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14 years later, Ed Sheeran and Rupert Grint delight fans with a brand new video collaboration

"You were seen by a million Muggles!"

Photo Credit: Canva, YouTube, Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran and Rupert Grint both star in the music video for A Little More.

14 years ago, singer Ed Sheeran hilariously confused a lot of people when he released a music video for his song "Lego House." While the man singing in the video certainly looked like Ed – and moved his body like Ed – and grabbed the mic on stage like Ed, it wasn't Ed. Squint your eyes just a little, and you'll see it's actually Rupert Grint, best known as Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films.

The strawberry-haired doppelgangers could be brothers. And although the lyrics to "Lego House" appear to have been about a relationship that's dying, the video told a whole different story. In it, Grint plays a man who seems to BE Ed, as he walks around lip-syncing to the beautiful, aching song. But as we get further along in the video, we find out that in actuality, he's an obsessive fan who finally gets apprehended while on Ed's concert stage. The love story, it would seem, was between a stalker and his idol.

- YouTube www.youtube.com


The YouTube comments are, of course, filled with Harry Potter fans. Seemingly addressing Grint, one declares, "You were seen by a million Muggles! Do you have any idea how serious this is? You have risked the exposure of our world!"

Cut to last week: Sheeran drops the release of a new follow-up song/video entitled "A Little More" wherein, you guessed it, Grint stars as the same fan, newly released from prison where it seems he's been for the last 14 years. This time, he's haunted by visions of his nemesis look-alike EVERYWHERE. The song is an absolute joyous bop, despite the rather dark, heavy subject matter – of limerence and obsession.

But good news! The character seems to learn to live with the obsession, even meeting a woman and marrying her. This doesn't mean Sheeran is out of the picture. In a completely (to use Sheeran's word) "bonkers" moment, he appears as a second bride next to Grint during the wedding ceremony. Then, in what can only be described as a fantasy-epilogue, the two men frolic, romantically dancing with Sheeran dressed as a winter bride.

The truth is, according to Sheeran, the song is actually about an ex or just that someone who gets deeply stuck in the crevices of your mind. He also gives fans his full permission to use the song toward their exes, in whatever form that takes. He writes on an Instagram post, "Releasing something this personal always feels really bare and open, but I always find the deeper and more honest I go with lyrics, the more people connect to it. Also, who knew I looked so amazing in a wedding dress. The sound is up now if you wanna start making videos directed to your exes with the song, I wanna see em all, get creative gang."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

Grint and Sheeran adorably discuss getting mistaken for one another. Grint shares a time when a famous musician actually approached him as though he were Sheeran, but claims he was too embarrassed to correct him. Someone in the comments reveals of the friendship, "The cutest thing is that now even their daughters are friends."

Even Google, ever the marketing geniuses, got in on the fun, writing in an Insta post: "Ed Sheeran – Rupert Grint… Anyone else seeing double? You may need to do a little more searching to figure this one out…"

Redditors were at the ready. In the subreddit r/popheads, the video is posted with lots of comments in just a week's time. Many are excited for Sheeran's upcoming album, Play. One fan writes, "It's so goofy and fun, I have always loved Ed Sheeran, but this goofiness mixed with the actual bop just elevated my love for him."

And this person jokes: "And just when I finally got over my confusing crush on Rupert Grint."

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Musician Nick Cave reveals the two sentiments 'forever worth declaring'

Nick Cave shares profound thoughts through letters to fans.

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Nick Cave sings in concert in 1986

Since the late 70s, Nick Cave has had a lengthy career as a respected musician and writer. He explores themes of death, religion, anger, mercy, and suspicion of the world and all its inhabitants. In one of his most famous songs, "The Mercy Seat," he wrote:

"And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I’m yearning
To be done with all this measuring of truth.
And an eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway I told the truth
And I’m not afraid to die."

This is a man, who alongside his bandmates, has not been afraid to go into the darkest corners of thought and question everything. Even his gentler ballad-type songs have tinges of goth, drama, and intensity.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

In 2018 (and to this day), he began operating a newsletter called The Red Hand Files, wherein fans can send in questions about whatever they'd please: music, philosophy, love, etc.

He writes on the site how and why it all started: "The Red Hand Files began in September of 2018 as a simple idea – a place where I would answer questions from my fans. Over the years, The Red Hand Files has burst the boundaries of its original concept to become a strange exercise in communal vulnerability and transparency. Hundreds of letters come in each week, asking an extraordinarily diverse array of questions, from the playful to the profound, the deeply personal to the flat-out nutty."

He takes these letters very seriously:

"I read them all and try my best to answer a question each week. The Red Hand Files has no moderator, and it is not monetized, and I am the only one who has access to the questions that sit patiently waiting to be answered."

In his latest issue, Amy from Los Angeles asks Cave, "My dad died suddenly and unexpectedly. We moved and only saw him for two weeks of what turned out to be his last year on earth. Now I feel like I have failed him so terribly. How do you apologize to someone who is gone? How do you say I love you and I’m so sorry when their ears and their heart don’t exist anymore?"

Cave writes back with clarity and grace. In part, "Find a quiet spot where you can be alone and away from distractions, close your eyes, and picture your father. Then say these words, quietly or in your head –

You are my father

I am your daughter

I love you

I am sorry

You may feel uncomfortable or embarrassed when you do this because it seems from your question that you fundamentally believe that your father is gone, that his “ears and heart don’t exist anymore,” and that you are speaking to no one, nothing, a void."

He later writes, "I suspect your father will hear your words, but I do not know. At the very least, by acknowledging the sacred and mysterious nature of things, these words will impact the general condition of the world, not to mention your own injured heart. I believe we must take our subtle spiritual intuitions seriously and view them as the quintessence that underlies the ordinary world. The rejection of the sacred is the fundamental reason for our existential discontent. “I love you” and “I am sorry” spoken into the universe are two sentiments forever worth declaring."

In a recent appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Cave shares one of the letters from a man in Stockholm named Valerio. He first reads the question:

"Following the last few years, I'm feeling empty and more cynical than ever. I'm losing faith in other people and I'm scared to pass these feelings onto my little son. Do you still believe in us, human beings?"

Cave then reads his response:

"Much of my early life was spent holding the world and the people in it in contempt. It was a position both seductive and indulgent. The truth is, I was young and had no idea what was coming down the line. It took a devastation to teach me the preciousness of life and the essential goodness of people. It took a devastation to reveal the precariousness of the world—of its very soul—and to understand the world was crying out for help. It took a devastation to find the idea of mortal value. And it took a devastation to find hope."

The studio audience listens silently. Cave continues:

"Unlike cynicism, hopefulness is hard-earned. It makes demands upon us, and can also feel like the most indefensible and lonely place on earth. Hopefulness is not a neutral position. It is adversarial. It is the warrior emotion that can lay waste to cynicism. Each redemptive or loving act, as small as you like—such as reading to your little boy, or showing him a thing you love, or singing him a song, or putting on his shoes—keeps the devil down in the hole.

It says the world and its inhabitants have value and are worth defending. It says the world is worth believing in. In time, we can come to find that this is so. Love, Nick."

This is met with a huge round of applause, as if the audience really simply needed to hear it.

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Justin Timberlake hilariously surprises airline passengers by getting on the overhead speaker

"It's gonna be lit."

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Justin Timberlake was ready to make every seat first class

Imagine you're on a flight to Argentina, getting settled into your seat and preparing for a boring (albeit important) safety rule announcement. Suddenly, a familiar voice pops up on the overhead speakers and you think… "Wait… that's not… could that be?" Why yes, it is Justin Timberlake, and he's ready to give you safety instructions and the flight route, usually delivered by the pilot.

Timberlake is continuing his "The Forget Tomorrow World Tour", his first world tour in five years. Of course, he's playing lots of hits, but the tour is to support his latest album Everything I Thought it Was, his sixth studio record.

On Justin's TikTok, posted on March 19th, we see him clad in a mint green hoodie with splashes of orange and darker green print, baggy trousers, and sneakers. He takes to the flight attendant's interphone with a sheet of instructions and begins: "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to JT Live South American Leg."

@justintimberlake

South America, we’re coming for you!

The phone camera pans to the somewhat attentive, though possibly confused, rows of passengers and a flash of his name on the back of a seat. He continues while the flight attendants demonstrate how to use the life jackets, "The lifejacket is located in the pouch at the side of your seat. To inflate the lifejacket, pull firmly on the red toggles. If you have any questions, please keep them to yourselves."

This gets only a small laugh, so he verifies, "Oh, we're just kidding. Please ask the crew."

He then proceeds to share the flight path. "We will be flying over the beautiful countries of the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia, until we make our way into Argentina." Adding, "We thank you for flying JT Live 25 Air — it’s gonna be lit."

This is met by clapping and cheers from many passengers, though others remain seemingly disinterested.

The TikTok comments, however, were filled with true fans. "You know what? There's nothing he can't do," says one. Another exclaims, "I'd give anything to be on that plane with him."

And this person hopes it means that Justin is adding something new to his already full career plate: "OK, so this is a preview of you narrating audiobooks for us, am I right? Please say I’m right!"

But there's more. Whether the reactions were good or indifferent on the actual flight didn't stop Justin from having a blast. At one point, he decides to use the aisle as his own personal putting green. With his putter, he gently hits a golf ball down the aisle, then excitedly takes a back-and-forth victory run, high-fiving some people on the way.

This was also shared on Justin's TikTok, underscored by a recording of the "Better than Most" PGA commentary when Tiger Woods famously made a 60-foot putt at TPC Sawgrass.

@justintimberlake

We love you, Big 🐅!!! Get well soon!

We hear, "I have seen a number of players putt from the back of this green. And the results have not been good." Justin takes the shot, then runs the aisle, and we hear, "Well, that's better than most. Better than most! You could hit that putt 50 times, and maybe make it once."

Adam Sandler Golf GIFGiphy

Again, the comment section blew up. "Imagine tryna nap on your flight and wake up to JT playing golf." And yet another suggestion for Justin's career? "JT needs to make a Happy Gilmore 2 cameo!"

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Italian gibberish song from 1972 offers uncanny impression of the English language

If you've ever wondered what English sounds like to non-speakers, look no further.

Le Pietre Rotolanti/YouTube, @HarrietMould/Twitter
In 1972, an Italian singer wrote a hit song with English-sounding gibberish and it's so trippy

You've probably heard plenty of people doing impressions of other languages, speaking gibberish that sounds vaguely Chinese, French, or German. However problematic and offensive those impressions might sometimes be, it speaks to the fact that every language leans on certain sounds, cadences, and vocal inflections that help define it. Even if we can't speak or even understand those languages, we often inherently understand those key markings.

But have you ever wondered what it might sound like if someone were to speak in gibberish that sounded kind of like English? Even better, what if someone sang a whole song that sounded like a jazzy, upbeat American bop — without using any actual English words? If so, you're in luck!

Apparently, a song many of us have never heard of shot to the top of the charts in Italy in 1972 for the most intriguing reason. The song, written and performed by Adriano Celentano and is called "Prisencolinensinainciusol" which means...well, nothing. It's gibberish. In fact, the entire song is nonsense lyrics made to sound like English, and oddly, it does.


mary poppins, silly songs, music, musicals, songs, gibberish, funnyPrisencolinensinainciusol is the new SupercalifragilisticexpialidociousGiphy

Occasionally, you can hear what sounds like a real word or phrase here and there—"eyes" and "color balls died" and "alright" a few times, for example—but it mostly just sounds like English without actually being English. It's like an auditory illusion and it does some super trippy things to your brain to listen to it.

Here, Celentano performs the song in all of its glory, in a bizarre but passionate display. You just have to watch and listen to fully appreciate the artistry on display here:


- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Wow, right? In a 2012 interview on NPR's All Things Considered, Celentano explained how the silly pop song came about.

"Ever since I started singing, I was very influenced by American music and everything Americans did," he told Guy Raz, through interpreter Sim Smiley.

"So at a certain point, because I like American slang—which, for a singer, is much easier to sing than Italian—I thought that I would write a song which would only have as its theme the inability to communicate," he said. "And to do this, I had to write a song where the lyrics didn't mean anything."

In fact, Celentano didn't even write down any lyrics for the song at first, but just improvised the sounds. And people didn't appear to care. "Prisencolinensinainciusol" reached number one on the charts not only in Italy, but also in France, Germany, and Belgium.

adriana celentano, italian singer, singer, opera, rock and roll, funny musicA young Adriano Celentano singing on stageBy Collezione Biblioteca Comunale G.D. Romagnosi, Salsomaggiore Terme, Public Domain,

Celentano is known for a lot more than just his English gibberish. He's been an incredibly unique and innovative talent in the Italian music scene, credited with bringing new moves and flavors of dancing and also introducing rock and roll to Italy. He's also a renowned actor, having appeared in dozens of comedy films. If you watch the performance above, you'll see how his physical, goofball style could fit right into a slapstick movie.

He's also a serious musicians, quite often considered one of the most prolific and influential artists in Italian history.

Celentano's ability to sound like he's singing in English without actually saying anything in English is pretty impressive. Especially when you hear him sing in Italian, like this:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Adriano Celentano is still alive and well as of this writing, kicking around at the ripe age of 87. A fun fact to consider after watching his brilliant English gibberish: Celentano can not actually speak English! In a 2009 interview he admits to trying to learn the language but finding it extremely difficult (same, honestly). But his deep study did lead to his absolutely incredible mimicry of the sounds and cadences of English.

Languages are fun. And funky. And frustrating when you don't understand them. Celentano was purposefully making a point with "Prisencolinensinainciusol" to break down language barriers and inspire people to communicate more. Whether he succeeded in doing that or not, it sure is entertaining to see him try.

This article originally appeared five years ago.

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