Beijing Olympics Song Sounds Oddly Familiar

Critics accuse officials of copying 'Let It Go' from Disney's Frozen
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 4, 2015 5:43 AM CDT
Updated Aug 4, 2015 6:03 AM CDT
Beijing Olympics Theme Song Sounds Oddly Familiar
Residents waits for the decision for Beijing to be named the host city for the 2022 Winter Olympics at the ski resort region of Chongli in northern China's Hebei province Friday, July 31, 2015.   (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Olympic anthems aren't usually chart-toppers, but one of 10 official theme songs for the 2022 Beijing Olympics, awarded to China on Friday, sure sounds like one. Unfortunately for Beijing, it sounds like one already made popular around the world: "Let It Go" from Disney's Frozen. The Olympic song is named "The Snow and Ice Dance," but the comparisons don't end there. The website of a Chinese business magazine says the two songs both feature a piano as the main instrument, have a similar opening, and almost exactly the same tempo, per the New York Times. You can listen to both songs for yourself here and here.

"Does anyone want to burst out into 'Let It Go' at 01:14?" one YouTuber commented on the Olympic song, sung by duo Sun Nan and Tan Jing, per the BBC. Many others have accused officials of plagiarism and theft. The musical brouhaha is far from the only criticism associated with the Beijing Olympics, however. Environmentalists argue Beijing doesn't have enough snow to host a Winter Olympics, while others have slammed China's human rights record. Beijing won the Olympics over Almaty, Kazakhstan, after Oslo, Munich, and Stockholm dropped their bids. Tokyo was awarded the 2020 Summer Olympics also on Friday, per Bloomberg View. (More Frozen stories.)

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