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Why no acclaim or respect for Frozen?


Braby

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Surely it's the second most credible single of her career, after Like A Prayer?

Looking back at year-end lists from Rolling Stone, Q, Mojo, VV etc (www.rocklistmusic.co.uk has a nifty, if incomplete, archive), I've noticed there is little critical acclaim for Frozen. The only nod to the track's supreme brilliance is in NME's 'Greatest Tracks of the Decade 1996-2006', which ranked it at #44. According to them, Crazy In Love (#41) and Can't Get You Out Of My Head (#30) are the better pop songs. And whilst I'm not stupid enough to realise the latter two are more popular and instant (of course they are, they're dance songs), I've yet to read a credible argument as to why these two are superior. Or is it just that quite a few critics aren't willing to give Madonna kudos for anything she's done since 1990?

THAT string opening is just so lush. SO dark. Cinematic Hollywood and Middle Eastern at the same time. Then, after 20 seconds, BAM! The drum beat explodes while the electronic synthesisers slowly build before majestically pulsating throughout the intro.

The final "if I could melt your heart", a vocal so heart-felt, is proof enough that Madonna will always be one step ahead of her female contemporaries, even if they do outsell her. While Mariah Carey's shits out ballad after ballad, they're all ultimately HOLLOW, eschewing true emotional fragility for "technically good" vocal acrobatics.

So while something like Can't Get You Out Of My Head will be adored more by the masses, I'll take the aloof coldness of FROZEN over some ex-soap star singing a perfectly catchy but ultimately empty pop ditty dressed in toilet roll ANYDAY.

Regrding the upcoming Celebration package, Frozen gets bumped on the television commercial (which is a whole minute long and shows a clip of *Cherish* for Christ's sake).

And WATCH how they'll put a piss-poor "edit" on the compilation, cutting the intro and outro and the glorious "keyyy" which segues into the repeat of the final chorus. No, it's all about the album version. THREE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY FIVE SECONDS of aural genius.

(Sidenote: Who does Hung Up think she is, taking pride of place as the first track on the compilation, like she's suddenly the signature song all of a sudden? *cough* #7 Billboard Hot 100 *cough*)

I'm very suprised at its neglect; I always viewed it as sitting next to Prayer, Vogue, Hung Up in her canon as one of the handful of true career-defining, world-changing megahits rather than just another relatively successful album lead single. To me, Frozen is one of the most popular pop singles of the late 90s, but also her coolest song ever. The lyrics are Emo chic but genuinely profound at the same time.

Some might argue it's too long. Over produced. Even pretentious. That's their opinion.

Perhaps they can't comprehend its brilliance.

Sorry to say it, but this is her true 90s pop masterpiece. Not Vogue.

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Sorry to say it, but this is her true 90s pop masterpiece. Not Vogue.

Amen to that

her best 90s song and the best from ROL (and the 1st song and video i'v ever seen from The Madonna , the humming stuck in my head ever since and was the only thing i remembered from it until i learned the name of the song and rediscovered this masterpiece many years later)

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"Frozen" is definitely a cool song, but I rarely listen to it much. It's a bit boring. And I think the song "Ray of Light" upstaged it and seems much more popular among the fan base than "Frozen". I don't believe we can say this is her greatest piece of work since "Like A Prayer". It's definitely a highlight in her career, but she will always be remembered for mostly the dance songs and a few big ballads from her hey day.

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Crazy In Love is a million times better than Frozen. That was NME's single of the year in 2003 and CGYOOMH was #2 single in 2001 behind Get Ur Freak On, so those had the acclaim already.

Also, Frozen IS on the single disc. The only ballad to make it in fact, it got on there instead of Crazy For You and Take A Bow.

And I'm not seeing what's wrong with the radio edit. I don't notice much difference. :confused: Thought it worked really well.

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I loved reading this! What a great tribute to "Frozen," which is definitely one of her greatest songs. I don't really feel like it's neglected necessarily, but maybe upstaged a bit by "Ray Of Light," sure. Not in my mind, but you know how Madonna fans need their uptempo stuff.

"Crazy In Love" is definitely not a better track, that's just silly.

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"Frozen" received some acclaim- per Acclaimed Music, it was on 7 year-end lists (No. 37 on the Pazz-N-Jop poll), and, Q included it as one of her 20 essential tracks (LAP was named her best album, so none of those tracks were included in the Essential 20 list).

What happened is, that "Ray of Light" overshadowed it- ROL has turned up on a number of all-time-type lists, whereas "Frozen" hasn't (and it fared better onthe year-end lists, too).

That NME list, turns out, as compiled via reader/Website visitor votes.

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Crazy In Love is a million times better than Frozen. That was NME's single of the year in 2003 and CGYOOMH was #2 single in 2001 behind Get Ur Freak On, so those had the acclaim already.

Also, Frozen IS on the single disc. The only ballad to make it in fact, it got on there instead of Crazy For You and Take A Bow.

And I'm not seeing what's wrong with the radio edit. I don't notice much difference. confused.gif Thought it worked really well.

Despite what Pitchfork thinks (their #4 song of the decade), Crazy In Love is an average verse-chorus pop track, with a half-assed rap, and sung over a sample from a 1970s Chi-Lites song. It happened to be coupled with a fabulous video and sung by someone who was riding the zeitgeist at the time. So it worked. I think it has cultural importance and as a singular piece, it represents this decade as a whole pretty well; the lazy sample, the success of r'n'b lite, the rent-a-rapper, the pretty girl lead etc. But as an actual song? Nah...

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Guest Danny86

ROL totally overshadowed it in every aspect except charts and hard sales, and rightfully so, in my opinion. While a great song, has a fantastic melody and gorgeous vocals, "Frozen" is NOT the "new" Madonna and not the reason why ROL the album was shot to dizzying heights in terms of critical acclaim. "Ray Of Light" is the fresh new Madonna who broke away from the sad ballads of the mid-90s.

And I don't even think lyrically "Frozen" is all that, not only something like "Drowned World" is so much better, but it's one of her earliest self-references as in ripping off an old lyric, something she gets criticized for these days.

Loomer is right, "Frozen" is the exception on the single disc of Celebration, it's the only ballad there and ROL is the only non-80s album that gets 2 songs included.

Oh and HG you forgot to mention that "Frozen" gets next to no spins on recurrent airplay these days. ;)

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Guest Pud Whacker

ROL totally overshadowed it in every aspect except charts and hard sales, and rightfully so, in my opinion. While a great song, has a fantastic melody and gorgeous vocals, "Frozen" is NOT the "new" Madonna and not the reason why ROL the album was shot to dizzying heights in terms of critical acclaim. "Ray Of Light" is the fresh new Madonna who broke away from the sad ballads of the mid-90s.

And I don't even think lyrically "Frozen" is all that, not only something like "Drowned World" is so much better, but it's one of her earliest self-references as in ripping off an old lyric, something she gets criticized for these days.

Loomer is right, "Frozen" is the exception on the single disc of Celebration, it's the only ballad there and ROL is the only non-80s album that gets 2 songs included.

Oh and HG you forgot to mention that "Frozen" gets next to no spins on recurrent airplay these days. ;)

it got spin at my supermarket. its become a supermarket song. :rotfl:

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Who the hell treats "Frozen" like a piece of shit? :lol: After the title track, it seems to be everyone's favourite song from the album. Then Drowned World.

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That NME list, turns out, as compiled via reader/Website visitor votes.

Ah. I knew it. I didn't think NME liked Frozen much. They loved the album, but in the interview of the time, it was said to be one of the lesser tracks.

And Pitchfork are right, of course. Crazy In Love is the song of the decade. :inlove: I'll have to go and see what's on the rest of their list.

Queen Bee is seemingly desperate to become a legend, but with that record, out of the gate she did a lot of the work towards it already.

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Guest Pud Whacker

Who the hell treats "Frozen" like a piece of shit? :lol: After the title track, it seems to be everyone's favourite song from the album. Then Drowned World.

i think its better than the title track. :thumbsup:

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Yes, I did neglect to mention that- but, ROL- for all its acclaim and importance- isn't a smash recurrent hit, either (averaging 15-20 spins a week in recent times). ROL is a little "obnoxious," though (and I say that as it's probably my third-favorite M track), compared to M's other classics, so maybe that's why it doesn't get played as much as it should.

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Guest hot revolver

it got spin at my supermarket. its become a supermarket song. :rotfl:

the madonna songs at my supermarket are angel, dress you up, hung up, don't tell me, and i'll remember!! everyone always stares at me cuz i sing along to them!! lol

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Guest Pud Whacker

the madonna songs at my supermarket are angel, dress you up, hung up, don't tell me, and i'll remember!! everyone always stares at me cuz i sing along to them!! lol

i love hearing her at the market. it sends me into a state of happiness. :lol: its true!!!

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Guest SuperBriGuy

Gawd, this stands as one of my favorite Madonna songs (if not my absolute favorite) ever. Regardless of what people are saying, this song DID kinda revitalize her career...it opened at number eight on the billboard charts, the video was fantastic, and remember...in a way "Frozen" kind of opened the door for "Ray Of Light." It let people know that Madonna was back, and ROL just cemented it. It's an unsung hero in her collection of classics.

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Guest Pud Whacker

Gawd, this stands as one of my favorite Madonna songs (if not my absolute favorite) ever. Regardless of what people are saying, this song DID kinda revitalize her career...it opened at number eight on the billboard charts, the video was fantastic, and remember...in a way "Frozen" kind of opened the door for "Ray Of Light." It let people know that Madonna was back, and ROL just cemented it. It's an unsung hero in her collection of classics.

frozen is fantastic. are people saying otherwise in here? oh god, after those dreadful something to forget years, all her real long time fans (pre-internet) were so ecstatic. it was like, "thank god." for sound and vision.

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Guest SuperBriGuy

frozen is fantastic. are people saying otherwise in here? oh god, after those dreadful something to forget years, all her real long time fans (pre-internet) were so ecstatic. it was like, "thank god." for sound and vision.

No, no one in here, I was mainly referring to some of the points that the gentleman who started this thread was referring to. Like how he said that some argued that the song was over-produced or too long...in my opinion the production of the song was outstanding, I loved how William Orbit and Patrick Leonard worked to make sure the soundscape complemented Madonna's vocals (which shined on this song). Just a damn good song, through and through. :)

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frozen is fantastic. are people saying otherwise in here? oh god, after those dreadful something to forget years, all her real long time fans (pre-internet) were so ecstatic.

My first play of "Frozen" was from downloading a WAV file of "Frozen" that was a Japanese radio rip, I think from that Singapore Madonna link. Took ages. :demonic:

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Frozen is by far one of the best songs Madonna has ever recorded!!

I'm so glad she performed it on S&ST - it was brilliant. I can even say it's the best song on the whole album (Ray of Light - the song - is so overrated IMO; I mean it's a good song, but Frozen is 100000000000000 times better). It's not too long, not boring at all, not overproduced - it's perfect as it is.

Sadly, there does seem to be more appreciation for RoL than for Frozen, which I actually don't understand - but oh well, it's a matter of taste after all. I love it so this is all that matters to me.

P.S.: That plagiarism controversy was pure bullshyt!

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Guest Pud Whacker

My first play of "Frozen" was from downloading a WAV file of "Frozen" that was a Japanese radio rip, I think from that Singapore Madonna link. Took ages. :demonic:

oh singapore was soooooooooo fantastic!!! that and ashram. :thumbsup:

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Guest SuperBriGuy

P.S.: That plagiarism controversy was pure bullshyt!

Hell yeah, it was. I loved how when a Belgian radio station called Donna had a top 5,000 countdown in '08 they asked listeners to take five minutes and watch the video for "Frozen" on Youtube because it had been banned from being played on Belgian radio stations; a testament to the love that song had received. They could've easily just left it off of the list in lieu of another song.

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