Frozen II (soundtrack)


Frozen II is the soundtrack album to the Disney animated film of the same name. The soundtrack was released on November 15, 2019, while the film was released on November 22. It features seven new songs again composed by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez along with the return of "Reindeer Are Better Than People" from the original film, in addition to end credits covers of three of the film's new songs by Panic! at the Disco, Kacey Musgraves and Weezer, respectively. The deluxe edition features a second disc of score tracks by composer Christophe Beck as well as cut songs and instrumentals to the seven songs in the film. The soundtrack reached number one on the US Billboard 200 in December 2019. It was the first soundtrack of an animated film to hit number one since the soundtrack to Frozen. The single "Into the Unknown" was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Song, losing all of them to Love Me Again from Rocketman.

Background

In March 2018, Kristen Anderson-Lopez revealed in an interview that she and her husband, Robert Lopez, would return from the film Frozen to write new songs for its sequel Frozen II, having already recorded a song for the sequel with star Kristen Bell. On August 13, 2019, star Josh Gad said that the songs in the sequel will be "even better" and "even catchier" than the first film's. During the 2019 D23 Expo, it was revealed that there would be seven new songs. The complete tracklist was revealed on September 30, along with the announcement of pre-orders; the soundtrack was released by Walt Disney Records on November 15.
Co-director Jennifer Lee said that "the songs and score of Frozen 2 reflect the growth of the characters and the deepening of their story" and called the songs "emotional, personal yet powerful, intimate but also epic", while co-director Chris Buck said that "he music of the Lopezes and Christophe Beck are part of the DNA of Frozen. We couldn’t imagine building Frozen 2 without them. They bring such a rich, emotional understanding of the world and characters, and through their incredible music we have been able to really deepen and expand the story". The song "Into the Unknown", sung by Idina Menzel as Elsa with additional vocals by Norwegian recording artist Aurora, has been called the successor of Frozens "Let It Go". Anderson-Lopez said that "rom the beginning of collaboration with Jennifer Lee, Chris Buck and Peter Del Vecho, everything created has come from big questions — what is the story that we all as artists, individually and collectively, need to tell?" Anderson-Lopez also said that she and Lopez "approach the story through the lens of which moments of story lead to big emotions — feelings so strong characters can no longer talk but need to sing". Lopez said that " tradition of songwriting comes from the world of musical theater, where songs must always forward the story in a fresh and surprising way. Every song has to take a character on a journey". Lopez further explained: "All the songs are thematically linked to this idea of change, and also the idea of the journey, getting lost before you can really be found." According to Anderson-Lopez, the theme of a journey was a very "meta story" for them, because it was not always clear along the way how all the songs would fit together in the final version of the film. They kept telling themselves, "This is all going to make sense in six months. This is all going to make sense by the time this movie opens."
In November 4, 2019, Panic! at the Disco's version of "Into the Unknown" was released as a single. On November 7, 2019, a Korean version of "Into the Unknown" performed by K-pop star and Girls' Generation member Taeyeon was released.
Composer Christophe Beck, who previously scored the first film, returned for the sequel, with his score drawing elements from Lopez and Anderson-Lopez's songs. As with the first film, Beck used Norwegian elements for the sequel's score, as well as featuring the Norwegian female choir Cantus, with Beck stating that it gives the score a "magical" setting, yet still being "rooted in real tradition". Beck said that the film's score reflects the character's growth since the original film, stating that "imilar to how Elsa and Anna have grown up since the last film, the new score has also matured and introduces more sophisticated musical concepts and thematic elements". Beck also said that he wanted the sequel's score to reflect the film's "complex and intense" emotional story, while commenting that he enjoyed "exploring extreme dynamic contrasts, harmonic complexity, intricate textures with vibrant colors, and hugely expressive melodic moments".

Track listing

All songs written by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. All scores composed by Christophe Beck.

International versions

On its theater release, Disney Character Voices International had provided 47 dubbings worldwide of the movie. Out of these, 24 count also a soundtrack released on CD and digital download: a Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Kazakh, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Sami, Spanish, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, and Vietnamese soundtrack were released. Versions in Tamil, Telugu and Northern Sami were recorded for the sequel, even though the first movie has never been dubbed into these languages. As with Moana with Tahitian, Māori and Hawaiian versions, the Sami version was an exceptional dubbing made specifically for the movie, due to the inspiration it took from Sami culture.
Lyricists:

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications