Entertainment

"Let It Go" Literally Made Lea Michele Throw Up

by Jaclyn Anglis

Poor Lea Michele! It sounds like when she covered Frozen's mega-hit "Let It Go" on Glee, she took the song's lyrics a little bit too literally. Yes, Lea Michele actually threw up while singing the song during one of the takes on set, as she revealed to Jimmy Kimmel on January 21. She said,

I was super nervous. The day didn't start off so well. I was singing, there was snow falling, I looked up, trying to make it magical and beautiful, and ended up choking on the snow and vomiting on the ground. And they have it in slow-mo, on film.

She also admitted to Kimmel that she felt "a lot of pressure" to live up to the song's insane popularity. It sounds like Michele completely understood the hype surrounding the song and wanted to do it justice on the show. After all, the song's original artist Idina Menzel personally gave Michele her blessing via Twitter to sing the song. If the original artist is watching, you definitely want to make it good! And considering "Let It Go" has been covered extensively elsewhere by other artists, Michele probably also felt pressure to make the performance as beautiful as she possibly could, hence her instinct in gazing up at the snow.

Michele is certainly not the first cover artist to get nervous about living up to the original. Linkin Park band members admitted to being nervous covering the Beastie Boys' during a 2012 tour, since they didn't want to mess up a beloved song. Member Mike Shinoda explained,

That group was always so important to me, and I didn’t want to mess up one of their songs. When we started rehearsing it, I was nervous and thinking, "I don't know if this is a good idea," but I didn't want to say anything. And I was lucky I didn't because the guys just made it work.

Britain's Got Talent winners Collabro also admitted to being nervous about recording a cover — theirs of a OneRepublic song, since their spinoff had a less poppy twist than the original. And it doesn't seem like those bands even had the same blessing from the original artists that Michele had!

While many popular tunes come off as natural when performed on screen or on record by cover artists, it's great that Michele was able to admit it wasn't completely smooth sailing. It goes to show that even talented performers like Michele (or Linkin Park or Collabro) can feel pressure to stand out amongst other artists who have covered well-loved songs, and make the original singers proud, too.

As seen from the video above, even after she got sick, Michele still lived up to the hype. In fact, she got a thumbs up from Menzel herself after the performance came out.

She also got a thumbs up from those who were lucky enough to watch her perform the song live, since some of the show's crew members brought their kids along to the set to watch the scene. So luckily, Michele was a trouper and didn't run away from the set Elsa-style after her bout of nausea. Instead, she stuck it out and ended up making the kids' days. She said some were so enthralled by her voice that they actually thought she was the real-life Disney princess, vomit and all. After all, even princesses get sick sometimes!