The biggest phenomenon in Frozen was its hit song, “Let It Go” which ended up becoming the most streamed Disney song of all time before Encanto’s “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” took its spot recently. And yet, somehow, one of the film’s stars, Josh Gad, has dodged learning all the lyrics to the hit song over the years. Yes, really.
Josh Gad, of course, plays the snowman Olaf in the Frozen movies, subsequent shorts and 2021’s Olaf Presents miniseries, which was particularly “emotional” for the actor to record. When Gad was recently asked to sing “Let It Go” at a live performance in Carnegie Hall to pay tribute to writers Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, it apparently didn’t go well. In Gad’s words:
So, there’s a problem with this, people assume that because I’m in Frozen that I know the lyrics to ‘Let It Go.’ What’s funny: I don’t know the lyrics to ‘Let It Go.’ So, there was a little monitor, but everybody was like, ‘Yeah, Josh, just move over, you know it already, we don’t even need this.’ [Laughs] I was like, ‘Yeah. Alright, let’s go guys. Let’s sing it.’ And so I’ve got the mic, and I’m doing, ‘The stars are bright, and the mountains are light, and you know that things are nice,’ just making up lyrics. Not a single word was correct. It was a disaster. And of course — this is a true story — I had the only working mic on the stage. Kids were like, ‘Did they rewrite this?’
When Josh Gad stopped by on Good Morning America to promote the third season of Central Park, he shared the funny story. However, he does have a good reason why not knowing the lyrics to the Frozen hit is OK. He continued:
Here’s the thing. It’s not my song. I already have a hard enough problem learning the lyrics to “In Summer,” which I have to sing and can’t remember. Idina, you’ve got that and that’s all America needs.
It’s true, when you have a talented singer as incredible as Idina Menzel, why would we want to hear anyone else sing it? It’s not Olaf’s song, and hearing the voice of the lovable snowman say the “cold never bothered me anyway” is kind of weird, y’all. Anyway, the live performance he was talking about happened last month and was in celebration of Lopezes.
The other talents in attendance were Kristen Bell (who plays Princess Anna in the Frozen movies), along with Samantha Barks, Jennifer Barnhart, Kristen Bell, Jaime Camil, Stephanie D’Abruzzo, Santino Fontana, Josh Gad, Jordan Gelber, Ann Harada, Nikki M. James, Mykal Kilgore, Maggie Lakis, Caissie Levy, Rick Lyon, Rob McClure, Patti Murin, Andrew Rannells and Betsy Wolfe, all of whom have had connections to the Frozen and Book of Mormon songwriters.
Frozen, of course, changed Josh Gad and the lives of all involved. Following the success of the 2013 Disney movie, a sequel was released in 2019. When asked about a third Frozen film, Gad said that while there are no plans for another one, he trusts that if the team behind the movies decided to make another film it would be for the right reasons. Frozen has a huge presence in the Disney Parks, including the House of Mouse’s upcoming plans to make a Frozen Land in Hong Kong.
Josh Gad must see Frozen everywhere he goes. He did randomly walk into a doctor’s office that was ridden with Frozen posters once while taking his kid to get something looked at. The fact that he’s gone so long without knowing the movie’s biggest song by heart is honestly impressive.