early January, the album hit a tipping point, shortly after Disney began pushing the version by Idina Menzel, who plays Elsa in the animated film. "You don't really want to go out [first] with a clip of the film," says Ken Bunt, president of the Disney Music Group. "The idea was to go out with the Demi version and follow up with the Idina version. It's a non-traditional pop song for radio. We've been working it for a while, but radio is realizing, 'This is an undeniable song.'"
  6. ^ Caulfield, Keith (March 15, 2014). "'Let It Go' Helps Idina Menzel Make Hot 100 History". Billboard. Archived from the original on March 17, 2014. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
  7. ^ Grein, Paul (December 31, 2014). "It's Official: Pharrell Has 2014's Best-Selling Song". Yahoo! Music. Archived from the original on April 1, 2015.
  8. ^ "The Big 9 in 2014: Disney". HITS Daily Double. HITS Digital Ventures. December 9, 2014. Archived from the original on January 18, 2021. Retrieved December 10, 2014.
  9. ^ "Gaon Download Chart" (in Korean). Gaon Chart. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014.
  10. ^ "Show Bits: 'Frozen' Soundtrack Fires up With 2 Grammy Wins". ABC News. Archived from the original on February 9, 2015. Retrieved February 9, 2015.
  11. ^ West, Kelly (January 22, 2014). "Hear Frozen's Let It Go Sung in 25 Different Languages". CinemaBlend. Archived from the original on February 17, 2015. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
  12. ^ "IFPI publishes Digital Music Report 2015". International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. April 14, 2015. p. 12. Archived from the original on April 14, 2015. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  13. ^ Caulfield, Keith (March 20, 2014). "Idina Menzel, 'Let It Go' (Papercha$er Club Remix): Exclusive Dance Track Premiere". Billboard. Archived from the original on July 6, 2014. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  14. ^ Lansky, Sam (March 20, 2014). "Dave Audé Turns Frozen's "Let It Go" Into a Huge Dance Anthem: Listen". Time. Archived from the original on June 7, 2014. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  15. ^ "Let It Go Remixes (From "Frozen") - EP by Idina Menzel". iTunes Store. May 19, 2014. Archived from the original on December 6, 2014. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  16. ^ Kennedy, Gerrick D. (March 12, 2014). "Armin van Buuren, Avicii tapped for Disney remix album". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on April 19, 2014. Retrieved April 19, 2014.