Idina Menzel Cried While Listening To This ‘Frozen 2’ Song Being Recorded
Disney’s animated sequel has several iconic songs and moments. (“Turtles breathe through their butts” was a pretty unhelpful and random fact from Olaf.) When it came to recording one of the most popular songs from Frozen 2, even some of the cast members got emotional.
Here’s a clip from the Disney+ docu-series, Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2.
Idina Menzel voices Elsa in Disney’s ‘Frozen’ and ‘Frozen 2’
Fans first met Anna and Elsa in the first Frozen movie. In the 2019 sequel, however, these sisters travel into the unknown to save their kingdom and learn more about their past. Primarily, how the eldest sister has her magical ice powers.
Most of the original cast returned for this sequel, including Hamilton actor Jonathan Groff and Beauty and the Beast actor Josh Gad. Idina Menzel, known for her roles in Wicked and Rent, returned to voice the Queen of Arandelle, Elsa.
‘Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2’ gave fans an inside look into the recording process
There’s a lot of work that goes into creating an award-winning animated film. For Frozen 2, that included plenty of recording sessions for Idina Menzel, where she did the vocals for songs like “Show Yourself” and “Into the Unknown.”
When Menzel recorded Elsa’s vocals for the song, she was singing over synthesized instruments. Nine months until the world premiere of Frozen 2, real musicians packed into a room to record to final orchestration of the Grammy-nominated song, “Into the Unknown.”
“These are the top players and to get them to bring our songs to life is like a dream come true,” Kristen Anderson-Lopez said. “But I also think of it today as a day that we’re adding another 100 people to support the actors who are adding to the story. And it’s just 100 musicians also telling the story.”
Idina Menzel cried while listening to the orchestra record ‘Into the Unknown’
Of course, the songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson–Lopez were both there to oversee the recording. The other storytellers there for the recording included Jennifer Lee, Chris Buck, and even the voice of Elsa, Menzel.
While recording, the conductor used descriptive words like “vulnerable” to explain the story to the musicians. When the music started, however, some of the observers got emotional. Menzel sang along with the recording. The directors for Frozen 2 started laughing out of happiness.
‘This is when you go, ‘Oh, it’s coming together,’” Lee said.
In order episodes of this docu-series, fans saw cast members recording speaking parks and songs for the movie. That includes Anna’s song, “The Next Right Thing,” performed by Kristen Bell, who also got emotional during the recording process.
The original Frozen and its sequel, Frozen 2, is available for streaming on Disney+, as is the docu-series, Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2. To learn more about Disney’s subscription service and its content, visit their website.
