"Cups" (alternatively titled "Cups (Pitch Perfect's 'When I'm Gone')") is a song by the American actress and singer Anna Kendrick performed in the 2012 musical comedy film Pitch Perfect. It was later released as part of a soundtrack album titled More from Pitch Perfect. The song is based on the 1931 folk song "When I'm Gone" by the Carter Family, which was written by A. P. Carter. In the late 2000s, British musicians Heloise Tunstall-Behrens and Luisa Gerstein, performing as Lulu and the Lampshades, reworked "When I'm Gone" and incorporated it into a cup-tapping routine.
In Pitch Perfect, Kendrick's performance features a children's clapping game known as the cup game and uses coordinated tapping, clapping, and cup-passing as percussion. Republic Records released a remix titled "Cups (Pitch Perfect's 'When I'm Gone')" as a single on March 26, 2013; it was accompanied by a music video directed by Jason Moore, on April 12, 2013. In the video, Kendrick appears as a waitress imagining customers around her joining in the cup-clapping routine.
British group Lulu and the Lampshades (pictured in 2010), were the first to use the cup game as percussion when performing the song.
"Cups" incorporates lyrics from the 1931 song "When I'm Gone" by the Carter Family.[1][2][3]A. P. Carter wrote the song,[4] whose lyrics focus on themes of death.[3] British musicians Heloise Tunstall-Behrens and Luisa Gerstein, who performed as Lulu and the Lampshades, reworked the Carter Family's version and used the cup game as percussion.[3][5][a] In 2009, Lulu and the Lampshades' version of the song was uploaded to YouTube with the title "You're Gonna Miss Me";[2][3][5] Anna Burden covered this version in 2011 and also uploaded it to YouTube.[3] Burden's video went viral after being shared on Reddit, leading other singers to record their own versions using the cup-clapping routine.[2][3]
At the time, American actress Anna Kendrick, who had gained recognition for her roles in Up in the Air (2009) and 50/50 (2011),[7] discovered "Cups" after watching Burden's video on Reddit.[3][8][9] Kendrick later performed the song in the American musical comedy film Pitch Perfect.[3][10] In the film's original script, Kendrick's character, Beca Mitchell, performs the 1939 nursery rhyme "I'm a Little Teapot" during her audition for the fictional A cappella vocal group the Barden Bellas.[11] Before filming began, Kendrick performed "Cups" for the producers after being asked to demonstrate her singing.[11] The producers decided to replace "I'm a Little Teapot" in the audition scene with "Cups".[10] Kendrick was initially hesitant to join the film due to its musical elements.[12] In the film, she performs the song while using a plastic cup to create the track's rhythm.[13]
Release and promotion
Kendrick recorded a 76-second A cappella cover version titled "Cups (Movie Version)" for the Pitch Perfect soundtrack.[7][14][15] Following the song's widespread popularity, Republic Records and Universal Music Enterprises released a remix of Kendrick's version, titled "Cups (Pitch Perfect's 'When I'm Gone')", with new instrumentation as a single on contemporary hit radio in the United States on March 26, 2013,[8][14][16] and again on April 22, 2013.[17] It was then added as the first track on Pitch Perfect's second soundtrack More from Pitch Perfect.[7][18] Due to its popularity in the US, the remix was released as a single in the United Kingdom on October 28, 2013.[19] The remix features a new bridge section, a folk-pop string arrangement, guitar and xylophone, and has been extended by a minute.[16][20] It was produced by Pitch Perfect director Jason Moore, Julia Michaels, Julianne Jordan, and The Underdogs.[4][21] Musically, "Cups" is a folk-pop,[7][20]folk,[20][22]pop,[23][24] and Americana track.[25]
"Cups" was well-received by critics. Heather Phares of AllMusic described it as "charming",[32] and Jeff Benjamin of Fuse described it as "undeniably catchy". Benjamin praised Kendrick's audition scene, which he called an "awesome musical movie moment".[20] Kelly Lawler from USA Today stated Kendrick's rendition in Pitch Perfect is "cute and all" but "really not all that special",[33] and commended Kendrick's "spontaneous performance" of the song on Late Show with David Letterman.[33]
Slate's Chris Molanphy said the 2013 remix "neutered" the original version of "Cups" and said he would rather listen to Kendrick's "weird-America ditty" version.[34] Writing for Billboard, Andrew Unterberger praised the original track, describing it as "totally charming", but labeled the remix as "Mumfordized" and "needlessly extended", saying it "still hits one hell of a flat note".[35]Houston Chronicle's Joey Guerra lauded the remix and wrote Kendrick's "plaintive delivery makes it easy to love".[36]
Writing for SlashFilm, Michael Boyle noted its near-universal popularity with fans.[37] Douglas Wolk of Time placed the song at number nine on his end-of-year list, describing Kendrick's version as a "terrific arrangement".[38] Marcus Jones of Entertainment Weekly put "Cups" at number nine on his The Best Songs From Movies of the 2010s list.[39] Jacob Uitti for American Songwriter put it on his list of "one-hit numbers", calling it a "jaunty offering" that showcases Kendrick's "powerful voice and her ability to make rhythms out of anything".[25] "Cups" was nominated for Choice Music Single: Female as the 2013 Teen Choice Awards.[40][41]
Commercial performance
"Cups" debuted at number 93 on the January 12, 2013, issue of the US Billboard Hot 100.[2] It climbed to number 36 after the remixed version received airplay.[2] The single reached number 10 in its 28th charting week, giving Kendrick her first top-10 chart hit.[2][42] The song peaked at number six on the August 16, 2013 chart.[43][44] It was Kendrick's first Hot 100 top-10 entry[45] and one of the shortest songs to reach the top 10 during the 2010s.[46] The song spent 44 weeks on the Hot 100.[47] Kendrick is the second artist after Barbra Streisand to have a Hot-100 top-10 single and be nominated for both a Tony Award and an Academy Award.[48]
"Cups" performed well on Billboard's airplay charts. It debuted at number 40 on the US Mainstream Top 40, a chart focusing on mainstream radio airplay.[2] The track later peaked at number eight.[49] "Cups" peaked at number two on the Adult Top 40 chart.[50] It was a number-one hit on the Adult Contemporary chart, becoming Kendrick's first song to top any Billboard chart.[51][52] By October 2013, "Cups" had sold 2.5million downloads in the US.[51] The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the single triple platinum, denoting track-equivalent sales and streams of three million units in the US.[52][53][54] It was the 21st-biggest single of 2013.[55]
The single was an international hit; it peaked at number 12 on the Canadian Hot 100, on which it stayed on for 42 weeks, and at number 11 on the Belgian Ultratop Flanders chart.[56][57] It reached the top 30 in New Zealand,[58] Ireland,[59] Hungary,[60] and the Netherlands.[61] It further reached the top 80 in the UK,[62] Australia,[63] and Austria.[64] The track was certified double platinum by the Pro-Música Brasil (PMB) and Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ).[65][66]
Music video
Background and release
Following the song's popularity, development of a music video began in March 2013,[8][67] and was directed by Moore and choreographed by Aakomon Jones.[19][68] The video was released on April 12, 2013, via Kendrick's Vevo YouTube channel.[69][70][71] During an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Kendrick said that while she wanted to film the music video, she was not keen to make a solo album.[72] She agreed to the music video mostly because she wanted to work with Moore again and because she liked the idea of an entire diner full of people playing the track.[72] An open casting calling for the video drew over 300 participants, who were asked to perform their own interpretations of "Cups".[73] Kendrick noted that she was not playing Beca Mitchell in the video and that it was unrelated to Pitch Perfect.[72]
Synopsis and reception
The clip begins with Kendrick, as a server, standing in a kitchen in a diner cutting biscuits using a cup.[74][75] She looks at vacation posters and begins to fantasize about quitting her job.[75][76][77] She then takes the cup and starts to tap it on the table and clap the song's rhythm.[75][76] The chef begins tapping an accompaniment with chopsticks before Kendrick walks into the dining area.[75][76] As she serves the customers and interacts with the diner staff, she sings the track and imagines the customers drumming their cups on their tables.[73][75][76][77] Kendrick returns to the kitchen where she is preparing biscuits. She drums on the cup and sings until a timer rings. Kendrick looks back toward the dining area and leaves through the diner's back door.[76]
Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Grady Smith described the video as a "beautifully shot clip", opining it was "choreographed impressively".[77] In a review for IndieWire, Erin Whitney deemed the video "cute" and "fun", suggesting it would help launch the music career of Kendrick.[75]The Wall Street Journal's Alexandra Cheney lauded Kendrick's performance, writing that she gave a "whole new meaning to flip cup", and described the flip cup scene as an "epic proportion".[76] Jessica Chou of The Daily Meal stated she was "pretty stoked" when she saw Kendrick in the video.[78]
In March 2016, Indian actress Mithila Palkar released a version in which she sings the Marathi song "Hi Chaal Turu Turu" to the track's rhythm.[104] During an October 2016 interview with MTV, American actor Ben Affleck sang "Cups" for Kendrick.[105] In May 2020, Pakistani film-and-television actor Hania Amir covered the song; according to a staff writer of The Express Tribune, Amir played a golden cup "effortlessly" as a percussion instrument. The writer called Amir's performance a "calm and decent version" of the song.[106]
Notes
↑The cup game is a children's clapping game that involves tapping and hitting a cup using a defined rhythm.[6]
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