Which Academy Award did Disney’s Frozen win for “Let It Go”?

Disney’s Frozen won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Let It Go.”

The song was written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez and performed in the film by Idina Menzel as Elsa. At the 86th Academy Awards, it won against other nominated songs, giving the songwriting team their first Oscar for the Frozen song.

“Let It Go” is performed during Elsa’s decision to leave Arendelle and embrace her powers. Its combination of character development, theatrical structure, and memorable melody helped make it the film’s signature song. The film was also nominated for Best Animated Feature and won that category, but that is a separate award.

A frequent mix-up is treating “Let It Go” as the winner of Best Original Score. The song award recognizes a specific original song, while Best Original Score recognizes the film’s instrumental musical composition.