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Alaina Baldasare

Professor Stalbird

ENG1201

09 February 2020

One Song, Two Videos

“Into the Unknown” sung by Idina Menzel, made its big debut in Frozen 2, which came

out in November of 2019. “Into the Unknown” has since been covered by many artists and bands

of all genres. Perhaps one of the cutest and youngest to cover the song was Claire Crosby, along

with her family Claire has a pretty big YouTube channel and has been on Ellen quite a few

times. “Into the Unknown” by Idina Mendel and the cover by Claire Crosby have the same

claims and underlying themes, although they differ in audiences and purposes. Claire’s appeals

to her fan base, which is younger, and attempts to get views. Idina’s purpose for the audience of

Frozen 2, who has a broad audience, is to build the story and introduce the adventure in Frozen

2.

Menzel is a practiced musician and actress that hit fame in Frozen. Claire Crosby is a 7-

year-old who is known on Youtube and Ellen for having a fantastic voice, which is renowned for

her age. Due to their differing backgrounds, we can gather that their purposes for singing the

song were not similar. Although Crosby might have been singing out of pure enjoyment and

probably was displaying her love for Frozen, it is also vivid that she has to make money on

YouTube and get views so her purpose might have been in result of that. Menzel is singing

purely to aid in the story building of Frozen 2 as she is a lead actress in the movie.

The audiences of the two songs are a bit more comparable than that of their purposes,

perhaps because not many of the later generations are going to be watching Frozen or listening to
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its soundtrack. Menzel’s audience is the movie viewers, which most would gather is young

children, their parents, and guardians as well as young adults. Crosby’s audience, although

probably in the same age range as Menzel’s, is less likely to have seen the movie. Many people

might just be listening to the song because they are subscribers to Crosby or would like to see a

young girl’s portrayal of Frozen 2’s big hit song. It should also be noted that Crosby is reaching

fewer viewers compared to Menzel. According to the YouTube video, Crosby has had around

5.5 million views since publishing the video in December of 2019 compared to Menzel’s

original, which according to YouTube, has gotten about 108.7 million views since release in

December of 2019. 108.7 million views are not only a lot more than 5.5 million views; it

subsequently means that Menzel’s version was more successful.

In her rendition of “Into the Unknown” Crosby capitalized on pathos. Crosby is an

adorable 7-year-old with a great voice that ceases to amaze people, so she was easily getting

views off of emotion alone. Crosby potentially got a lot of attention due to her credibility as well,

having been on Ellen multiple times and having 2.5 million subscribers on YouTube people

might have seen her name and just clicked. As for Menzel, pathos was displayed good acting and

passion in emotions through the song shows she is building a story, and the graphics add to that.

Furthermore, Menzel has pretty substantial credibility as well, her fame alone in the song “Let it

Go” would cause people to listen to this song. Not only is Menzel a hit due to Frozen but she is a

well known theatrical actress. Both songs had pathos and ethos, neither had many statistics other

than their view rates.

Both songs had the same claim. The lyrics and musical styles were the same. I would

argue that Menzel’s claim was much more convincing as the whole video is a scene that sets the

storyline of the movie. Menzel not only has the credibility of the song being on Frozen 2, but the
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video displays what the lyrics are saying. Crosby does not have much going for her in the

settings and graphics department, she has excellent scenery, but there are no graphics to show the

struggle the lyrics depict of deciding to risk everything to go into the unknown. Crosby gives a

nod to Frozen by wearing Frozen style dresses, but there are no props or pictures that show what

she is singing. Since Menzel has the images to go with the story, the claim comes across better

than Crosby’s. Although they both have the same claim, Menzel’s is arguably more effective.

Crosby and Menzel both displayed so much musical and theatrical talent in their

renditions of “Into the Unknown” and they both have wild success in their respective fields

considering their audiences, claims, and purposes. Crosby very much appeals to pathos in her

cover, and her audience as a result of that is younger people and their parents who are probably

fans of Frozen or enjoy the young girl. Menzel, being on the big screen, has a very broad

demographic of viewers, especially young children, young adults, parents, and fans of Frozen.

Crosby wanted to entertain and, in turn, get views for her video, whereas Menzel was building a

storyline for the movie. Both ladies claim that they are going into the unknown because they feel

that they have too. Crosby and Menzel were on the same rink when it came to claims, but when

it came to audiences and purposes, they were both hitting different pucks.
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Works Cited

Menzel, AURORA, Idina. Into the Unknown. Youtube, 4 Dec. 2019,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIOyB9ZXn8s. Accessed 3 Feb. 2020.

Crosby, Claire. Into the Unknown - 7 - Year - old. Youtube, 23 Dec. 2019,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB9tK9yVUwo. Accessed 3 Feb. 2020.