Ah, the actress-turned-singer. A career path that is often attempted, yet so rarely realized. Sometimes it seems like everyone in the biz assumes that if they can speak clearly and concisely on camera, they might as well sing on a record.
Case in point: Gwyneth Paltrow will star in “Country Strong” as an emotionally unstable singer-songwriter. The drama, set to release in January, mostly revolves around the ups and downs of being in the spotlight of country music stardom. The film also features Leighton Meester of “Gossip Girl” fame (another actress-turned-singer) as a fresh young country crooner. The ever-present Tim McGraw (singer-turned-actor!) plays Paltrow’s love interest, naturally.
Paltrow, who released the karaoke duet favorite “Cruisin'” with Huey Lewis in 2000, recently made a guest appearance on everyone’s favorite guilty pleasure musical dramedy, “Glee.” Paltrow played the role of a too-cool-for-school substitute teacher, reminding everyone that yeah, she’s still around and yeah, she can carry a tune pretty well, but won’t necessarily be rocking anybody’s socks off.
Two success stories of the actress-turned-singer phenomenon include Jennifer Lopez and Nicole Kidman, known for crossing over with “Selena” and “Moulin Rouge!” respectively. “Moulin Rouge!” was nominated for eight Oscars in 2001, including a Best Actress nod for Kidman. “Selena” may not have gotten such high critical acclaim, though the soundtrack has sold over three million copies since 1997.
Of course there are many actresses-turned-singers who should’ve stayed on set rather than in the studio, particularly in the Disney universe. Hilary Duff, Lindsay Lohan and Selena Gomez were all well-known actresses on the Disney Channel before releasing their solo albums. These days, it’s pretty standard to be an actress-turned-singer-turned-fashion designer-turned perfume creator, in no particular order. Why does everyone in Hollywood try so hard to be a jack of all trades?
They’ve already got the fame, the exposure and the money. Some projects slip through the cracks faster than you can say “entrepreneur,” like Mandy Moore’s fashion line, Mblem. Maybe it’s just to say they have their own signature perfume. Maybe it’s to say they released a single that went #1 for two weeks. Maybe it’s because they can, or maybe it’s because we want them to?
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Allison Berger is a Philadelphia-based writer and a Pop music columnist for Reverb. Check out more of her writing
