In response to the twitterverse freaking out and snarking on her pitch challenged New Years Rockin’ Eve performance of her hit “Let it Go,” Idina Menzel tweeted a screencap of a quote from a recent interview with Southwest magazine:
“There are about 3 million notes in a two-and-a-half-hour musical; being a perfectionist, it took me a long time to realize that if I’m hitting 75 percent of them, I’m succeeding. Performing isn’t only about the acrobatics and the high notes: I’ts staying in the moment, connecting with the audience in an authentic way, and making yourself real to them through the music. I am more than the notes I hit, and that’s how I try to approach my life. You can’t get it all right all the time, but you can try your best. If you’ve done that, all that’s left is to accept your shortcomings and have the courage to try to overcome them.”
Idina performed a challenging song, outside in cold weather, WITHOUT the aid of a backing track. I’m inclined to cut her some slack.
But really? When she sings on the Broadway stage, or live on television, she’s happy to only hit the right notes 75% of the time? That makes for pretty unpleasant listening. I’ve always favored emotion over perfect pitch. But a performance with too many bum notes is going to take me right out of even the most heartfelt moment.
In any case, I’m sure Idina realizes that the story will have it’s moment in the news cycle, until media moves on to the next big musical faux pax. The Super Bowl is less than a month away! Ha.
In case you haven’t seen it, here’s Indina’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve performance of “Let it Go” from the Disney movie, Frozen.
http://dai.ly/x2dt2uy
