“Elsa is finding her identity; she's growing into who she is, and she's finally accepting her own strength and magical powers. Instead of hiding it, like she's done all her life, she's letting it go and embracing it.”
The song is set to A-flat major, so there are four flats, B, E, A and D. It features a strong emphasis on wind instruments as well as stringed instruments. It has a moderate tempo.
Summary[]
The song begins after an ostracized Elsa flees the kingdom of Arendelle soon after her ice powers are discovered by the public. Initially, Elsa is still distraught, but she realizes that she no longer needs to hide her powerful abilities anymore and declares herself free from the stress and fears that she has been faced with since childhood. The lyrics "Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know," were a phrase Elsa's father told her when she was given her gloves for safety as a child, but Elsa soon puts the phrase behind her by saying, "Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know, well now they know!" and finally "letting go" of her icy powers as she reaches the chorus; "Let it go!"
In Frozen II, while Elsa is in Ahtohallan, she comes upon a memory of her singing this song, much to her embarrassment.
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
Elsa: There's so much I longed to say Anna: Then say it all, beginning with today Elsa: It's like a dream I thought could never be
Anna:
Elsa, you're free!
Let it go, let it go
Show us what you can do
Let it go, let it go
Elsa:
The magic one is you
Cause here we stand in the light of day
Let the sun shine on
I take this warmth within and send it up above
Both:
Goodbye to dark and fear, let's fill this world with light and love
(Light and love!)
And here, surrounded by a family at last
Chorus:
We're never going back, the past is in the past...
(The past is in the past...)
Let it go! Let it go!
And we'll rise like the break of dawn
Let it go! Let it go!
The fear and cold are gone
Here we stand in the light of day!
Let our true love go
Let it go!
Let it go! Let it go!
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go! Let it go!
Turn my back and slam the door
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 had 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 my back and slam the door
And here I stand, and here I'll stay
Let it go, let it go
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
Up here in the cold thin air
I finally can breathe
I know I left a life behind
but I'm too relieved to grieve
Let it go! Let it go!
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go! Let it go!
Turn my back and slam the door
And here I stand, and here I'll stay
Let it go, let it go
The cold never bothered me anyway
Standing frozen in the life I've chosen
You won't find me, the past is all behind me
Buried in the snow
Let it go! Let it go!
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go! Let it go!
Turn my back and slam the door
And here I stand, and here I'll stay
Let it go, let it go
The cold never bothered me anyway, oh
Let it go!
Yeah, yeah
Na, na
Here I'll stay
Let it go! Let it go!
Ooh
Let it go!
Videos[]
Demi Lovato - Let It Go (from "Frozen") Official
Disney Instrumental ǀ Makiko Hirohashi - Let It Go-2
Disney Instrumental ǀ Kento Ohgiya & Masayoshi Ōishi - Let It Go-2
Let It Go-2
Disney Peaceful Piano - Let It Go (Audio Only)-2
Let it Go-2
Eevee - Let It Go (From "Lofi Minnie- Chill"-Visualizer Video)
【曲のみ】レット・イット・ゴー〜ありのままで〜 from Disney Music Parade 【ミューパレ】
Let It Go (From "Frozen")
Rascal Flatts & Lucy Hale - Let It Go (Frozen) - We Love Disney
Disney Dreamlight Valley Music - Arendelle Castle
Let It Go -Remix Version- (Arendelle Circuit, Frozen Track Music) - Disney Speedstorm OST HQ
Disney SpeedStorm - Arendelle ( Let It Go ) Track Music
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 using the Lord's name in vain violates one of the well-known Ten Commandments.
As mentioned above several times, since Elsa was originally going to be an antagonist, "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 an antagonist since she never committed any evil beforehand. This resulted in Hans being re-written as the main antagonist.
Because of this, several dubs like the French, Italian and Czech versions heavily rewrite the lyrics to sound kinder and more sympathetic.
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 at that moment she had 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,[1] before later being available as downloadable content for the game,[2] and is available in the Now That's What I Call Music! UK video game Now That's What I Call Sing.[3]
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 Disney's first end credit song in a theatrical film to be performed by a Disney Channel star.
This would make this Demi Lovato's second song to play in the end credits of a Disney film that is not a Disney Channel Original Movie.
"Let It Go" was reorchestrated in World of Color: Winter Dreams version, which premiered few days before the film itself, which becomes more commonly used in Disney parks fireworks and many shows.
"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!", indicating that the song has been played numerous times to the point where it is rather annoying, hence Scar not wanting to hear it just as much as the former song.
As Elsa throws away her crown (the one bit of clothing she was wearing that she did not change) she sings "I'm never going back, the past is in the past." making the crown symbolize her old life.
The song was included in Kingdom Hearts III in Elsa's homeworld of Arendelle, just with the inclusion of Sora, Donald Duck and Goofy during it as they bore witness to Elsa creating her ice palace after following her singing to the North Mountain. Both the English version performed by Idina Menzel and the Japanese version by Takako Matsu are featured on the official soundtrack for the game available digitally.
Frozen II references the song three times. The first one was when Olaf was playing charades and one of the acts was Elsa's walk from the end of the song. An instrumental version was played when he was recapping the events of the first film when he, Kristoff, Sven, Elsa and Anna were in the Enchanted Forest. The last one was when Elsa was in Ahtohallan, walking through ice recreations of scenes from the first film, two of them being where she started the song with ice blasts and the final recreation of herself singing the song, albeit without music.
Ironically, Olaf says that Elsa sounded a bit pitchy when she was singing. Later, when Elsa walks through the ice recreations and sees herself singing, she cringes a little, indicating Olaf was somewhat right about her being pitchy. However, Elsa might actually be cringing because she never thought to revisit that memory, since it represented her ultimately shutting herself out from the world, and now she has finally accepted herself.
Elsa breaks the fourth wall at the end of the song by looking at the camera.
The song was briefly referenced in Encanto during the song "All of You" in a lyric sung by Bruno involving Pepa and Félix's marriage.
The song was also referenced in the Disenchanted song "Love Power", a song not-so-coincidentally also sung by Menzel.
A minor goof is made in this song when Elsa mentions fractals. The word for fractals was not coined until 1975, and Frozen is set in 1839.
The most likely explanation in-universe is that the word already existed or was even coined by Elsa herself as she is shown to be interested in geometry.
