Frozen (song)

"Frozen" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her eight studio album Ray of Light. It was released as the lead single from the album on 23 February 1998 by Maverick Records. It was written by Madonna and Patrick Leonard who had previously worked together on the albums True Blue (1986), Who's That Girl (1987), Like a Prayer (1989) and I'm Breathless (1990) and the single "I'll Remember" (1994). The song was produced by Madonna, William Orbit and Leonard and remixed by Victor Calderone, Stereo MC's and Orbit for the single release.

Background

"Frozen" was a radical change for Madonna. The darker electronic undertones, eastern strings arranged by Craig Armstrong, a touch of Middle Eastern percussion in the opening and her new vocal range were all previously unexplored territory for Madonna. However, the song was a huge success and is praised as being one of her best songs. Its success worldwide also marks it as one of Madonna's biggest hits ever. Madonna has said that the lyric is about "an emotionally frozen man." The song was mainly composed in F minor.

"Frozen" also marked the beginning of a series of remixes which were done during the Ray of Light era. Madonna had been working with Victor Calderone since "Secret", who went on to remix most of her follow-up singles. The remix done by the Stereo MCs was used by Madonna on her 2001 Drowned World Tour. Madonna also performed "Frozen" on her 2004 Re-Invention Tour, using a slightly edited version that is very similar to the original song, and on the 2009 leg of her Sticky & Sweet Tour, where it sampled musical elements from Calvin Harris's song "I'm Not Alone" and lyrics from her own song "Open Your Heart".

In 2003, Madonna fans were asked to vote for their Top 20 Madonna singles of all time by Q magazine. "Frozen" was allocated the #10 spot.

Chart performance

"Frozen" was a huge success worldwide. It topped the charts in a few countries, including the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain and Finland, but it peaked at #2 in mostly the rest of the world, being held off from the top position in the majority of them by Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On". It peaked at #2 in the United States. It became her sixth number-two single in the United States, making Madonna the artist with most number-two hits in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. "Frozen" debuted in the Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs) chart at no. 16, the third biggest debut to date,^[1] and reached the top 10 the next week.^[2]

In the UK, despite sporadically high sales of singles such as "You'll See" (a #5 hit in 1995) and "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" (a #3 success), "Frozen" was seen as the "big comeback" for Madonna, and became her first ever single to debut at number-one, selling 508,296 copies. It was Madonna's first UK chart-topper since "Vogue" in April 1990.

Across Europe "Frozen" was also a large success, reached the top-two position in almost all countries. The song spent eleven weeks at #2 on the European Singles Chart. The song debuted on the Spanish Singles Chart at number three on the issue dated February 18, 1998. The next week, it reached number-one spot and stayed there for three weeks.^[3] According to The Official Charts Company, the song has sold 525,000 copies there.^[4]

Music video

Madonna traveled to the Indian Wells Valley of the Mojave Desert in California to shoot the music video for "Frozen" from January 7 to 10, 1998. It was directed by Chris Cunningham, and was inspired by the movies The English Patient and The Sheltering Sky. The video won an MTV Video Music Award for "Best Special Effects" in 1998. The cinematography was done by Darius Khondji, who also shot Madonna's 1993 music video "Fever", and the 1996 film Evita. With a monochromatic bluish appearance throughout, the video shows Madonna playing an ethereal Gothic witchy, melancholy persona, with long black hair, black gowns designed by Olivier Theyskens (at that time a young and emerging talent), and mehndi on her hand showing the Hindu word Om on her palm. She shapeshifts into a flock of crows and a black dog.

The video premiered on February 12, 1998 in Europe and on MTV four days later. There were also two remix videos of "Frozen" released that same year by Dan-O-Rama titled "Stereo MC's Mix" and "Calderone Club Mix".

The video was parodied by Australian comedienne Gina Riley in an episode of the short-lived sketch show Something Stupid.

• Director: Chris Cunningham
• Producer: Nick Wrathall
• Director of Photography: Darius Khondji
• Editor: Gary Knight
• Production company: Black Dog Films

Cover versions

• A rock music style cover was recorded by Jeff Scott Soto with the band Talisman for their 1999 album Truth.^[5]
• Polish industrial metal band Thy Disease used parts of the original strings and vocals in a cover on their 2001 album, Devilsh Act of Creation^[6]
• German band Girls Under Glass covered the song on their 2001 album, Frozen.
• In 2004, Pascal Obispo featuring Natasha St-Pier in the French album Fan.
• In 2005, the Polish nu metal band Milczenie Owiec recorded a cover version of Frozen for their album Twarze.
• Achinoam Nini and Mira Awad recorded a cover version of Frozen for their 2009 duet album They Must Be Another Way.
• In May 2009, the Italian rock band Absinth Effect^[7] recorded a cover version of Frozen for their debut album.

Plagiarism case

On November 18, 2005, a Belgian judge seated in Mons ruled that the opening four-bar theme to "Frozen" was plagiarized from the song "Ma vie fout le camp", composed by Salvatore Acquaviva of Mouscron. The judge subsequently ordered the withdrawal from sales of all remaining discs, and forbade any further playing of the song on Belgian TV and radio. The judge also ordered Warner, EMI and Sony to publish and spread the decision within fifteen days to various media outlets on pain of a penalty of €125,000 for non-compliance with the court order. No damages were granted.^[8][9]

The Belgian radio station Donna held a Top 5000 music chart program from 17 November to 12 December 2008. The song "Frozen" reached place 143, but because of the legal status of the song it could not be played. The radio hosts asked their listeners to watch the music video on YouTube, while there was approximately 5 minutes of radio silence. The song is omitted from the tracklisting on the Belgian pressings of Celebration.^[10][11]

On 11 July 2009 Madonna performed a dance remix of "Frozen" on the Sticky & Sweet Tour date in Werchter, Belgium.^[12]

Track listings and formats

Official versions

• Album Version (6:10)
• Radio Edit (5:08) (originally PROMO ONLY - later included on GHV2 in 2001 and the single-disc edition of Celebration in 2009)
• Unedited Version (6:18) (unreleased prior to its appearance on the two-disc edition of Celebration in 2009)
• Call Out Research Hook (Promo Only)
• Stereo MC's Mix (5:45)
• Stereo MC's Mix Edit (4:56) (Promo Only)
• Victor Calderone Extended Club Mix (11:17)
• Victor Calderone Extended Club Mix Radio Edit (4:17) (Promo Only)
• Victor Calderone Extended Club Mix Edit (4:41) (Promo Only)
• Victor Calderone Drum-A-Pella (5:07) (Promo Only)
• William Orbit Meltdown Mix (8:09)
• William Orbit Meltdown Short Mix (4:53) (Promo Only)
• William Orbit Drum-A-Pella (5:14) (Promo Only)
• William Orbit Widescreen Mix (6:33)
• Video Edit (5:20)
• Sticky & Sweet Tour Official Studio Version - 4:12
• William Orbit Club Mix - 11Ș22
• William Orbit Odyssey Remix - 6Ș27

Charts and certifications

Chart procession and succession

References

External links

• Official website of Madonna