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Avery Bish

Professor Hunter

English Composition II

21 Jan. 2020

“Let It Go”

Frozen has been an iconic Disney film since its release in 2013 (IMDb,“Frozen”). The

soundtrack from the movie was a huge hit and was streamed everywhere around the world. One of

the most popular songs was “Let It Go”. The soundtrack features two versions of the song, one by

Idina Menzel, who plays Elsa in the film, and a cover sung by Demi Lovato. Both versions of the

song had music videos released. Idina Menzel’s version was released on December 17, 2013, and

is a clip straight from the animated movie. Lovato’s video, which was released on November 1,

2013, shows Lovato in a giant mansion singing. Despite the differences between the videos for

"Let It Go" by Idina Menzel and Demi Lovato, they communicate the same theme: that it is

important to let go of the past and accept one’s self .

Idina Menzel’s version of “Let It Go” is a clip straight from the Children’s movie Frozen. It

features one of the main characters from the movie, Elsa, who is the queen of a town called

Arendell. She also happens to have magical ice powers, which she has hidden her entire life. In the

music video, Elsa lets her powers go and creates an ice palace. She is free from the responsibilities

of being queen, which she hated. It makes the reader think about how long Elsa has kept her true

self hidden.

Demi Lovato’s cover has a music video that is mostly live-action, expect for the clips taken

from “Frozen”. The video shows Lovato wearing a black dress and singing in a dark, musty
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mansion, where all of the furniture is covered in sheets. As the song progresses, Lovato starts to

explore the mansion a bit. She seems more confident and passionately sings at a piano as she

approaches the climax of the song. She finally busts through a pair of extravagant doors, now in a

flowy white dress. In the sunlight of the now lit mansion, she sings confidently and rips the sheets

off of some chairs sitting around. At the end, Lovato opens the window and steps into the sunlight.

It makes the reader think about how rewarding and good it can feel to move on from the past and

accept who you are.

There are many differences present between the two music videos. The most prevalent

being that Menzel’s video is animated and Lovato’s is mostly live-action. This difference changes a

lot when looking at the significance of the song. When looking at the video, Menzel’s video seems

less meaningful. It looks like a way to just move the plot of Frozen along. Lovato’s video, on the

other hand, feels more real. Besides the fact it is live-action, it does not feel like a fantasy world

where she has magical powers. She is just a real person singing about how she feels. Because of

the realness of Lovato’s video, the lyrics also feel more real. The viewer is not focused on how the

scene moves the story along, like with Menzel’s video. They are more focused on what the lyrics

are saying.

The meaning of the lyrics are more prominent in Lovato’s cover than in Menzel’s version

from the movie. The lyrics in each video are slightly different. Lines present in Menzel’s version

are more significant to the movie than to real life meaning. An example of this would be the line

“Let the storm rage on” (Mynott, “Let It Go Lyrics From Frozen”). At this point in the movie, Elsa

started a huge snow storm that is affecting the entire town. After accepting herself for who she is,

she no longer feels the need to stop the storm, which is why she is letting the “storm rage on”
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(Mynott, “Let It Go Lyrics From Frozen”). With Lovato’s cover, the lyrics apply more to real life.

The lyrics “the past is all behind me” are still related to the movie, but they have more real life

applications (Lyrics, “Let It Go”). It talks about choosing to be yourself and leaving the past

behind.

The differences between the videos establish different audiences. The serious, real-life tone

of Lovato’s video helps direct the message towards people ages 14 to 40 who are struggling with

the past or with accepting who you are. The message of Lovato’s video is that you should accept

the past and who you are. This is shown through symbolism in the video; It is dark when Lovato

is sad and sitting on the floor and bright when she is confident. The song feels directed more

towards the age group 14-40 because this group struggles the most with self confidence, and this is

a song teaching about self confidence. Menzel’s version, on the other hand, is meant for young

girls. Besides the fact that the video is straight from a kids movie, the video and song send the

message of accepting yourself in a more kid friendly way that they can understand. Instead of

coming straight out with the meaning, they use Elsa as a means of getting it across to them. The

video feels directed more towards girls because Elsa is an example of a strong and confident

female who is a good role model to these little girls. I also feel that both videos audiences do not

have anything to do with other audience categories other than age, gender, and life experiences.

Despite differences between the videos, there are still similarities. One parallel is that they

both use pathos to get the meaning across. Menzel’s version uses pathos through the character Elsa.

The viewer feels bad that Elsa has had to hide her true self her entire life and when she lets go and

accepts who she is, the viewer is happy for her. A similar story is seen in Lovato’s cover. The

viewer follows Lovato in her emotional journey as she goes from being sad and alone to being
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confident and happy. As they experience the change with Lovato, they feel empathy for her and

can relate to either her sadness, her confidence, or her overcoming her troubles.

The most important similarity between the two videos is the claims. Through the lyrics and

story line, both Menzel and Lovato’s videos show that you should let go of the past and accept

who you are. In Menzel’s video, this is shown as Elsa walks sad and alone on a snowy mountain

and later accepts herself for who she is, powers and all, and lets go of what she has done in the

past. After doing so, she stands in her castle singing and is happy and free. In Lovato’s video, she

starts out sad and alone in a mansion. After gaining confidence and singing about letting go of the

past, she opens the windows and sings out into the sunlight. Both videos show a person starting

out sad and alone and, in the end, being confident and happy with who they are.

Even though there are multiple differences between Idina Menzel’s version of “Let It Go”

and Demi Lovato’s cover, both convey the same message: that “The past is in the past” and you

should accept who you are inside (Mynott, “Let It Go Lyrics From Frozen”). This shows that even

though the song “Let It Go” can be expressed in different ways, the underlying message is too

strong to not come across in its representation. People of all ages should keep listening to this song

on repeat; it teaches something everyone can learn from.

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Works Cited

“Frozen.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/title/tt2294629/releaseinfo. 22 January 2020.

“Idina Menzel - Let It Go (from Frozen) (Official Video).” YouTube, YouTube, 17 Dec. 2013.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVVTZgwYwVo. 22 January 2020.

“Let It Go.” Let It Go Lyrics, www.lyrics.com/lyric/31181216/Frozen:The Songs/Let It Go [Demi

Lovato Version] [Version]. 22 January 2020.

Lovato, Demi. “Demi Lovato - Let It Go (from ‘Frozen’) [Official].” YouTube, YouTube, 1

November 2013. www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHue-HaXXzg. 22 January 2020.

Mynott, Nicole. “Let It Go Lyrics from Frozen.” Oh My Disney, 13 September 2018.

https://ohmy.disney.com/music/2013/11/25/let-it-go-lyrics/. 22 January 2020.