https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFaerSykYgU
As it presses on, the television program Lip Sync Battle, which features celebrities participating in a… well, lip sync battle, has to engage in more and more ambitious and gaudy performances. The costuming gets more lavish, and the show increasingly relies upon huge guest appearances. This is not necessarily a bad thing, though it also reeks of eventual diminishing returns, but the general aura surrounding Lip Sync Battle now is “Check out this celebrity cameo!” The latest performer to take this route is Hayden Panettiere, who, if nothing else, deserves credit for not changing her fantastic name when she became an actor.
Panettiere, who stars on Nashville, which also has singing on it, took the stage to fake sing “Lady Marmalade” on her upcoming episode. The song is credited to Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mya, and Pink on Lip Sync Battle’s YouTube video, even though the song was first performed by Patti LaBelle in 1974. However, Panettiere’s performance is clearly influenced by the video for the 2001 version. You can tell by the garish makeup and crazy wig Panettiere is wearing, not to mention all the ladies prancing about in lingerie, and the shirtless dudes. However, the real cornerstone of this performance is an appearance from Aguilera herself. She shows up to help belt out the song that she helped make popular all those 15 years ago.
You can check out the entire performance, if you so desire, on Thursday. In the meantime, this seems like as good a time as any to bring up some important work being done by the brilliant men behind the podcast The Flop House. They have encouraged their listenership to partake in something called HaydenSwap, wherein people superimpose Panettiere into Hayden Christensen vehicles, and vice versa. So, if you want to drop Christensen into Panettiere’s “Lady Marmalade” performance, you’d be doing the world a great service.
