‘Frozen’ melts our hearts and rules the charts
As I write this, the “Frozen” motion picture soundtrack is spending its ninth week atop the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart.
I already knew the music of “Frozen” has become annoyingly popular, but its chart performance is ridiculously successful. Nine weeks at No. 1 is a rare achievement. It’s the third-longest time an album has stayed at No. 1 in the last 10 years. The “Frozen” soundtrack is legitimately making commercial music history. Ought we be impressed or worried?
Let’s use this statistic to pinpoint where the music world and music industry are today. The only other albums to break the eight-week No. 1 barrier in the last 10 years are Usher’s “Confessions,” Taylor Swift’s “Fearless” and Adele’s “21.” It’s 2014 and the album chart is no longer conquered by a pop star or an R&B crooner, but a soundtrack to a kiddie movie. For the record, the Billboard album chart has never been consistently ruled by specific genres. “Frozen’s” reign at No. 1 has been going on and off for three months with temporary interruptions from country and rap releases. It’s always a weekly toss-up. Yet somehow, no matter what hot new music pops up, people keep buying “Frozen.”
In response to the question I posed earlier, we shouldn’t be worried. I just wonder why the radio music world can’t step up in a time like this. Not like I care much, nor am I critiquing the quality of popular music. I’m talking record sales, baby. Apparently singing snowmen and ice princesses make better business strategies than Pharrell and Katy Perry.
The music industry has always been a warped place. I have almost zero faith in “rags-to-riches” myth of pop stardom. “Started From The Bottom” is a great principle, but I’ve seen the bottom, and that totally isn’t where Drake came from. “Frozen” isn’t just a kid’s movie; it’s a Disney movie. It’s the first Disney movie in years to produce a tune as catchy as “Let It Go,” which happens to be a really big deal. Everybody loves it when their favorite artist returns to making good music. Despite its mediocre soundtrack, “Frozen” is selling because it’s the best we’ve heard from Disney in a long time. Also, the most recognized pop artists usually don’t come out with their big releases early on in the year. Thus, January is usually ruled by some adult contemporary holiday album. Now it’s April, and the winter time album is still in charge. “Beware the frozen heart.”
Pop stars don’t make albums; they make singles. Nobody actually listens to entire albums front-to-back. People download a few songs online. Pharrell, Jason Derulo and Katy Perry are alive and well in the Billboard singles chart. “Frozen” is outselling their albums because people who’ve seen the movie already know what the whole album will sound like. A few songs into Katy Perry’s “Prism” and people start searching for a “Fixer Upper” – yes, that pun was intended. Let it also be known that Beyonce’s latest album was released without any promotion and yet it spent three weeks at No. 1 because it had more than one memorable song. If not from Disney, the pop music world could at least learn a thing or two from Beyonce: Stop recording deadweight tracks and stop promoting your music so generically.
If you think the music of “Frozen” is popular simply because it’s happy and family friendly, you’re wrong. The timing of its release and the dough gone into its production is a manipulative money-making mixture. The fact that the music is happy and family friendly is the golden cherry on top. Much like the evil prince Hans from the movie, “Frozen” has been plotting to take over the charts while the rest of pop music royalty are wasting their time waiting for winter to end. Sales-wise, it looks like winter is here to stay – at least until Adele and Taylor Swift unfreeze each others’ hearts with an act of true love. Then they make a duet album on an independent label, and airplay promoters will live happily ever after.
– Scott Hall is a newcomer to the world of journalism. He is studying public relations and stage management at USU. His spare time is dedicated to music. For more, email scottehall3@gmail.com.