Throwback Thursday ‘Cups (When I’m Gone)’ by Anna Kendrick (2013)
"Cups (When I'm Gone)" is from the movie soundtrack for Pitch Perfect.
It is sung by actress, Anna Kendrick.
The song has a long history and has the internet to thank for being part of the movie.
Wikipedia explains, "'Cups' incorporates lyrics from the 1931 song 'When I'm Gone' by the Carter Family.[1][2][3] Written by A. P. Carter,[4] J. E. Mainer and his Crazy Mountaineers reworked 'When I'm Gone' into an Appalachian folk song in 1937 and retitled it to 'Miss Me When I'm Gone'.[3][5] British musicians Heloise Tunstall-Behrens and Luisa Gerstein, who performed under the group name Lulu and the Lampshades, reworked the Carter Family's version and introduced the cup game as the song's percussion.[3][a] Their version of the song was uploaded to YouTube in 2009 with the title 'You're Gonna Miss Me'.[3] In 2011, Anna Burden covered Lulu and the Lampshades' rendition of 'When I'm Gone' and uploaded it to YouTube;[3] her video went viral after it was uploaded to Reddit, leading other musicians to record cover versions using the cup clap technique."
Anna Kendrick saw the aforementioned Reddit video and learned the 'cup game' to go with it. She suggested it for the movie and the producers agreed. Originally, Anna Kendrick's character was supposed to perform "I'm A Little Teapot" for her audition in the movie. It was changed to "Cups" and the rest is history!
"Cups" is Anna Kendrick's first top-10 hit! It peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. It spent 44 weeks on the chart. "Cups" also went to #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, #2 on the Adult Top 40 chart, and #8 on the Mainstream Top 40 chart.
On the Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart for 2013, "Cups" landed at #21!
"Cups" is also one of the shortest songs to reach the top 10 in the 2010s.
"Cups" helped Anna Kendrick become only the second person to have a Hot 100 top-10 hit and be nominated for a Tony and Oscar award. The only other artist to do so is Barbra Streisand.
Because the song became so popular, a music video was quickly released. It featured Anna Kendrick working at a diner where all the patrons do the cup game!
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