When I first heard let it go, watching Frozen with my granddaughter, I was blown away as I thought the song and the story was an allegory for addiction. And the path of one who is recovering. One of my favorite songs. Thanks for putting a scaffold around this!
Thanks, Keppie, for another great tip for structuring a song, so it can be worked on and finished, rather than just lingering as an idea in a notebook or computer file somewhere. I am finding your Song Map template very useful as I struggle to complete my first song. I am a retired 62 year old with no kids, but Frozen is one of my favorite films, and the songs are among my all-time favorites. I find that the songs connect me emotionally to the story and characters. Interesting story about "Let it Go" from a "making of" documentary: before this song was written, Elsa was cast as a classic Disney villain. Those involved found the song to be so powerful that they felt it necessary to extensively overhaul the story and characters to make Elsa a sympathetic figure.
Interestingly enough the Dutch translation of Let it Go has the chorus start with: "Laat het los. Laat het gaan" Which are two expressions with the same meaning, but slightly different nuances (stop holding on and letting it go). Which I think makes the Dutch version better then the original both in meaning as in the way it sounds (as it is also less repetitive)
A great example of this is "On Bended Knee" by Boyz II Men. The symbolism of being down on a knee alludes to anything from praying, pleading with somebody, or a marriage proposal
Really love your videos. The more I’m practicing your techniques the easier it is getting (as someone else said “the grey matter” is starting to absorb your info 😊). 👊
You said some of these things in other videos (and I've been practicing with it =); now, it is sinking in to my grey matter even more, with this great presentation. Thanks so much!!
Hey, I'm a fan of your channel, and your videos help me solve music writing problems. I'd like to ask you if you could make a video explaining Ava Max's song writing.
Love this type of content!:-) The song «show yourself» from frozen 2 does this exact same thing. One thing to note, is that it is not context that changes the meaning the two first times, but the performance. The title is first performed as a plea, then an order. The last change is more contextual, but it also introduces wordplay, as both the meanings show yourself “to the world” and show yourself “what you can do” can be applied.
I like this approach as it can be quite powerful. Should this be considered a rule that can be broken vs. a songwriting law? The song, "Every Breath You Take," comes to mind. It doesn't seem to take a different angle as the song evolves, yet it's still an excellent song. Love this channel. Cheers!
Very Cool! I'm so glad I found you! Can't begin to tell you how much I have learned. Love seeing, hearing and learning new ways and new, skills. Thank you!
universality is found in specificity. If you set out looking to be universal or general, you’ll miss it. Honesty over cleverness always wins. I mostly agree with you though on other things.
Can somebody here answer my question 🙏or suggest me any video,🙏 I can write lyrics but when it comes to melody or rhythm i stuck. I have more than 15 songs, but i don't know how to make melody and rhythm for them.😢
Funny fact: According to a bizarre Christian TH-cam channel called Bible Flock Box, “Let it Go” promotes satanism and witchcraft. The video was pretty disappointing; it basically took the rebellious themes and said, “that’s satanic,” then proceeded to info-dump about occultism because I guess this guy is cultured. Anyway, “Let it Go” also does something interesting with the structure. First, it omits the first chorus, which communicates that the song, especially the chorus, are important. You’ll find the same expression in “Somebody that I Used to Know”. I think it’s less about making the audience wait and more about directly implying that what you’re about to say is so important that you’ll write multiple verses just to set it up. The chorus is also repeated a total of three times, so it has that emphasis but it also gets drilled into your head like a normal pop song. And third, all four of the verses sound different, which combined with the uneven amount of time between choruses, makes the chorus feel less like a lyrical convention and more like a repetition within the chaos that allows it to function as a whole.
These are all really strong and useful tips when it comes to developing lyrical concepts, and I agree that the lyrical development in "Let it go" is executed quite well. However...it would be remiss of me if I didn't venture my opinion that "Let it Go" is NOT a good model to study for the musical side. In my opinion, the music for Let it Go is...not to be indelicate, but a big bloated mess with a lot of rookie composition mistakes. Now, I know I'm in the minority here. I know the song is massively popular, so it's up to whomever reads this to find value in my take or not. First off, the melody ranges almost 2 octaves. Low F to high Eb, or an octave and a 7th. This is way too rangey for most singers. I'm sure we've all seen talent shows, or had daughters or friends who have tried to belt this song, either to totally fry out and burp the low F heaven knows I TRIED" Or, more likely, squeak and strain on those high belting lines. You might say that's the fun of it. A virtuoso singer belting a 2 octave melody is a spectacle, and elevates the emotion. I can see that point from a "diva/performance spectacle" point of view, but from a songwriting point of view, you should not require a professional singer to sing your song. This, to me, is an empathy thing. If you want humans to sing your song, write it in a range that most humans can sing. But it's not just the singability that makes songs this rangey suffer. It's also how those high notes are allocated. Usually in very rangey songs, the high soaring straining notes are saved for a climactic moment, and there's usually only one or two of them. It's the "big moment." the "can the singer nail the part we all know is coming?" It's the "red glare!/of the free!" in star spangled banner. Those notes are tough(and that song's just an octave and a half), but they are only momentary/transient, and the rest of the song is in an easier range. In "Let it Go," huge sections of the chorus have these strings of the highest notes of a nearly 2 octave melody. To my ear, this goes from being that impressive feat of belting to a kind of grating strain. Hard on a singer and hard on the ear. Again, I know most people don't agree. But if you're one of the few who finds the chorus annoying, this may be the explanation you were looking for! Another problem is just how disorganized and arbitrary so many of the phrases and ideas are. "snow glows white on the mountain tonight not a footprint to be seen" is defined by a starting point of static notes, then linear motion. this is two ideas off of which you can base a verse. but then before we're 30 seconds in, "kingdom of isolation" you get really early variation into C-Eb-C. this minor third leap back and forth isn't related to the previous material, and is already cluttering up the motif structure. We never see that again. It's abandoned. "the wind is howling like this swimming storm inside," it's still linear, but the notes are different and the rhythms are different, so already, feels like a new idea that could fit in another song. In other words, we're not even out of the first verse and there are just way too many disconnected ideas. The prechorus adds even more new, unrelated ideas. "don't let them in, don't let them see" could be a verse from another song. Don't get me wrong. you need continuations and developed content as you proceed in a composition, but in songwriting, you need the music to both be different/contrasting, but also inevitable. The sections must "need" each other. This is achieved through a lot of craft. So far, Let it Go is a big runon sentence. For the chorus, this is subjective, but I think "la ti do- sol sol re" is just kind of underwhelming rhythmically and countour-wise for the MAIN idea. To me, the hookline must be the most interesting part of the song. Even if it's an "antichorus" and a very complex song prepares a very minimal and simple chorus, it should still be the most interesting/compelling part. I think a series of eighth notes "la ti do" is a little rinkydink. Again, this much is subjective. But then when it goes on to develop the chorus, we are back in the danger zone because of how much variation is introduced so early. the second let it go is already varied, and "turn away and slam the door" is a variation of "can't hold it back anymore" SO much variation happening so fast. Then structurally, "I don't care what they're going to say" is unrelated music, and is a ripoff of "can you feel the love" from Lion King. Kind of copy/pasted into place there, THEN we have "let the storm rage on" which...I admit, is a really slick move and super cool, and shares the rhythm of the previous two lines, but then we get the tag "the cold never bothered me anyway" which is musically unrelated from all other previous content. Also it is based on FA, which could have been a bigger payoff. "fa fa mi fa fa mi fa mi do." But before that, high Fa was already blown on "slam the door" which uses a random high FA and takes the impact from the FA in the tag. I won't go too much further. Suffice it to say, the second verse is totally different from the 1st, adding even more variation. the second prechorus is a variation as well. SO MUCH variation every bar. To a songwriter, it's quite agonizing. For those who got through this, thank you for your patience. This song has always been a sore spot for me because it's a really clear lesson in "how NOT to write melodies/structure songs," despite its immense popularity. And for that matter, we have a good two dozen near-perfect songs from Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Hercules from which we can derive endless songwriting lessons. Again, this video was more about the lyrics so nothing I'm writing goes against that. The title referred to the song as a "masterpiece" so I just couldn't resist throwing my hat in the ring. Thanks so much to this channel for the great content and I hope my opinions as a fellow songwriting instructor/song lover are welcome.
Agreed. This song is imperfect. Still, for me, it achieves what I believe should be the highest objective of a song in a musical: it evokes an emotional response connecting the viewer to the character singing, to the ideas expressed, or to some other aspect. The soaring vocal range performed by a very good singer enhances this. Reducing the range to enable sing-along-ability would have lessened the impact.
@@NeuroPeteyeah I went out of my way to acknowledge that , despite its many issues, it's immensely popular, so it resonated with people, and that's ultimately what matters. That said, there are other factors at play. Being in a disney film guarantees you billions of views, so that's you know...a little bit of a bump i'd say ;). And also, it's kind of tough because there's a difference between cold hard techniques in terms of what's a proper way to write and develop a melody vs the kind of chaos that is how that rubric collides with culture. So take what I say for what it's worth. It's my opinion that songwriting students should learn bread and butter, proper technique first, and yes I even think 4 part chorales are really valuable to songwriting students. I'm very stuffy in that way lol. Once those fundamentals are down, then I say fly! Leave the nest and do whatever! But if you're a beginner, I warn you not to use Let it Go as a model for how to compose music, DESPITE its immense popularity which is undenyable.
I think most people don't understand what a song's lyrics really are. Vowels are emphasized and consonants are dropped, and the background music is loud. Maybe they get a vague impression of a word here and there. Even after looking up lyrics, often it's hard to get the meaning (what are you talking about, Tori Amos?). I do miss the Led Zeppelin/Black Sabbath days though when there wasn't a chorus at all, like Stairway to Heaven or Iron Man. Maybe just a phrase was repeated once in a while.
th-cam.com/video/LoUQ0kR-lTg/w-d-xo.html this tells us to avoid weak verbs. Now you say, in the title we should find phrases that can be seen from different perspectives, which changes their meaning. That's weak verbs. Actually we need both weak and strong verbs and exploit them, right?
i get it, but like so many other songwriters, i think you're overanalyzing here. the most important factor to write hits are the melody, not the lyrics. and you don't mention the melody with one word, making me think you're putting too much emphasis on the lyrics, at the expense of the melody. i bet this song would be a smash even if the verses went just na-na-na-na... the kids wouldn't care.
It wasn't only popular with the kids. This song was a hit on the charts. And I think a lot of kids pay closer attention than you think to these lyrics. My daughter, who is almost 10, is always listening to lyrics and asking me what songs mean (gets awkward when I'm listening to Tool lol). My son, who's only 6, never pays any attention to lyrics, but it's more melody driven. People in general are different. I think this analysis is spot on... This song for me was very emotional. I loved the lyrics about letting go of people's expectations. It really was a fantastic song lyrically and musically. Disney had great songwriters.
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If you’re a songwriter, this channel is your friend.
When I first heard let it go, watching Frozen with my granddaughter, I was blown away as I thought the song and the story was an allegory for addiction. And the path of one who is recovering. One of my favorite songs. Thanks for putting a scaffold around this!
Good point
This is amazing I have just learned so much THANK YOU 🎉
Thanks, Keppie, for another great tip for structuring a song, so it can be worked on and finished, rather than just lingering as an idea in a notebook or computer file somewhere. I am finding your Song Map template very useful as I struggle to complete my first song.
I am a retired 62 year old with no kids, but Frozen is one of my favorite films, and the songs are among my all-time favorites. I find that the songs connect me emotionally to the story and characters.
Interesting story about "Let it Go" from a "making of" documentary: before this song was written, Elsa was cast as a classic Disney villain. Those involved found the song to be so powerful that they felt it necessary to extensively overhaul the story and characters to make Elsa a sympathetic figure.
This is amazing thank you 💙💙
Also can we talk about how fire that chord change is from Ab to B at "Let the storm rage on"
Master class right here. Great channel!
Interestingly enough the Dutch translation of Let it Go has the chorus start with:
"Laat het los. Laat het gaan"
Which are two expressions with the same meaning, but slightly different nuances (stop holding on and letting it go). Which I think makes the Dutch version better then the original both in meaning as in the way it sounds (as it is also less repetitive)
Very insightful! Thanks for another amazing master class!
Great video, Keppie. Always love these TH-cam nuggets! And your songwriting Q&A sessions are so good.
A great example of this is "On Bended Knee" by Boyz II Men.
The symbolism of being down on a knee alludes to anything from praying, pleading with somebody, or a marriage proposal
This is eye-opening! Checked back and noticed that For The First Time In Forever uses the same concept.
Really love your videos. The more I’m practicing your techniques the easier it is getting (as someone else said “the grey matter” is starting to absorb your info 😊). 👊
3:29 Love how you become so emotional about people becoming emotional! ❤😂
Also, the double negative in “I don’t need no one but me” is the best part about it. You didn’t mention that.
You said some of these things in other videos (and I've been practicing with it =); now, it is sinking in to my grey matter even more, with this great presentation. Thanks so much!!
I'd love to hear you discuss 'Thats how you know' from Enchanted. There's so much going on in that song.
Hey, I'm a fan of your channel, and your videos help me solve music writing problems. I'd like to ask you if you could make a video explaining Ava Max's song writing.
Love this type of content!:-)
The song «show yourself» from frozen 2 does this exact same thing. One thing to note, is that it is not context that changes the meaning the two first times, but the performance. The title is first performed as a plea, then an order. The last change is more contextual, but it also introduces wordplay, as both the meanings show yourself “to the world” and show yourself “what you can do” can be applied.
I like this approach as it can be quite powerful.
Should this be considered a rule that can be broken vs. a songwriting law?
The song, "Every Breath You Take," comes to mind. It doesn't seem to take a different angle as the song evolves, yet it's still an excellent song. Love this channel. Cheers!
I have never heard this song (refused to listen), but wrote a song like this recently... this video really helped!
Very Cool! I'm so glad I found you! Can't begin to tell you how much I have learned. Love seeing, hearing and learning new ways and new, skills. Thank you!
Loved every second of it!
universality is found in specificity.
If you set out looking to be universal or general, you’ll miss it.
Honesty over cleverness always wins.
I mostly agree with you though on other things.
Thanks you for the advice 💯
Great vlog - love these!
Fantastic!
GOOD JOB. THANK YOU.
Disney actually makes some of the best songs!
Excellent video. I have learned so much from you
you are so smart - thank you!
awesome class
This is good!
Really good stuff here . Thank you
Damnnn!
Super interesting 🙏
LOL - have no kids, nieces and nephews are grown, and never listened to this song. Guess it's time!😊
Yes.. it is time.. *Rafiki voice*
Fantastic
Can somebody here answer my question 🙏or suggest me any video,🙏
I can write lyrics but when it comes to melody or rhythm i stuck.
I have more than 15 songs, but i don't know how to make melody and rhythm for them.😢
Funny fact: According to a bizarre Christian TH-cam channel called Bible Flock Box, “Let it Go” promotes satanism and witchcraft. The video was pretty disappointing; it basically took the rebellious themes and said, “that’s satanic,” then proceeded to info-dump about occultism because I guess this guy is cultured.
Anyway, “Let it Go” also does something interesting with the structure. First, it omits the first chorus, which communicates that the song, especially the chorus, are important. You’ll find the same expression in “Somebody that I Used to Know”. I think it’s less about making the audience wait and more about directly implying that what you’re about to say is so important that you’ll write multiple verses just to set it up.
The chorus is also repeated a total of three times, so it has that emphasis but it also gets drilled into your head like a normal pop song.
And third, all four of the verses sound different, which combined with the uneven amount of time between choruses, makes the chorus feel less like a lyrical convention and more like a repetition within the chaos that allows it to function as a whole.
I got it... same frase diferent meaning... reframing :)
These are all really strong and useful tips when it comes to developing lyrical concepts, and I agree that the lyrical development in "Let it go" is executed quite well.
However...it would be remiss of me if I didn't venture my opinion that "Let it Go" is NOT a good model to study for the musical side.
In my opinion, the music for Let it Go is...not to be indelicate, but a big bloated mess with a lot of rookie composition mistakes.
Now, I know I'm in the minority here. I know the song is massively popular, so it's up to whomever reads this to find value in my take or not.
First off, the melody ranges almost 2 octaves. Low F to high Eb, or an octave and a 7th. This is way too rangey for most singers. I'm sure we've all seen talent shows, or had daughters or friends who have tried to belt this song, either to totally fry out and burp the low F heaven knows I TRIED" Or, more likely, squeak and strain on those high belting lines. You might say that's the fun of it. A virtuoso singer belting a 2 octave melody is a spectacle, and elevates the emotion. I can see that point from a "diva/performance spectacle" point of view, but from a songwriting point of view, you should not require a professional singer to sing your song. This, to me, is an empathy thing. If you want humans to sing your song, write it in a range that most humans can sing.
But it's not just the singability that makes songs this rangey suffer. It's also how those high notes are allocated. Usually in very rangey songs, the high soaring straining notes are saved for a climactic moment, and there's usually only one or two of them. It's the "big moment." the "can the singer nail the part we all know is coming?" It's the "red glare!/of the free!" in star spangled banner. Those notes are tough(and that song's just an octave and a half), but they are only momentary/transient, and the rest of the song is in an easier range. In "Let it Go," huge sections of the chorus have these strings of the highest notes of a nearly 2 octave melody. To my ear, this goes from being that impressive feat of belting to a kind of grating strain. Hard on a singer and hard on the ear. Again, I know most people don't agree. But if you're one of the few who finds the chorus annoying, this may be the explanation you were looking for!
Another problem is just how disorganized and arbitrary so many of the phrases and ideas are. "snow glows white on the mountain tonight not a footprint to be seen" is defined by a starting point of static notes, then linear motion. this is two ideas off of which you can base a verse. but then before we're 30 seconds in, "kingdom of isolation" you get really early variation into C-Eb-C. this minor third leap back and forth isn't related to the previous material, and is already cluttering up the motif structure. We never see that again. It's abandoned.
"the wind is howling like this swimming storm inside," it's still linear, but the notes are different and the rhythms are different, so already, feels like a new idea that could fit in another song. In other words, we're not even out of the first verse and there are just way too many disconnected ideas.
The prechorus adds even more new, unrelated ideas. "don't let them in, don't let them see" could be a verse from another song. Don't get me wrong. you need continuations and developed content as you proceed in a composition, but in songwriting, you need the music to both be different/contrasting, but also inevitable. The sections must "need" each other. This is achieved through a lot of craft. So far, Let it Go is a big runon sentence.
For the chorus, this is subjective, but I think "la ti do- sol sol re" is just kind of underwhelming rhythmically and countour-wise for the MAIN idea. To me, the hookline must be the most interesting part of the song. Even if it's an "antichorus" and a very complex song prepares a very minimal and simple chorus, it should still be the most interesting/compelling part. I think a series of eighth notes "la ti do" is a little rinkydink. Again, this much is subjective. But then when it goes on to develop the chorus, we are back in the danger zone because of how much variation is introduced so early. the second let it go is already varied, and "turn away and slam the door" is a variation of "can't hold it back anymore" SO much variation happening so fast. Then structurally, "I don't care what they're going to say" is unrelated music, and is a ripoff of "can you feel the love" from Lion King. Kind of copy/pasted into place there, THEN we have "let the storm rage on" which...I admit, is a really slick move and super cool, and shares the rhythm of the previous two lines, but then we get the tag "the cold never bothered me anyway" which is musically unrelated from all other previous content. Also it is based on FA, which could have been a bigger payoff. "fa fa mi fa fa mi fa mi do." But before that, high Fa was already blown on "slam the door" which uses a random high FA and takes the impact from the FA in the tag.
I won't go too much further. Suffice it to say, the second verse is totally different from the 1st, adding even more variation. the second prechorus is a variation as well. SO MUCH variation every bar. To a songwriter, it's quite agonizing.
For those who got through this, thank you for your patience. This song has always been a sore spot for me because it's a really clear lesson in "how NOT to write melodies/structure songs," despite its immense popularity.
And for that matter, we have a good two dozen near-perfect songs from Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Hercules from which we can derive endless songwriting lessons.
Again, this video was more about the lyrics so nothing I'm writing goes against that. The title referred to the song as a "masterpiece" so I just couldn't resist throwing my hat in the ring.
Thanks so much to this channel for the great content and I hope my opinions as a fellow songwriting instructor/song lover are welcome.
Agreed. This song is imperfect. Still, for me, it achieves what I believe should be the highest objective of a song in a musical: it evokes an emotional response connecting the viewer to the character singing, to the ideas expressed, or to some other aspect. The soaring vocal range performed by a very good singer enhances this. Reducing the range to enable sing-along-ability would have lessened the impact.
@@NeuroPeteyeah I went out of my way to acknowledge that , despite its many issues, it's immensely popular, so it resonated with people, and that's ultimately what matters. That said, there are other factors at play. Being in a disney film guarantees you billions of views, so that's you know...a little bit of a bump i'd say ;). And also, it's kind of tough because there's a difference between cold hard techniques in terms of what's a proper way to write and develop a melody vs the kind of chaos that is how that rubric collides with culture. So take what I say for what it's worth. It's my opinion that songwriting students should learn bread and butter, proper technique first, and yes I even think 4 part chorales are really valuable to songwriting students. I'm very stuffy in that way lol. Once those fundamentals are down, then I say fly! Leave the nest and do whatever!
But if you're a beginner, I warn you not to use Let it Go as a model for how to compose music, DESPITE its immense popularity which is undenyable.
I think most people don't understand what a song's lyrics really are. Vowels are emphasized and consonants are dropped, and the background music is loud. Maybe they get a vague impression of a word here and there. Even after looking up lyrics, often it's hard to get the meaning (what are you talking about, Tori Amos?). I do miss the Led Zeppelin/Black Sabbath days though when there wasn't a chorus at all, like Stairway to Heaven or Iron Man. Maybe just a phrase was repeated once in a while.
th-cam.com/video/LoUQ0kR-lTg/w-d-xo.html this tells us to avoid weak verbs. Now you say, in the title we should find phrases that can be seen from different perspectives, which changes their meaning. That's weak verbs. Actually we need both weak and strong verbs and exploit them, right?
i get it, but like so many other songwriters, i think you're overanalyzing here. the most important factor to write hits are the melody, not the lyrics. and you don't mention the melody with one word, making me think you're putting too much emphasis on the lyrics, at the expense of the melody. i bet this song would be a smash even if the verses went just na-na-na-na... the kids wouldn't care.
It wasn't only popular with the kids. This song was a hit on the charts. And I think a lot of kids pay closer attention than you think to these lyrics. My daughter, who is almost 10, is always listening to lyrics and asking me what songs mean (gets awkward when I'm listening to Tool lol). My son, who's only 6, never pays any attention to lyrics, but it's more melody driven. People in general are different. I think this analysis is spot on... This song for me was very emotional. I loved the lyrics about letting go of people's expectations. It really was a fantastic song lyrically and musically. Disney had great songwriters.
@@LKDelahunty your daughter is probably smarter than the average😁
For me, 'Let it go' represents everything odious about songwriting.
i prefer the billie elish song from barbie