Have you heard of a little movie called Frozen? I wouldn’t be surprised if you haven’t, it flew under the radar. Just kidding, of course you know what Frozen is! It was a massive hit, becoming the highest grossing animated film and sixth highest grossing film of all time. “Let it Go,” written by the song writing couple of Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, is easily the most popular song from the soundtrack, even winning an Oscar for best original song. And I’m not above admitting even I was obsessed with it for a while (don’t judge!). However, there is more to this song than its popularity: it changed the course of the entire film.
In the original script, Elsa was meant to be the protagonist of Frozen (watch this clip for an example). In the recent TV special The Story of Frozen: Making a Disney Animated Classic, the producers revealed that when Lopez and Anderson-Lopez presented the song “Let it Go,” they felt the song’s themes of personal empowerment and self-acceptance fundamentally changed the character of Elsa. This lead them to rewrite most of the script around their new understanding of the character. Here’s the clip of the couple explaining the song’s inception.