Peaches

Album: The Super Mario Bros. Movie soundtrack (2023)
Charted: 28 56
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Songfacts®:

  • Jack Black teamed up with Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic, Eric Osmond, and John Spiker to write this piano ballad for The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Horvath and Jelenic directed the flick, Osmond edited it, and Spiker, who's known for his work with Black's band Tenacious D, produced the song.
  • "Peaches" gets played twice in the movie. First when Black's character Bowser spills the beans about being smitten with Princess Peach (voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy) and how he's going to make her marry him.

    Later, in the mid-credits scene, a shrunken Bowser is locked up and plays the song on a tiny piano in his cage.
  • In the Super Mario video games, Bowser's ultimate goals are to kidnap Princess Peach Toadstool and conquer the Mushroom Kingdom. That's the plot of most Mario games, with our boy Mario having to rescue his girl, Princess Peaches, from the clutches of that big bad Bowser.

    In the movie, Bowser is head over heels for Peach for real. He'll do anything to impress her or convince her he's the one for her, and he's super jealous of her falling for Mario. Bowser is dead set on marrying her this time around, and that's the whole point of his schemes.
  • Co-director Aaron Horvath originally wanted a musical Bowser, but planned for a more metal track in the vein of Tenacious D. He didn't want it to be boring, so he decided to go with a ballad, as just screaming "I love Princess Peach" wouldn't cut it. At first, Eric Osmond did the vocals on the demo, but then Jack Black came in and did the final recording, complete with an original piano track from his pianist.
  • According to Jack Black, they didn't even talk about him singing until they were halfway through the recording process. But when they did, they sent over a little 30-second song for Bowser to sing. It was funny and Jack couldn't resist it, so he got with his producer, John Spiker, and turned it into a full song. Then he sent it back to the movie people, who loved the tune and put it in the movie. Jack's super stoked for people to see the sensitive side of Bowser, tickling the ivories and singing a love song to Peaches.
  • The Super Mario Bros. Movie had a killer opening at the box office, raking in a whopping $204.6 million in its first five days. The reviews were mixed, but one thing people raved about is Jack Black's voice acting as the villainous Bowser.
  • The music video, directed by Lyrical Lemonade's Cole Bennett, features Jack Black belting out the piano ballad in a tower. He's wearing a green suit, which according to Bennett was both Bowser and Elton John-inspired.

    Black plays on a peach piano in a peach-colored room. Plus, there's a picture of Princess Peach and a bowl of peaches on the piano. Have we made it clear there's a peach theme to the video!
  • Though Jack Black is first and foremost a comedy actor, he's also part of a comedic, albeit serious rock duo Tenacious D. They won the award for Best Metal Performance at the 57th Grammy Awards for "The Last in Line," a cover of the song of the same name by Dio. Black also collaborated with Meatloaf on his 2010 song "Like A Rose" and co-starred in the videos for the Foo Fighters' 1999 track, "Learn To Fly" and 2002 tune "Low," as well as Beck's 1999 visual for "Sexx Laws."

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