"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]
