Like Super Mario Brothers Movie It continues to level up towards $1 billion at the box office, starting to find crossover success on other charts. The film’s only song, the improvised ballad performed by Jack Black’s Bowser, hit the Billboard charts this week – a surprising, career-winning success for the comedian.
“Peaches” (which has nothing to do with Justin Bieber’s previous Billboard top chart of the same name) is at #83 this week, after nearly two weeks on the Hot 100. Mario‘s theatrical debut. This is Black’s first solo song to appear in the Billboard charts. Black had previously charted for the title song of the duo’s movie as part of Tenacious D. Destiny’s Choice. (“How “The Metal” or “Tribute” didn’t make it to the charts, I’ll never understand.) But it’s good for Black—better late than never—to watch, even if “Peaches” is actually more of a succinct joke than a good one.
“Peaches” appears in the middle of the movie. An emotional tribute to Bowser’s unrequited love, Princess Peach, and an out-of-character moment for Mario’s longtime nemesis. Chorus: “Peach, Peach, Peach-Peach-Peach/ Peach, Peach, Peach-Peach-Peach/ I love you.” Truly gripping, intellectually probing, reportedly Oscar-worthy stuff.
While some viewers (I) giggled during Black’s melodramatic performance of the song throughout the movie, others became obsessed with it. Co-produced by Jack Black and his production company Lyrical Lemonade, the official music video featuring Black wearing a Bowser-inspired headdress has had nearly 16 million views on YouTube.
Illumination Entertainment uploaded the actual scene from the movie to YouTube a few days later; It currently has 11 million views and continues to grow.
But what is a real hit song without enthusiastic social media posts? Of course, “Peach” gave birth to all of the above.
There’s a particular obsession with this part of Black’s music video, where he throws a peach at the camera.
Another popular nonsense: mistaking lyrics for “Bitches.”
TikTok has at least one “interpretive dance” inspired by the song and an investigation into whether “Peaches” was intentionally borrowed from Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”, aka “Rickroll”.
If you think “Peach” is an annoying or an incredible earworm, its popularity is undeniable. This is probably the favorite song in an animated movie since “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”. encanto– but only time will tell if “Peaches” will reach the top echelons of the Billboard charts, as the TikTok favorite did.