That infamous Adele Dazeem moment? Ancient history. Idina Menzel got redemption at the 2020 Oscars 2020 in the purest form possible: singing and sisterhood. She gave a flawless rendition of “Into the Unknown,” the Frozen 2 tune vying for Best Original Song, joined by nine bonus Elsas—all women who voice the ice queen in international versions of the popular franchise.
Menzel, who also starred in the snubbed-by-the-Oscars-but-still-fabulous Uncut Gems this year, delivered conflicted ice queen realness along with actors who voice Elsa in Denmark, Germany, Japan, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, and Thailand, as well as the actors who voice Elsa in Latin American countries. The 11th singer on the Oscars 2020 stage was Aurora, the 23-year-old Norwegian phenomenon who sings the shivery “mysterious voice” role in the movie.
Surrounded by floating ice crystals and mist, Menzel appeared in a sparkling white off-the-shoulder J. Mendel gown, dripping with diamonds, flaunting her trademark steak-cutter cheekbones. She was joined by Elsas who sing, respectively, in Polish, Thai, Castilian, German, Norwegian, Russian, and Spanish. The effect was both moving and extremely sparkly.
Frozen 2 didn’t receive a nomination for Best Animated Feature, so “Into the Unknown,” written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, is the movie’s one chance for a win. The song doesn’t have the once-in-a-generation princess anthem quality of its predecessor, “Let It Go,” but in some ways it’s more emotionally mature and complex.
“Every day’s a little harder as I feel your power grow,” Queen Elsa sings, addressing her own gnawing sense that she is being called to something greater than her normal life. “Don’t you know there’s part of me that longs to go into the unknown?”
Wait, a powerful female ruler debates leaving a comfortable castle behind to follow a deep personal calling into the unknown. Meghan Markle, is that you?
Jenny Singer is a staff writer for Glamour. You can follow her on Twitter.
