Ukrainian Girl’s Defiant ‘Let It Go’ Bomb Shelter Performance Goes Viral; Idina Menzel Tweets, “We Really, Really See You”
A cellphone video of a little Ukrainian girl named Amelia singing a sweet and defiant rendition of Frozen‘s “Let It Go” from a bomb shelter in Kyiv has been viewed by many thousands since going viral yesterday, with no less than the film’s original Elsa – Idina Menzel – taking notice.
“We see you,” Menzel tweeted. “We really, really see you.” Her message was followed by blue and yellow heart emojis.
The video, in which Amelia sings the famous 2013 Disney anthem with lyrics including “Let the storm rage on/The cold never bothered me anyway,” was shared on Facebook by another shelterer named Marta Smekhova, who filmed and shared the impromptu performance with permission from Amelia’s mother.
In the original Facebook post, which has since been shared on various social media platforms, Smekhova wrote, “From the first word in the [bomb shelter] came complete silence… everyone put their business aside and listen[ed] to a song by this girl who was just beaming light… even men couldn’t hold back the tears.”
The Ukrainians were seeking shelter in the unknown location in Kyiv during the Russian invasion.
The Oscar-winning song, of course, was originally recorded by Menzel for the 2013 animated film Frozen, and was written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. The song became an international hit, with Disney releasing the compilation Let it Go: The Complete Set in 2014, which included 22 different performers singing the song in 41 languages.
Watch Amelia’s performance:
