It is a fairly recent tradition of Disney to record their recognizable songs from their feature films in the native languages where their movies are released. "Let It Go", from Frozen, for example, was recorded in several languages.
For the Frozen 2 anthem, "Into the Unknown", Disney did this again, in a big way. There are at least 48 OFFICIAL versions of the song, including 46 different versions of Elsa for 47 versions of the movie (the same actress did dub the French and French Canadian versions).
Taeyeon is a big star in her native South Korea, as a member of the group Girls' Generation and as a solo artist. Her big, soulful voice is unique to K-Pop and lends itself well to this tune. She was commissioned to perform the song over the end credits of the film..... she was not Elsa.
Disney did the same thing in the US, commissioning Panic! at the Disco to perform the song. Brendon Urie does bring the vocal gravitas to this song - and appears to be the only male commissioned to sing this particular song.
OK, now that we finished the opening act, let's get to the actresses.
Some people consider the Arabic version to be the best one of this song. Performed by Egyptian singer Nesma Mahgoub, it is a big, epic version and her voice carries it well.
Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir performs the song in Icelandic. Her voice is lighter than a lot of the other versions, but she also brings a certain desperation that the song already brings on its own lyrically.
The Korean version of Elsa was sung by Park Hye-na. In several languages, different actresses sung and spoke Elsa's part - Korean was one of them, with An So-yeon providing the spoken word.
Frozen 2 actually broke cultural barriers, too. These two actresses - Marianne Pentha (Northern Sami) and Lisa Stokke (Norwegian) - both played Elsa in two different versions of Frozen 2. This particular version is my current favorite. Sami, you see, was a language banned in Norway until after World War II, with significant assimilation attempted. So, to see a version of this song in both Sami AND Norwegian is absolutely beautiful.
Few movies have ever been dubbed into Sami, so for Disney to do this for a movie that is clearly Norwegian themed is amazing.
For Castilian, spoken in Spain, Spanish star Gisela did the singing honors for Elsa.
We can do better than that, though. Here's the song in 29 languages. Enjoy it.
Russian was not. In Russia, Anna Burturlina spoke AND sung the part of Elsa - a part she also played in Frozen. Here she is, performing the song live.
The Hindi version of this song did have separate speaking and singing actresses. Elsa was spoken by Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and sung by Sunidhi Chauhan (who it is said is an idol to Chopra Jonas, herself arguably the biggest Bollywood star).
The Hindi version of this song did have separate speaking and singing actresses. Elsa was spoken by Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and sung by Sunidhi Chauhan (who it is said is an idol to Chopra Jonas, herself arguably the biggest Bollywood star).
Frozen 2 actually broke cultural barriers, too. These two actresses - Marianne Pentha (Northern Sami) and Lisa Stokke (Norwegian) - both played Elsa in two different versions of Frozen 2. This particular version is my current favorite. Sami, you see, was a language banned in Norway until after World War II, with significant assimilation attempted. So, to see a version of this song in both Sami AND Norwegian is absolutely beautiful.
Few movies have ever been dubbed into Sami, so for Disney to do this for a movie that is clearly Norwegian themed is amazing.
Disney was also careful about dialects when dealing with languages. Spanish, for example, is a language that is spoken differently in Latin America and in Spain. In Latin America, the singing was done by Carmen Sarahí.
For Castilian, spoken in Spain, Spanish star Gisela did the singing honors for Elsa.
By our estimation, Gisela is the only vocalist has the honor of having sung this song in two OFFICIAL and completely distinct language versions of the movie - as she also sang the song in Catalan, a language spoken in the North of Spain that, like the aforementioned Sami, was government-banned for a very long time.
There are also two Portuguese versions, for the Brazilian and Portuguese markets. The two versions of the language are ever-so-slightly different, and the two actresses used for Elsa in these regions (Taryn Szpilman for Brazil, Ana Margarida Encarnação singing as Elsa for Portugal) are different as well. We love this version that combines BOTH.
Disney was a little less careful with French. In both the Quebec and European versions, the song was sung by Charlotte Hervieux - who also did the spoken word for the world outside Canada (Disney wisely hired Aurélie Morgane to get optimum localization for Quebec). Technically, Hervieux sang it in two versions of the movie - but they were the same language.
This is the closing credits version of the song, but Hervieux performed both, so we went with it.
This is the closing credits version of the song, but Hervieux performed both, so we went with it.
All right. We made you wait long enough. Here is Adele Dazim Idina Menzel singing the song for English-speaking audiences. It's huge and her huge and broad voice is well-suited for the song.
One thing that happened this time that didn't with "Let It Go" was this Academy Awards version, when many of the artists - including AURORA, who appears on ALL of the movie versions - came together to perform the song.
Now that you have heard ALL of that, and I hope you enjoyed it, please go to Totally Covered and listen to one of these artists that is NOT Idina Menzel sing the song in English.
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