James Corden is relieved by the success of Carpool Karaoke on his US chat show, particularly as he reveals it was near-impossible to get celebrities to take part when he started the strand.
And the British actor turned US star told radio DJ Howard Stern that his most difficult guest in the passenger seat was the very first one - Mariah Carey, who, despite being a veteran diva, flat out refused to sing.
James revealed he turned up with his crew at the superstar’s house, and she didn’t keep him waiting too long, but when she arrived, she announced, “Oh, I’m not singing today. We’ll just drive round and have a chat."
Which was a shame, as James had already explained to her it was going to be called ‘Carpool Karaoke’, which kind of implies a musical element.
But still Mariah demurred, saying, "I'm not singing today. I was up all night."
Fortunately for James, Mariah eventually joined in with his singing some of her greatest hits, and a strand was born.
Corden revealed that the segment, one of the most popular on his show, usually takes around two hours to film, with camera crew surrounding his own vehicle, while he belts out a tune with the likes of One Direction, Adele and Justin Bieber.
He explained it’s a cunning way of getting A-listers to sing their biggest tracks.
“You’ll get Rod Stewart saying ‘I want to sing track seven on my new album’, and you go ‘OK, but can you also do Maggie May?’ ‘No, I don’t want to do that.’ The only way to get Maggie May is to stick ‘em in the car, and you’ll get a kind of supercut of all the hits.”
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