Similarities Between ‘Let It Go’ From ‘Frozen’ and Beijing Olympics Song Evoke Xenophobic Comments On YouTube

Some people have found striking similarities between an official song of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games and a song from the hit Disney movie “Frozen.” Idina Menzel’s ballad “Let It Go” is quite similar to one of the 10 official songs for the Beijing Olympics, some people are contending. A number of people on social media sarcastically commented about the similarity.

JoeBlo2 wrote that certain parts of “The Snow and Ice Dance,” between 0:00-1:13 and 2:10-2:48, are direct lifts from “Let it Go.” Mogur00 agreed but said the Olympics song is “much worse.” Xcallyx wrote that China has recognized its “thriving counterfeit businesses by making a similar but lower-quality version of 'Let It Go.'”

Harry Sargent, on the contrary, defends the composer and says that most of the comments are influenced by a “tabloid article” about the apparent similarity. “A lot of popular music sounds similar, by the nature of popular music's narrow scope,” Sargent wrote. “I'm also disgusted by the number of xenophobic comments insinuating China is a nation entirely comprising forgers.”

The New York Times reported not only YouTube users but the website of a major Chinese business magazine had also pointed out the similarities. Caijing Online published a technical analysis that said both songs used a piano as the key instrument. Both the songs “have similar prelude chords and an eight-beat introduction, and they run at almost exactly the same tempo,” it said.

“The Autobots,” a Chinese animated movie, has characters similar to those in “Cars.” While viewers called it a “shameless copy” of the Disney’s Pixar Animation Studios’ movie, the director of the Chinese movie said he had never watched the American movie.