The Muppet Christmas Carol: 30 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About The Festive Classic

Posted on 21/12/2024 by Boris Clair

If you’re anything like us, then setting time aside to watch The Muppet Christmas Carol (otherwise known as the greatest film of all time) is an integral part of your festive schedule.

From the flawless soundtrack and the costumes to Michael Caine’s spot-on performance, there’s a lot to love – but how well do you really know the festive classic?

To mark the festive season, we’ve uncovered 30 facts about the movie that even those who think they know it back to front might not have picked up on…

1. There was a lot riding on the film in 1992 as the first Muppets movie to be released since creator Jim Henson’s death

It was also the first big-screen outing for the Muppets in the better part of a decade, and marked the first time many people will have seen the characters in action since their creator’s death two years earlier.

The Muppet Christmas Carol opens with a dedication to both Jim and fellow Muppeteer Richard Hunt.

Richard died in January 1992 from AIDS-related complications, almost a year before the movie hit cinemas, with most of his usual characters being absent from the Muppet Christmas Carol, and others being recast.

Jim Henson and Richard Hunt at the Oscars in 1986

2. Kermit The Frog performer Steve Whitmire says he had a supernatural experience the night before he began filming Muppet Christmas Carol

Following the death of Jim Henson, Steve took over the role of Muppets favourite Kermit The Frog. He’d already performed the character in a couple of smaller projects, but Muppet Christmas Carol was his first film since taking over as Kermit – not to mention his first time singing as him.

Steve previously told The Guardian: “The night before we pre-recorded the songs, I had a lot of trouble getting to sleep, thinking: ‘I really want this to be good, this means so much to everybody.’

“Then I had a bizarre dream. I was in this building that was all white, and Jim was there. He comes over to me, in a hurry to get somewhere quickly. I said to him: ‘I’m really nervous about taking over Kermit.’ He looked at me. Jim would do this thing where he would take one finger and put it on his bottom lip as he was thinking – he thought like this for a second and said: ‘It’ll pass.’ And he walked away.”

He added: “It felt much more like a visit than a dream. The feeling from that gave me confidence for the whole film.”

3. Songwriter Paul Williams – who previously penned Kermit’s Oscar-winning signature tune Rainbow Connection – was on hand to make sure Steve got Kermit’s voice just right

“Paul would stand in the recording booth and close his eyes while I was singing, to decided whether it sounded like Kermit or not,” Steve recalled to fansite Muppet Central.

“He’s not a harsh guy, at all. He’s one of the most easy-going, nicest people we’ve worked with, but he was really sensing it, and if I didn’t do it just right, we did it again.”

4. Muppet Christmas Carol was not only Brian Henson’s first time helming a Muppets project – but his first time directing any film

Brian Henson at the premiere of The Muppet Christmas Carol in 1992

The late Jim Henson’s son Brian took on directing duties, and while it might have been new to him, you apparently wouldn’t have known it.

“Brian was incredibly good, right from the beginning,” Muppeteer Dave Goelz told The Guardian. “Michael Caine got halfway through the film before he found out it was Brian’s first time directing – he couldn’t believe it.”

5. The film was originally intended to be a TV special – until Disney got their hands on the script

Disney was quick to see the potential in The Muppet Christmas Carol, which is how it ended up getting a full cinema release.

6. That being said, despite going on to become a Christmas classic, it didn’t quite set the box office alight at the time

It had stiff competition from the much-anticipated sequel to Home Alone and another Disney project, Aladdin.

7. Muppet Christmas Carol’s songs have become festive staples – but there were originally even more of them

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Yes, not one but two songs were recorded for the film but ultimately never recorded. Chairman Of The Board would have been performed by Sam The Eagle under the guise of young Scrooge’s headmaster, while Bunsen and Beaker would have performed Room In Your Heart for the older Scrooge in a bid to try and spread some festive cheer, and raise money for charity, earlier on in the film.

Fortunately for those who love Beaker’s iconic “meep meep” vocals, while the songs never made it into the Muppet Christmas Carol, they are both featured on its accompanying soundtrack.

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8. And that’s without getting into that whole When Love Is Gone debacle

Depending on which version of The Muppet Christmas Carol you grew up watching, you may or may not be familiar with the song When Love Is Gone.

The emotional ballad is performed by Belle, younger Scrooge’s fiancée, as they part ways for the final time when he revisits his past. However, it seems not everyone was a fan, with then-Disney chief Jeffrey Katzenberg ultimately scrubbing it from the US cinema release as he felt it slowed down the film and younger viewers would find a whole musical number without any Muppets in it boring.

By the way, that’s why Rizzo seems so disproportionately upset when Belle walks away from Scrooge in certain versions – what you’re not seeing is that she’s just performed a whole song about the slow demise of their relationship.

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I’ll Never Listen To All I Want For Christmas Is You The Same Way After Learning This Fact

Posted on 21/12/2024 by Boris Clair

If you’ve managed to go this far without becoming familiar with Mariah Carey’s iconic song All I Want For Christmas Is You, then I’d like to apologise for what I’m sure was a difficult time in your bunker.

The song has just achieved a record-breaking 16th week on Billboard’s number one spot, where it’s appeared for the past four consecutive years in the lead-up to Christmas ― some expect the tune will soon exceed $100 million in earnings.

It blasts from shop speakers, car radios, and YouTube ads yearly. “That song is just embedded in history now,” David Foster, 16-time Grammy-winning composer and producer, said. “It’s embedded in Christmas. When you think of Christmas right now, you think of that song.”

But what I certainly didn’t think about while listening to it, because I didn’t know, was this; it only took 15 minutes to write the song.

What?

Yup! Mariah Carey cowrote the festive hit with songwriter Walter Afanasieff in about 15 minutes, per Cosmopolitan.

“It’s definitely not Swan Lake,” Walter said. “But that’s why it’s so popular—because it’s so simple and palatable.”

Speaking to Billboard, Walter said, “It was always the same sort of system with us. We would write the nucleus of the song, the melody primary music, and then some of the words were there as we finished writing it.”

“That one went very quickly: It was an easier song to write than some of the other ones,” he added.

Huh!

I know ― though to be fair, they did tinker with their easy-bake hit for a little while after the first write-up.

“I tried to make it a little more unique, putting in some special chords that you really don’t hear a lot of, which made it unique and special. I think that’s one of the components that made it unique year after year. That part of it took maybe an hour,” Walter told Billboard.

“Then for the next week or two Mariah would call me and say, ‘What do you think about this bit?’ We would talk a little bit until she got the lyrics all nicely coordinated and done,” he said.

So, while the core of the song was written in less time than it takes me to make my morning bowl of porridge, the entire polishing process took a few extra hours. Still, worth it for a record-breaking hit, right?

Lily Allen Claims She’s ‘Not In A Great Place’ And ‘Not Eating’ In Frank Mental Health Discussion

Posted on 17/12/2024 by Boris Clair

Lily Allen has disclosed that she’s been “not really in a great place mentally” for around three years.

The chart-topping singer opened up about her mental health struggles during the latest edition of her BBC Sounds podcast Miss Me?, which she co-hosts with her friend Miquita Oliver.

“I’ve been going through a tough time over the last few months and my eating has become an issue,” she explained.

“My therapist and I talk about it and she says ‘How long has this been going on?’. And I said, ‘Well, about three years, really’. And she’s like, ‘OK, why haven’t you mentioned it before?’. And it’s not because I’m lying about it. It’s just because it doesn’t seem to be at the top of the list of important things that I need to talk about. But obviously it is.”

Lily said that her ADHD, with which she was diagnosed fairly recently, means she isn’t always good at “talking about the bigger picture” or “linking things”.

“My body and my brain are two very separate things to me. I know a lot of people feel those two things are very connected to each other, but for me it’s very different,” she said, as reported by the Daily Mail.

“I spend a lot of time in my head, and not a lot of time thinking about my body.”

She added: “I’m really not in a great place mentally at the moment, and I’m not eating. I’m not hungry. I obviously am hungry, but my body and brain are so disconnected from each other [that] the messages of hunger are not going through my body to my brain.

“I’m not avoiding food, I’m just not thinking about it because I’m so in my head. My body’s, like, a few steps behind me.”

Last year, the Brit Award winner admitted to the Off Menu podcast that she often “forgets” to eat.

“I love food. I love eating, but I’m just not very good at remembering to do things,” she claimed. “I get up in the morning and I’m looking after kids and I just forget.”

Throughout her time in the spotlight, Lily has spoken candidly her mental health and issues with her body image, claiming in 2010 that she had body dysmorphic disorder.

Listen to the latest episode of Lily Allen’s podcast Miss Me? here.

Help and support:

The Holiday: 21 Behind-The-Scenes Facts You Never Knew About The Festive Rom-Com

Posted on 14/12/2024 by Boris Clair

The Holiday may have received mixed reviews upon its release in 2006, but over the subsequent years it has firmly cemented itself as a modern Christmas classic.

A mainstay on late-night ITV2 and one of Netflix’s big hitters during the festive season, it’s hard to avoid the Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black-led Christmas rom-com each year – not that we’d want to, of course.

Sure, it’s packed with clichés and schmaltz, but there’s something about it that is always guaranteed to give us a festive glow (and no, it’s absolutely got nothing to do with Jude Law’s eyes, ok?).

No matter how many times you’ve seen The Holiday though, we’ll bet you didn’t know all these behind-the-scenes facts…

1. Rose Cottage is not real

It might have looked like it had stood there for a hundred years, but in fact Iris’ Surrey cottage was purpose built for the film (but that seemingly hasn’t stopped people looking for it all the same…).

According to The Telegraph, the production team scoured the Surrey countryside to find the perfect cottage, but ended up building their own on a hill overlooking the town of Shere.

2. It only took four days to build the house

However, set dressers spent two weeks making it look old and authentic.

Director Nancy Meyers told ComingSoon: “It was really an amazing process to build a cottage because the people that lived there couldn’t believe that people from Hollywood were coming and building this cottage, but they did a magnificent job. We built the road, the wall around it, put in the trees.”

3. The Rose Cottage interior scenes were shot on a soundstage in LA

The inside of the cottage was built on a sound stage

According to IMDB, the scenes inside the specially-built cottage were actually filmed thousands of miles away in Los Angeles, where sets were built on a soundstage.

4. Exterior scenes were shot in Godalming and Shere in Surrey

According to Surrey Live, Jude Law and Cameron Diaz filmed scenes on Church Street in Godalming, which was dressed with Christmas decorations and fake shops for the movie.

The pub in which Graham and Amanda meet again is also a real pub called The White Horse.

5. There was real snow in Surrey during the week of filming

Cameron Diaz said the snow was fully degradable

It reportedly snowed three times in Surrey during filming, but the crew had already hired a snow machine because they hadn’t counted on any of the white stuff falling.

According to Cameron Diaz in an interview with Vulture, the fake snow that was used was all “totally biodegradable”.

6. Amanda’s LA mansion is also real

Amanda's LA home from The Holiday — Amanda’s LA home from The Holiday

Well, the exterior is anyway.

The property, located in the wealthy city of San Marino, California, was built in 1928 by architect Wallace Neff.

Like with Rose Cottage though, the interiors were all sets built on a soundstage, and according to IMBD, they cost approximately $1million to build.

7. The scene where Amanda runs through the snow took a week to film

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In an interview with Vulture, Cameron Diaz revealed the scene snowballed (no pun intended) during filming, having not even been in the original script.

“That whole scene took a week to shoot. That wasn’t even in the script,” she said, telling of how it had been just “four lines of description” in her script.

“They only used two shots, but we shot like ten shots of me running across ten different fields. And I’m wearing that Valentino cashmere, wool trench coat, a turtleneck cashmere sweater.

“Literally, I was so fit by the end of that week. I ran probably seven miles a day in those heels. Through mud and hills. It was so hilarious.”

8. The director’s attention to detail was something that was famed on set

According to IMDB, Nancy would make the actors do many, many takes of certain scenes, including the one set at the newspaper’s Christmas party.

Kate Winslet reportedly got a laugh from those on set when she dropped to her knees to jokingly pray it was the last time she would have to do it, after a long series of takes.

9. Cameron Diaz also recalled Nancy’s desire for repeated takes

She told Vulture: “She already knows exactly how she wants to see it, but she needs to see it first to make sure that it’s what she’s seeing. And once she sees it, it’s almost like she has to see it, I’d say, seven times consecutively. If she saw it exactly the same seven times, then she felt that she had it. And then when she had it, she had it. And then she’d want to see it differently. And then if you do it differently, you’d have to do it another seven times exactly the same.”

Sounds exhausting to us.

10. There’s an Easter egg hidden in Amanda’s film collection

In a cheeky nod to Kate Winslet’s film career, when Iris arrives at Amanda’s and notices her film collection, one of the movies is Enigma – a picture that Kate actually starred in five years prior to The Holiday.

11. The film was written with Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet in mind to play Amanda and Iris

Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet played Amanda and Iris

Nancy admitted she knew she wanted Kate and Cameron “during the writing process”.

Speaking to ComingSoon, she said: “You know, I think a screenwriter would lie to you if they said, “I don’t think about anybody when I am writing.” I can’t imagine it, you know somebody has got to say it and do it. It’s natural to start fantasizing about who is going to be in it and I think Cameron is a great comedienne and I thought about this before I cast her and once I cast her she continued to thrill me in that area.

“Cameron’s really a girl’s girl and boys adore her obviously. She seemed absolutely the right choice for a California girl.”

She added of Kate: “Then, if you’re writing a 30-year-old woman in England you obviously think of Kate Winslet, she’s just one of the great actresses.”

12. The character of Graham evolved the most during the writing process

Nancy revealed to ComingSoon: “I sort of put him through some twists and turns that you don’t expect. Then, when I was done, of course you think of Jude Law. He’s so handsome and he’s really such a terrific actor, but I wasn’t immediately sure that he was going to fit into the genre and do this kind of work.

“So I met with him and we went through the script together and he just got it. You know, he just hasn’t had a chance to do it before.”

13. Cameron Diaz and Jude Law never really interacted with Kate Winset and Jack Black

While both sets of interior scenes were shot in LA, that didn’t mean there were many times where the two couples crossed paths while filming.

Cameron told Vulture: “I did a lot of acting on my own, and just with Jude. Because we only had one scene with Jack and Kate. Our characters never crossed over. Basically Kate and Jack did their movie; Jude and I did ours. We only had the one scene at the end, where we all came together.”

She added: “Jude and I had a lot of fun shooting our bits.”

Kate Winslet said that the moments she and Cameron did get to film together were “really, really fun”.

“She’s extremely hard working and she’s a great team member,” she told Collider. “But our paths would cross, you know, sometimes we’d be shooting, for example, the scene with Jack and I in the video store. Cameron sort of happened to be around in the area and she came by, and she was there for sort of, half of the shooting day. And she was just giving support and making us all feel that we were a part of the same thing together, you know, she was very aware of that. And she’s a truly fantastic person.”

14. The ending was actually one of the first scenes the cast filmed

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Cameron told Vulture that the New Year’s party where Iris and Miles join Amanda and Graham at his cottage in the final moments of the film were actually shot “kind of at the beginning of the shoot”.

15. Dustin Hoffman’s cameo happened by pure chance

Dustin Hoffman made a cameo in The Holiday

The acting legend features in the scene where Iris and Miles are in the video store, but he was actually never supposed to be in the film.

According to the film’s DVD commentary, Dustin was having lunch nearby and noticed all the cameras outside where Kate Winslet and Jack Black were filming and popped in to see what was happening.

Having already known director Nancy Meyers, they facilitated a cameo, which made the final cut.

16. Lindsay Lohan’s cameo also came about because of the director

Lindsay Lohan and James Franco also popped up in a film trailer Amanda was working on

Lindsay popped up in The Holiday in the film trailer Amanda was editing at the start of the movie.

Her cameo came about as Nancy had previously directed Lindsay some eight years earlier in her breakthrough role in The Parent Trap.

Nancy told ComingSoon: “I told her she owes me everything so I made her do it. I called her and said, ‘You have to do this for me,’ but she was sweet about it, she was totally there.”

17. Kate Winslet already had a personal connection to Rufus Sewell

Rufus Sewell and Kate Winslet pictured together at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997

Iris spends a lot of time in the film trying to get over her love-rat colleague Jasper, who is played by Rufus Sewell.

Kate and Rufus had some history of their own, having previously been in a relationship back in the 90s.

18. There’s a factual error in the film

Arthur and Iris discuss the fact Cary Grant is from Surrey, but actually, they’re wrong as the acting legend is originally from Bristol.

19. The director had to keep reminding Eli Wallach to act older

In an interview with Collider, Kate recalled how the acting legend, who portrayed Arthur, was much more sprightly than the character who he was playing, despite being 90 when the film was made.

As a result, the director would have to remind him to play “older” than he felt.

Kate said: “He has this incredible energy and Nancy [Meyers] would say to him all the time, she’d say, ‘Could you act a little more seventy?’ He’s just he’s like a sixty year-old. He moves around much, kind of, freer than you would expect a person at the age of 90 to, he was just incredible… incredible.”

Sadly, Eli passed away in 2014 at the age of 98.

20. Eli had just as many anecdotes as Arthur too

Kate told Collider: “He would sit me down between takes and he say, ‘I’m gonna tell you another story.’ And he would sit me down and he’d say, ‘Now the thing about Marilyn [Monroe]…’ And I’d be like, oh [expressing excitement] and he’d just come out with these glorious anecdotes. Just fantastic stories of experiences that he has had that were directly useful in playing Iris, because she had that level of fascination with Arthur, and I just had it, I just had it. It was there everyday with Eli.”

21. The director added in the ‘boob graze’ moment after something similar happened on set

Remember the bit in the Sushi bar where Miles accidentally grazes Iris’ breast? Well, Nancy Meyers added that in the film after a similar thing happened with her and Jack Black on set.

She told ComingSoon: “One day on the set he bumped into me and said, ‘Oh, sorry about the boob graze,’ and I just laughed so hard because men bump into women all the time like that and act like they didn’t do it, but he immediately said sorry about the boob graze so I wrote it into the next scene he did.”

It Looks Like This Festive Hit Is On Track To Score This Year’s Christmas Number 1, With A Week To Go

Posted on 13/12/2024 by Boris Clair

We might still be a week away from the announcement about what song is this year’s Christmas number one – but it looks like we might have an idea.

On Friday evening, Wham!’s Last Christmas was revealed to be the first festive chart-topper of 2024, almost 12 months exactly after it became last year’s Christmas number one marking the first time in the song’s history that it reached the accolade.

George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley’s festive tune is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, and has already received a surge in streams in the lead-up to Christmas, pushing it back to the top of the charts.

To coincide with the anniversary, a physical re-release of the track debuted on Friday, so we reckon it chances of holding onto the number one spot ahead of next week’s chart are pretty high.

Mariah Carey performing a special Christmas show in 2014

There’s a veritable avalanche of Yuletide bops in the chart this week, with Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You at number three, while Brenda Lee’s 66-year-old ditty Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree is at five.

Below that is Tom Grennan’s original tune It Can’t Be Christmas (an exclusive to Amazon Music subscribers – meaning if you’ve asked Alexa to play Christmas music in the last few weeks you’ve probably heard it without realising) at number six, Bobby Helms’ Jingle Bell Rock at number seven and The Pogues’ Fairytale Of New York at number eight.

Tom Grennan's new Christmas tune has already made it into the top 10 — Tom Grennan’s new Christmas tune has already made it into the top 10

Completing the top 10 are Ariana Grande’s Santa Tell Me and Kelly Clarkson’s Underneath The Tree, which have both reached new UK chart peaks in 2024.

Christmas tunes by Michael Bublé, Sia, Elton John and Sabrina Carpenter can also be found lower down this week’s chart.

Meanwhile, you can click here for a round-up of 2024’s new Christmas tunes – and our verdict on each of the songs.

It’s Time To Retire The Beyoncé vs. Taylor Swift Debate

Posted on 07/12/2024 by Boris Clair

“When you’re talking about greatness, and when you’re talking about greatness for the 21st century specifically, no one has a longer or fuller track record than Beyoncé.”

That’s how Billboard announced the musical icon as the greatest pop star of the 21st century this week. The declaration came on the heels of the publication announcing its runner-up pick, Taylor Swift, who earned the No. 2 spot for catapulting modern pop stardom to heights many didn’t think were possible across her 17-year (and counting) career. The contest was close, given Swift’s astronomical album sales, streams and touring numbers, but in the end, Billboard explained that Beyoncé topped the list “based on her full 25 years of influence, evolution and impact.”

Of course, the result didn’t sit well with Swifties, who argued that their idol’s accomplishments could’ve satisfied Billboard’s top-spot criteria. And it didn’t take long for members of the Bey Hive to chime in with their own retorts to defend their Queen Bey.

For weeks, the two fan bases had speculated about the music outlet’s hotly anticipated rankings, reigniting the tiresome debate that pits the superstars’ legacies against each other. The discussion hit a fever pitch last year while Beyoncé and Swift were both riding high on their economy-boosting international concert runs (Renaissance and the Eras Tour, respectively), which, according to Pollstar, were the two highest-grossing tours of 2023. And the discourse was reignited after the tours hit the big screen last fall, despite the two singers supporting one another at their Hollywood premieres.

That should’ve been enough to end all catty chatter among fans. But after Billboard’s rankings, now feels like as good a time as any to retire the Beyoncé vs. Taylor Swift argument that’s way past running its course.

Yes, it’s easy to compare the two global juggernauts when none of their peers have reached the same level of cultural dominance in this century. In nearly any arena that matters for pop stars — historic music sales, record-breaking numbers, awards acclaim, etc. — Swift and Beyoncé almost always lead the pack. However, contrary to what stan culture believes, numerous instances prove that Swift and Beyoncé are incomparable in the lanes that make them all-time greats.

Swift’s unequivocally sharp pen has made her one of the most illustrious songwriters of her time, which she demonstrates time and time again with every chart-topping album she releases. Her successful crossover from country to pop superstardom proved her talents were as boundless as her ambitions, charting a path to hit-making, award-winning success. To this day, Swift, according to Forbes, is the only woman in music to build a billion-dollar fortune solely from her musicianship. Even with a later start in the millennium, she’s achieved what many in the pop world can only dream of.

Over the last 20-plus years, Beyoncé, meanwhile, has far exceeded what anyone could’ve expected from the former frontwoman of a ’90s and early aughts girl group, Destiny’s Child (one of the most successful in history). Her talents aren’t limited to music — her roles in films like “Dreamgirls” and “Cadillac Records” have proven that. But as many well know, Beyoncé’s name will be forever etched in the history books for consistently raising the bar for musical excellence (live performances, outstanding visuals, genre-bending projects, you name it), no matter the genre. Her ability to disrupt industry conventions has inspired many, including Swift, to be originators in their own right. But what truly sets the legend apart from Swift and everyone else is that she’s remained the standard of pop stardom for decades and is still reaching above and beyond to cement her legacy.

It does us all a disservice to try and assert why Beyoncé and Swift are better than one another when they’re two vastly different symbols of greatness. Where one dominates with statistics and chart numbers, the other has had an immeasurable cultural impact. But as with many polarising conversations about music, it’s more fun to fuel a narrative that keeps these two icons in constant competition, even when they oppose it.

Swift said it best in her 2023 Time Person of the Year profile: “Clearly it’s very lucrative for the media and stan culture to pit two women against each other, even when those two artists in question refuse to participate in that discussion.”

The media and stans will likely cash in on that discourse again for the 2025 Grammy Awards — where Swift and Beyoncé are both nominated for record, song and album of the year — but don’t count on the pop stars to feed the frenzy.

As history has shown, Swift and Beyoncé have held nothing but reverence for each other’s work over time. Last year, in an Instagram post, Swift praised her contemporary for being “a guiding light throughout my career” who’s also “taught me and every artist out here to break rules and defy industry norms.” Beyoncé was just as generous with her words years prior when she held space for Swift to finish her acceptance speech at the 2009 Video Music Awards — where Kanye West infamously interrupted Swift to argue that Beyoncé should’ve won instead.

Even when people expect Swift and Beyoncé to pick sides against each other, they show that they know better than to entertain such negativity — it’s served their groundbreaking legacies well. When will fans finally learn to do the same?

‘Is Spotify Wrapped OK?’: Music Fans Left Baffled By Bizarre Category Titles In Yearly Round-Ups

Posted on 04/12/2024 by Boris Clair

Spotify Wrapped is the moment music fans wait all year for, as they discover the artists, songs and albums that they’ve been listening to the most over the past 12 months.

As well as their most-played music, Spotify’s annual feature shows users patterns and trends in their listening habits over the course of the year – and this year saw users being assigned different titles that are… more than a little baffling.

To be honest, we’re just going to let these confusing titles speak for themselves…

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Taylor Swift was the UK’s most-played artist of 2024 on Spotify, in a year that saw her releasing her latest hit album The Tortured Poets’ Department and finally bringing her record-breaking Eras Tour to Europe.

When it came to specific songs, though, it was US singer-songwriter Noah Kahan’s number one hit Stick Season that came out on top among British Spotify users, ahead of Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso, Benson Boone’s Beautiful Things, Hozier’s Too Sweet and Teddy Swims’ Lose Control.

Taylor was also Spotify’s most-played artist globally, while The Tortured Poets Department was the platform’s number one album of the past year, in a top 10 that was made up almost entirely of female artists, including Chappell Roan, Ariana Grande, Karol G and SZA.

For more data from Spotify’s end of year round-up, click here.

Paul Mescal Faces Superfan In A Quiz About Himself — And He Doesn’t Exactly Ace It

Posted on 29/11/2024 by Boris Clair

A Paul Mescal superfan was given the opportunity to put their knowledge to the test in a quiz about the Normal People star – against the man himself.

And if ever there a moment that proves you should never underestimate stans’ knowledge, this would be it.

In the clip, Paul gets off to a strong start, remembering exactly which bird he and co-star Fred Hechinger went searching in the wild for, and his favourite dinner (which, should you ever find yourself cooking for him, is carbonara).

But as the quiz unfolded, Larissa truly came into her own.

After reminding Paul about his first movie roles and correctly reeling off his middle names, the pair were questioned about which year the Emmy nominee graduated from drama school.

“2015,” Paul answered confidently. “Did you not know this?”

“Well…” Larissa then replied. “It’s… 2017, no?”

“I got my own life wrong there. I lost that comfortably,” Paul then conceded. “And do you know what? I hate losing. But I lost to a better Paul.”

Check out the full quiz for yourself below:

Gladiator II is in cinemas now.

It’s Official – Wicked Songs Are Defying Gravity And Flying Up The UK Chart

Posted on 29/11/2024 by Boris Clair

Wicked’s cultural dominance is showing no signs of slowing down.

On Friday evening, the Official Charts Company revealed that no fewer than three songs from the hit movie musical’s soundtrack have soared up the UK singles chart, a week on from Wicked’s official release.

Fittingly, it’s Cynthia Erivo’s big number Defying Gravity (featuring vocals from Ariana Grande) that’s flying the highest, entering the chart at number seven, and becoming the first Wicked cut to make it into the top 10.

Slightly lower at number 13 is Ariana’s version of Popular, while the duet What Is This Feeling enters at number 17.

Cynthia and Ariana performing Popular in the movie Wicked

Interestingly, this isn’t Ariana’s first time putting her own spin on Popular, as she previously released a duet with Mika way back in 2012, which interpolated the Wicked cut.

Although it didn’t chart here in the UK, it did enter the lower half of Billboard’s charts across the pond.

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Meanwhile, it’s not just the Wicked soundtrack that musicians have to contend with when it comes to fighting for spots in the charts this week.

Yes, we’ve officially arrived at the time of year when festive songs make their way back into the top 10, with Wham!’s Last Christmas making it to number eight just days shy of its 40th anniversary.

Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You has also had a massive surge in streams, bumping it to number 10.

In fact, an additional eight Christmas songs are in this week’s top 40, including tracks from Brenda Lee, The Pogues, Ed Sheeran, Andy Williams, Kelly Clarkson and Wicked’s own Ariana.

1. There was a lot riding on the film in 1992 as the first Muppets movie to be released since creator Jim Henson’s death

2. Kermit The Frog performer Steve Whitmire says he had a supernatural experience the night before he began filming Muppet Christmas Carol

3. Songwriter Paul Williams – who previously penned Kermit’s Oscar-winning signature tune Rainbow Connection – was on hand to make sure Steve got Kermit’s voice just right

4. Muppet Christmas Carol was not only Brian Henson’s first time helming a Muppets project – but his first time directing any film

5. The film was originally intended to be a TV special – until Disney got their hands on the script

6. That being said, despite going on to become a Christmas classic, it didn’t quite set the box office alight at the time

7. Muppet Christmas Carol’s songs have become festive staples – but there were originally even more of them

8. And that’s without getting into that whole When Love Is Gone debacle

9. It turns out Sir Michael Caine had long wanted to work with the Muppets gang, as he never got the chance to during The Muppet Show’s original run

10. The actor did have a previous connection with The Muppets, though

11. Sir Michael also wanted to do a film his then-seven-year-old daughter could watch

12. The actor took his role as Scrooge even more seriously than you might realise

13. For Sir Michael’s Scrooge inspiration, he looked closer to home than you might think

14. It may or may not come as a surprise to hear that he had never sung or danced before the Muppets came along

15. It’s tough to imagine anyone but Sir Michael Caine in the role of Scrooge opposite The Muppets, but a fair few actors were considered

16. And that’s not the only one case of almost-casting on the Muppet Christmas Carol

17. But hang on – if Gonzo had played the Ghost Of Christmas Present, who’d have played Charles Dickens

18. And what a storyteller Gonzo turned out to be

19. Unfortunately, changes to the original plans meant certain Muppet characters don’t get as much spotlight as fans would like

20. Producers made a couple of key change to Dickens’ original story

21. The Muppeteers took unusual measures to make the (frankly, terrifying) Ghost Of Christmas Past work

22. Oh, and did you know she was played by a future soap star?

23. You might recognise some of the other human actors too

24. Although one of them is noticeably absent in the final scene

25. Ever wondered what was the most complicated part of the shoot?

26. And there was a lot more visual trickery going on

27. Signs dotted around the Muppets’ version of London also hold hidden meanings

28. But forget you might have heard about one supposed Easter egg (or whatever the Christmas equivalent would be)

29. There are fun details hidden in the closing credits too

30. Keep your eyes open for a familiar face during the opening number, too

What?

Huh!

Help and support:

1. Rose Cottage is not real

2. It only took four days to build the house

3. The Rose Cottage interior scenes were shot on a soundstage in LA

4. Exterior scenes were shot in Godalming and Shere in Surrey

5. There was real snow in Surrey during the week of filming

6. Amanda’s LA mansion is also real

7. The scene where Amanda runs through the snow took a week to film

8. The director’s attention to detail was something that was famed on set

9. Cameron Diaz also recalled Nancy’s desire for repeated takes

10. There’s an Easter egg hidden in Amanda’s film collection

11. The film was written with Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet in mind to play Amanda and Iris

12. The character of Graham evolved the most during the writing process

13. Cameron Diaz and Jude Law never really interacted with Kate Winset and Jack Black

14. The ending was actually one of the first scenes the cast filmed

15. Dustin Hoffman’s cameo happened by pure chance

16. Lindsay Lohan’s cameo also came about because of the director

17. Kate Winslet already had a personal connection to Rufus Sewell

18. There’s a factual error in the film

19. The director had to keep reminding Eli Wallach to act older

20. Eli had just as many anecdotes as Arthur too

21. The director added in the ‘boob graze’ moment after something similar happened on set