Why Madonna’s ‘Frozen’ Was Banned in Belgium

Long before Queen Elsa, Madonna took the world by storm with “Frozen.” It’s a haunting ballad and stands apart from much of her work by because it’s emotionally provocative rather than sexually provocative. While nothing about the song’s lyrics is controversial the tune was still banned in Belgium for years. Here’s a look at why that happened and why the band was eventually lifted.

Madonna’s ‘Frozen’ was the subject of 2 legal cases with 2 different results

Whenever a song gets too big, it seems like plagiarism cases lie just around the corner. According to MuuMuse, Belgian songwriter Salvatore Acquaviva claimed Madonna’s “Frozen” plagiarized the opening bars of his song “Ma Vie Fout L’camp.” Acquaviva won a copyright case against the Material Girl in 2005. For that reason, “Frozen” was banned in Belgium, halting all sales and radio play of the song.

Subsequently, Italian composer Edouard Scotto Di Suoccio said “Frozen” and “Ma Vie Fout L’camp” plagiarized his tune “Bloodnight.” A French court determined neither song was derived from “Bloodnight” and the Belgian ban on “Frozen” was lifted in 2014. After years, Madonna’s Belgian fans could hear “Frozen” legally.

Madonna’s song isn’t all that similar to ‘Ma Vie Fout L’camp’

Comparing “Frozen” and “Ma Vie Fout L’camp” feels odd. There is an obvious similarity. However, it only lasts a few seconds. The two songs aren’t any more similar than any two pop songs on the radio right now.

Vague similarities are inevitable in music. There are only so many tempos, chord changes, and instruments out there. Even Madonna drew inspiration for “Frozen” from an earlier song, it would have to be a close copy before it was worthy of legal action. George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” and Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” got caught up in similar disputes.

‘Frozen’ was supposed to sound like Nine Inch Nails

“Frozen” was co-written by frequent Madonna collaborator Patrick Leonard. He also co-wrote other Madonna classics such as “Like a Prayer,” “Live to Tell,” and “La Isla Bonita.” During a 2017 interview with Boy Culture, he said another artist inspired “Frozen,” but it was not Acquaviva or Di Suoccio.

“She did give me some direction early on,” Leonard recalled. “For ‘Frozen,’ she said, ‘I would like something that’s The English Patient meets Nine Inch Nails.’ We’d done the demos in Florida, which were quite different than what the record ended up because of [producer] William Orbit — who did genius work — but it was exotic, maybe not electronic necessarily, but maybe more exotic. 

“We had chant samples and were really planning on going for it in some crazy way, and then William came along and she wrote me and then we spoke and she was very generous about saying, ‘Is it OK if I do this, because I think he’s brilliant and I think it’s a good idea,'” he added. “In the way these things go, all I could do was be supportive and as it turns out, I’m very glad I was.” “Frozen” draws some inspiration from Trent Reznor’s style. However, it doesn’t sound much like any one of his songs in particular.

Regardless of the controversy surrounding “Frozen,” it’s widely considered one of the best electronic songs ever.