Beijing Olympics song under fire for ripping off ‘Frozen’ track

An official song for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics has come under fire for allegedly copying hit song “Let it Go” from the Disney movie “Frozen”.

According to some YouTube users who have listened to the track online, “The Ice and Snow Dance”, created by Chinese songwriter Zhao Zhao, has jumped on the back of the success of “Frozen” and “Let it Go”.

Beijing was chosen as the host city for the 2022 games last week. The song is one of ten chosen to represent the games.

The official YouTube video for the song has already received a number of comments attacking it for allegedly ripping off “Let it Go” and not being original.

One user, called ‘Justin’, said: “Why can’t China ever make anything original? For greatness, one should build off ideas and make it better. Never steal someone’s successful product and simply change the brand name and call it your own.”

Another used said: “Let me guess Beijing, the cold never bothered you anyway?” [in reference to a line from the Disney movie’s song].

Caijing, a Chinese business magazine, also noted the similarities, as have several other publications including the New York Times.

Disney is no stranger to copyright claims as far as “Frozen” is concerned.

Earlier this year the media and entertainment multinational settled a lawsuit in which it was accused by a US film maker of infringing her copyright in its teaser trailer for the film.

Kelly Wilson and Disney agreed to settle their dispute at the US District Court for the Northern District of California on June 24.

Neither Disney nor the organising committee for the Beijing Winter Olympics had responded to a request to comment at the time of publication, but we will update the story should either party get in touch.