Frozen had several great musical moments, but did you know there were seven songs that ended up on the cutting room floor?
The Frozen deluxe edition soundtrack includes seven deleted songs with explanations from songwriters Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez who recorded the tunes themselves.
In these demos the two songwriters perform each song, so don’t expect to hear the voices of the cast. Nonetheless, these demos are surprisingly presentable and we’re so pleased to see they were officially released.
Below, we share the comments from Bobby and Kristen, and we personally rate each one’s deletion potential on a scale of 1 (should have been included in the movie) to 5 (we’re glad it was deleted).
‘We Know Better’
The first song written for Frozen, “We Know Better” is described by Kristen as a “song for two rebellious princesses.” Indeed, Elsa and Anna sing about what most people expect princesses to be and why they’re different from the norm. This demo version is only the first half of the song, Bobby says.
Deletion potential: 3. Although we’re not fans of the baby screaming sound effect at the beginning, the song itself is adorable and is on par with “Do You Want To Build A Snowman?” Young viewers could’ve felt pretty inspired by this one.
‘Spring Pageant’
“In a lot of the early versions the film had a prophecy, and it was our job to introduce the prophecy in a fun and exciting song,” says Bobby. “So we decided to do it as a children’s pageant. In this song we see the children rehearsing the pageant with a very light and snotty school play director.
Deletion potential: 5. “Spring Pageant” sounds like a Christmas song at the beginning then gets into the play. Since we don’t know much about the prophecy plot line and this doesn’t feel like a true song, we’re not huge fans of this one.
‘More Than Just the Spare’
“There was an early draft that was all about the heir and the spare. Elsa being the heir, Anna being the overlooked, not needed spare,” Kristen explain. “We wrote this as her big introductory song. Even though it ultimately got cut, it was really useful in terms of tapping into Anna’s character.”
Deletion potential: 2. Heartwarming and catchy with a strong finish, this is another one about empowerment. The problem with this one is that it follows a little too closely to what Anna sings about in “Do You Want to Build a Snowman.” It’s good, it just takes a while to feel big.
‘You’re You’
Deletion potential: 5. Bobby says that this was an early version of what eventually made the movie. “This was an early attempt to write a love moment for Hans and Anna, and this moment eventually became ‘Love is an Open Door.'” For that reason, this definitely didn’t need to be a part of the story. It’s a cute tune but feels like it would be boring on screen.
‘Life’s Too Short’
“As we were developing Frozen, one of the songs we knew we had to write was the song between Elsa and Anna at the end of which Elsa had to freeze Anna’s heart with a blast of magic,” Bobby explains.
Adds Kristen, “This first attempt was more confrontational than what ended up in the movie, but we enjoyed going to that drama place.”
Deletion potential: 2. It’s an alternate version of the storyline, as Kristen explains, “In this version, Anna’s solution to the problem is for Elsa to put the gloves back on, and this is the thing that really sets Elsa off.” On the other hand, it’s pretty darn catchy. One issue we see is that it feels a little too upbeat given what’s happening on screen.
‘Life’s Too Short’ reprise
Sad but powerful, this one was set to appear later in the film.
‘Reindeer Remix’
The songwriters describe this one as a “joke” because they reached the end of writing then realized they “hadn’t written anything substantial at all for the amazing Jonathan Groff.”
They tell us to imagine this playing during the end credits, yet this song’s lyrics appear in a song earlier in the movie. So was this the first version before they decided to move it into the movie?
Deletion potential: 5. Not good. Not worthy of Groff. We can’t picture it, songwriters, sorry.