Frozen

MerlinTheGoat

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
I haven't found the final version, i'm assuming the one i'm hearing is from the D23 expo performance. I'll give the movie version a chance but I doubt it will make me change my mind to much about the song as i'm guessing it's a fairly decent idea of the tune (whether the singer was in perfect voice that day or not). First half again is pretty decent to good (not great), but the chorus just doesn't seem very good at all. I am completely hoping the movie is fantastic, but I've been burned before in recent years due to the same misplaced praise from critics and even fans...

I didn't feel any song from Tangled was much more than borderline good. I'm not even a big fan of I See the Light to be honest, it's at least decent to somewhat good but I would never place it on the level of Tale As Old As Time (that one was always good and only gets more wonderful with age). I did enjoy Mother Knows Best to an extent but it has nothing on Poor Unfortunate Souls, Hellfire or even Gaston (in its own goofy but still great way). I did almost love the Reprisal version of the song where it started to get dark and powerful, but it's WAYYY to short. Could have been amazing. And one hell of a singer they got for it too, love Gothel's singing voice. Gave me chills for that short time she was allowed to flex her vocal talent.

Again as much as I usually dislike Randy Newman's music, I enjoyed Friends on the Other Side a lot (not perfect or on the same level as some of their 90's movie bad guy themes but still quite good).

Anyways, still going in with an open mind. If it's good, i'll be changing my tune for sure and give it all the praise it deserves.
 
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RandomPrincess

RandomPrincess

Keep Moving Forward
Speaking of the Frozen music. I was listening to sound track samples on iTunes and two things were weird to me. The have Anna singing about being gassy in a line in one song and Jonathon Groff has some weird reindeer song. Maybe I'm old fashioned - I know she's supposed to be a new type of princess but I don't want to hear about princesses being gassy when nervous. And Groff has a great voice and it seems wasted on this song.
 
MerlinTheGoat

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
Sped2424 said:
it is, and its not. The animation in the scene is final and shows some snippets, but that is not the whole song, nor is that the official background music for the song!
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If what you said is true and the WoC version isn't using the proper background music, then it's a damn shame for the movie version. It improved the song leaps and bounds to where i'm beginning to enjoy it, far superior IMHO. I like the World of Color version of the song infinitely better than any other version i've heard so far (D23's version or the Demi Lovato music vid). I really hope the movie version ends up resembling the WoC rendition more than the other versions I've heard. Can't believe how much the changes improved the tune for me. WoC's actually has power and heart to the background music.

I'm cautiously optimistic about this movie. Still not entirely wanting to get excited or hyped only to be disappointed like I was with Tangled though. We'll see. I want this to end up wowing people and owning up to the praise it's getting so far. I feel like the core elements of this movie are fantastic, the execution is just where i'm still a little cautious.
 
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Sped2424

Sped2424

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
MerlinTheGoat said:
If what you said is true and the WoC version isn't using the proper background music, then it's a damn shame for the movie version. It improved the song leaps and bounds to where i'm beginning to enjoy it, far superior IMHO. I like the World of Color version of the song infinitely better than any other version i've heard so far (D23's version or the Demi Lovato music vid). I really hope the movie version ends up resembling the WoC rendition more than the other versions I've heard. Can't believe how much the changes improved the tune for me. WoC's actually has power and heart to the background music.

I'm cautiously optimistic about this movie. Still not entirely wanting to get excited or hyped only to be disappointed like I was with Tangled though. We'll see. I want this to end up wowing people and owning up to the praise it's getting so far.
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Don't worry I don't think I defined it right, the audio is right on the money in terms of the vocals, however the background music has more piano in the final version.
 
MerlinTheGoat

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
Sped2424 said:
Don't worry I don't think I defined it right, the audio is right on the money in terms of the vocals, however the background music has more piano in the final version.
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That's the problem though, I'm referring to the background music when i say the WoC version is better (not the vocals, which are also good but that was not the problem I had with the song)- the instruments used and the core arrangement of the background music in the WoC version is fantastic. The tune is drastically different behind the vocals and is just so much better than the previous versions i've heard.

It actually got me a bit excited about the movie. But if they're not using that version, sadness...
 
Sped2424

Sped2424

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
MerlinTheGoat said:
That's the problem though, I'm referring to the background music when i say the WoC version is better (not the vocals, which are also good but that was not the problem I had with the song)- the instruments used and the core arrangement of the background music in the WoC version is fantastic. The tune is drastically different behind the vocals and is just so much better than the previous versions i've heard.

It actually got me a bit excited about the movie. But if they're not using that version, sadness...
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Well we still have yet to hear the final version in the film, this could be it, but I don't think so. Someone leaked the song on tumblr because the Disney store is playing the soundtrack. The audio is hard to hear but it doesn't sound like this version.
 
MerlinTheGoat

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
Shame, but i didn't know about the leak. I might go looking around for that clip.

I also had a look at the "In Summer" song in World of Color as well, didn't like that one at all. It also didn't improve my impressions of Olaf any either... :(
 
Sped2424

Sped2424

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
MerlinTheGoat said:
Shame, but i didn't know about the leak. I might go looking around for that clip.

I also had a look at the "In Summer" song in World of Color as well, didn't like that one at all.
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http://gotodisneyandbeyond.tumblr.com/tagged/Disney-Frozen
Here are leaks of First time in forever, Let it go, Part of do you wanna build a snow man not the whole song. I believe these are the final versions, could not be though, either way I love em a LOT.
 
MerlinTheGoat

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
The lyrics in Let it Go are quite good i'd say. Vocals are pretty good too (especially the high notes, plenty of power). It's just a shame they aren't going to be paired with the legitimately great World of Color background score... The second chorus of the movie version improves over the first half at least, but still nowhere near WoC's version. It changed the tone so much, for the better IMO.

EDIT- To be quite specific (it's difficult to point out exactly what i'm talking about when discussing songs), the shift in key they applied to the background tune at both the 0:53 and 1:56 marks of the World of Color version (the youtube clip posted above) makes all the difference compared to the official version. The instrumentation used throughout was an improvement as well (particularly the more dynamic piano at the beginning where she's singing the snow blowing on the mountain and kingdom of isolation lyrics), but that change in key during the chorus just completely turned around my opinion of the song.

For the First Time in Forever has a pretty good background tune, but the lyrics are actually horrible apart from the main "first time in forever" chorus. It sounds like a huge mess of improv from the writers. Do You Want To Build a Snowman I dislike both the lyrics and the background music, same issues as First Time in Forever but without even a decent background tune to back it up.

No clue about the Reindeer song. But as I said I also really dislike the In Summer song if the World of Color version is any indication.

So overall a very mixed bag from a soundtrack perspective so far. I'll obviously have to hear the other tunes to see whether they're any good or not, but the music so far is still a massive step below the Disney movies some critics have compared Frozen to favorably (Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid etc).
 
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Sped2424

Sped2424

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
MerlinTheGoat said:
The lyrics in Let it Go are quite good i'd say. Vocals are pretty good too (especially the high notes, plenty of power). It's just a shame they aren't going to be paired with the legitimately great World of Color background score... The second chorus of the movie version improves over the first half at least, but still nowhere near WoC's version. It changed the tone so much, for the better IMO.

EDIT- To be quite specific (it's difficult to point out exactly what i'm talking about when discussing songs), the shift in key they applied to the background tune at both the 0:53 and 1:56 marks of the World of Color version (the youtube clip posted above) makes all the difference compared to the official version. The instrumentation used throughout was an improvement as well (particularly the more dynamic piano at the beginning where she's singing the snow blowing on the mountain and kingdom of isolation lyrics), but that change in key during the chorus just completely turned around my opinion of the song.

For the First Time in Forever has a pretty good background tune, but the lyrics are actually horrible apart from the main "first time in forever" chorus. It sounds like a huge mess of improv from the writers. Do You Want To Build a Snowman I dislike both the lyrics and the background music, same issues as First Time in Forever but without even a decent background tune to back it up.

No clue about the Reindeer song. But as I said I also really dislike the In Summer song if the World of Color version is any indication.

So overall a very mixed bag from a soundtrack perspective so far. I'll obviously have to hear the other tunes to see whether they're any good or not, but the music so far is still a massive step below the Disney movies some critics have compared Frozen to favorably (Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid etc).
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I would have to disagree with you on that one, I feel the lyrics and the songs are the best they have been in quite some time. For the first time in forever is an excellent song, the part where it really picks up steam is when it suddenly turns into a duet between the sisters and the duality of their characters and problems are shown in song. For once it actually feels like they characters are just speaking from the heart, rather than feeling forced, the part that gives me chills is when Elsa opens the gates. The lyrics are also quite great the fact that they tie in let it go, almost shows elsa's transitions and her thought process, so much of her struggle was labeled right there, "Don't let them in, Don't let them see, Put on a show, one wrong move and everyone will know". This film literally sounds like a broadway musical in terms of dialogue, which might be why you find it so off putting. Parts in normal Disney songs where they would be speaking they are singing here, that can be due to Kristen and Bobby lopez. The bits of humor are also a key signature in their style. I will agree I like the world of color orchestra, but I still feel the original is wonderful. Perhaps the world of color is the finished product? It is possible, even so I like the feel of the other track. As for do you wanna build a snow man that is only the first minute of it, and even then I thought it was extremely well done. The strings in it are wonderful and capture anna's whismy, I can almost picture her running down a hallway as the music plays. In fact I think the best part of that song is the orchestra (Vocals are good, but the background music is what puts in the energy in it) You are entitled to your opinion for sure, I just don't think these songs are terrible, or their lyrics for that matter. There was definitely some work put in here. I think they are fantastic and I am not the only one either, although I will say if I had one song I wasn't impressed by it was In the summer.
 
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MerlinTheGoat

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
I love broadway style musicals and often movie adaptations of them (grew up with stuff like that), so that definitely isn't what bugs me. Some of the lyrics just feel kind of poorly written and thrown together at random without much rhyme or reason. Trying hard to be one in some respects perhaps (I can see the connections), but often not succeeding in having well written lyrics IMO. The Hunchback of Notre Dame felt more like a broadway musical, and it did it right with incredibly well written lyrics and consistently fantastic musical score overall (only exception being the gargoyles' song).

First Time in Forever feels like random lyrics crammed in at the whim of the writers, it's jarring. As stated above by someone for example, Anna mentioning she gets gassy when she's nervous? Seriously WTH... Quite a good underlying song sans lyrics, very hit or miss lyrics. The chorus and as you said the duet parts are good. But it falls flat IMO with Anna just randomly running her mouth and trying to cram way too many unnecessary words into a single line (again, i'm well acquainted with how broadway style musicals work but they have to be well written, and I don't agree that some of the lyrics here are). Perhaps seeing this song in context and with visuals will change my opinion, we'll see. So far it reminds me a lot of the first song in Tangled (When Will My Life Begin, which I found meh to decent).

Given the circumstances, the WoC arrangement of Let it Go is most likely NOT what will be heard in the movie (given the tumblr leak). Movie version will probably be the Tumblr leaked version. It's definitely great in parts, just not attaining the magnificence of the Renaissance era of songs due to what I have now come to conclude are flaws in the instrumentation and arrangement of the version used in the movie. The beginning and second half are quite good, but the in between is a bit lacking in the background music. Though I will give it credit for being better than pretty much anything in Tangled's soundtrack so far (except ironically for the "half song" that was the Kingdom Dance).

I have gotten to the point where I think i'm probably going to enjoy Elsa as a character as well as her songs. She sounds like a cool and interesting character. But unfortunately i've not seen much that interests me about the rest of the character yet.
 
Sped2424

Sped2424

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I like how we can have differing opinions and not get rude with one another, something a lot of folks don't seem to get on here! I just can't wait for the visuals, to see her perform the song in the movie is gonna be great. As for the crammed lines I think that's more about Anna's character rather than poor writing, she always has her foot in her mouth. I do like the arrangement for world of color, at least that arrangement does exist!
 
xdan0920

xdan0920

Think for yourselfer
Magenta Panther said:
Still not interested.
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Is the marketing of the film that offensive to you? Honest question. I know the marketing has completely missed the mark in my household, and in others I talk to, but, I am still interested. And with the glowing reviews it has been getting, I am feeling encouraged.
 

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