Let It Go

Let It Go is a song from the 2013 movie Frozen. It is sung by Idina Menzal.

Lyrics

The snow glows white on the mountain tonight
Not a footprint to be seen
A kingdom of isolation,
and it looks like I'm the Queen
The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside
Couldn't keep it in, Heaven knows I tried

Don't let them in, don't let them see
Be the good girl you always have to be
Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know
Well, now they know!

Let it go! Let it go!
Can't hold it back anymore!
Let it go! Let it go!
Turn away and slam the door!
I don't care what they're going to say!
Let the storm rage on
The cold never bothered me anyway

It's funny how some distance
makes everything seem small
And the fears that once controlled me
can't get to me at all!

It's time to see what I can do
To test the limits and break through
No right, no wrong, no rules for me
I'm free!

Let it go! Let it go!
I'm one with the wind and sky
Let it go! Let it go!
You'll never see me cry
Here I stand, and here I stay!
Let the storm rage on

My power flurries through the air into the ground
My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around!
And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast!
I'm never going back, the past is in the past!

Let it go! Let it go!
And I'll rise like the break of dawn
Let it go! Let it go!
That perfect girl is gone!
Here I stand in the light of day!
Let the storm rage on!!!
The cold never bothered me anyway

Characters

• Elsa

Performers

• Idina Menzal (Frozen)
• David Thomason, John Simmit, Nikky Smedley and Pui Fan Lee (Teletubbies!; the last verse)

Trivia

• "Let It Go" earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Original Song. It also won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 86th Academy Awards, where the film version of the song was performed by Menzel.
  • The song was the first from a Walt Disney Animation Studios-produced film in 14 years to win the Academy Award.
  • The previous song was "You'll Be in My Heart" from Tarzan.
• The shot where Elsa first releases her hair down creating the braid was nearly impossible to do. The animators had to phase Elsa's braid through her left arm to keep the animation model from breaking. One can hardly see it because the camera angle hides the "trick" in the half-a-second moment it happens, and the viewers' attention is drawn to other places.
• Idina Menzel, the voice of Elsa, played Elphaba in the original Broadway cast of Wicked while Willemijn Verkaik, the Dutch and German singer of "Let It Go", played the role in the German, Dutch and British production. Also, the singing voice of Elsa in Korea, Hye Na Park plays the role of Elphaba in The Korean production.
• A line from "Let It Go" was originally written, "Couldn't keep it in, God knows I tried", but was ultimately changed to "Heaven knows I tried." In an interview, the songwriters stated that the switch was done not because they were not allowed to acknowledge religion (a Church and Christian iconography are clearly present in the film), but because they were afraid that some people would see it as taking the Lord's name in vain, which is a sin in the Abrahamic traditions.
• As mentioned above several times, since Elsa was originally going to be a villain, "Let It Go" was originally intended to be a villain song. If one listens very closely, one can hear subtle clues in the song's lyrics that potentially hint at Elsa heel-turning (such as "No right or wrong/no rules for me!/I'm free!"), and was originally going to be sung in a mocking tone which becomes more demented as the song progresses to enforce this. However, the song defeats the purpose of making Elsa a villain since she never committed any evil beforehand. This resulted in Hans being re-written as the main villain.
• At the beginning of the song when Elsa is upset, snow starts falling, symbolizing her lack of control over her powers, but after she realizes that she can freely use her powers now that she is alone, becoming much more relieved, the snow stops falling, showing that in that moment she have a better control over her powers.
• Demi Lovato's version of "Let It Go" was included as a bonus song for the pre-order of the video game Fantasia: Music Evolved, before later being available as downloadable content for the game, and is available in the Now That's What I Call Music! UK video game Now That's What I Call Sing.
• "Let It Go" is the second Disney song used in the musical TV series Glee; it was preceded by "Bella Notte" from Lady and the Tramp.
• Like many songs from Frozen, "Let It Go" has been subjected to numerous parodies on YouTube and the Internet in general.
• "Let It Go" is the first end credits Disney song that was performed by a Disney Channel star.
• "Let It Go" was reorchestraed in World of Color: Winter Dreams version, which premiered few days before film itself, which becomes more commonly used in Disney parks fireworks and many shows.
• When Elsa sings "A kingdom of isolation, and it looks like I'm the queen," she pronounces 'isolation' as 'ice-olation'.
• "Let It Go" was referenced in Zootopia by Chief Bogo. When chastising Judy Hopps on her incident with Duke Weaselton, he told her life is not a cartoon musical where magically dreams come true and she needs to let it go. Earlier in the film, the song was parodied as "Let It Goat" on Judy's music player.
• In one of The Lion King musicals, when Scar has Zazu imprisoned and wants him to sing a song with a little bounce in it, Zazu sings "Let It Go" instead of "It's a Small World", to which Scar stills replies with "No! No, anything but that!"
• Demi Lovato's cover of the song can be heard in Ralph Breaks the Internet in the beginning of the scene where Vanellope enters the Oh My Disney website.
• As Elsa throws away her crown (the one bit of clothing she was wearing that she didn't change) she sings "I'm never going back, the past is in the past", making the crown symbolize her old life.
• The last verse of the song is used in the Teletubbies! episode, The Mainland Journey.