Drew Barrymore had a musical response after her former co-star Hugh Grant said her singing voice was “horrendous”.
The two stars previously shared the screen in the romantic comedy Music And Lyrics, in which Drew portrayed an aspiring songwriter and Hugh played a washed-up 80s pop singer.
Over the course of the film, both Drew and Hugh sing multiple times, which the Bridget Jones’s Diary actor recently spoke about during an interview with Wired.
Asked whether it was his own singing voice that we heard in the 2007 film, Hugh explained: “Yes… but I’m auto-tuned beyond belief. Actually, that’s not true, I’m auto-tuned a bit, but not as much as some.”
“Drew Barrymore was in that film with me and I don’t think she’d mind me saying her singing is just horrendous,” he added. “I’ve heard dogs bark better than she sings.”
Responding to Hugh’s comments, Drew shared a video of herself singing the song’s finale number, A Way Back Into Love, which the pair perform as a duet on the film’s soundtrack, into her hairbrush.
“Oh Hugh? Hughbert? That’s for you,” she joked at the end of the clip.
In Hugh’s defence, he did later go on to praise Drew’s performance technique, noting: “once they tuned her up, she sounded way better than me, because she’s got heart and voice and rock ’n’ roll. Whereas I sounded like Julie Andrews, and I was meant to be rock ’n’ roll.”
Music And Lyrics featured original songs by Fountains Of Wayne frontman Adam Schlesinger, who died in 2020 due to Covid complications.
Hugh was back in the headlines this week following his appearance at the Academy Awards.
Not only did he raise eyebrows when he stopped for an interview with Ashley Graham on the red carpet, he also caused a stir during the ceremony with a typically self-deprecating joke.
Watch Hugh’s full interview with Wired in the video below: