Letting it Go

Lots of people have fallen in love with this song. It's beautiful, well-written, and powerful. It also doesn't hurt that the original is sung by Irina Menzel, who also voiced Elphaba from Wicked. I've had this stuck in my head for awhile, ever since looking up Frozen trailers back in December. The animation is stunning and the theme is a bit unusual, singing about someone who had been required to conform to a very rigidly defined role, and finally was free to give rein to her natural abilities and to delight in them. (Although, I'm no princess or queen, the theme really spoke to me; there was a fan group Mom and I left years ago that tried entirely too hard to dictate my interests. Certain of them mocked, "shunned", lied about my work to the groups they didn't approve of, and did worse... while Mom and I were busy looking after Dad in between operations. Needless to say, it was obnoxious and came at a VERY bad time. Thankfully, the bullying seems to have mostly stopped) Now I'm curious about the context of Elsa's break from her past. (didn't get to see it in the theaters, so I'm waiting for the dvd release) However, there are some gorgeous alternate takes on the iconic theme of Frozen to enjoy in the meantime!

As ever, the Piano Guys did a great job! In this case, they blended it with Vivaldi's Winter, making a driven theme appropriate to an action sequence.

How about the version Alex Boyé did that went viral? Although the audial cultural mash-up is a bit of a head-scratcher, the arrangement is well-thought out and the performances are smooth. Mr. Boye’s voice and the drums offset Lexi Walker’s voice and the choir very nicely, making a rich song with several layers of depth. I think it’s as much the beauty of their performances as much as the reinterpretation that helped this song go viral. Congratulations! For once, something that went viral is actually beautiful!
Incidentally, both of them made their videos in the same place - Midway Ice Castles.