Warning: This article contains spoilers about the Super Mario Bros. Movie!Jack Black certainly makes Bowser, King of the Koopas ferocious and formidable in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, but his Peaches song is also incredibly catchy, making the case for a Mario musical sometime in the future. Bowser’s plan is to ask for Princess Peach (Anya Taylor Joy) to marry him so they can rule the Mushroom Kingdom and Dark Land together, and if she refuses, to turn everything into a lava-filled rubble. As he prepares to propose, he spends time at his Ludwig von Koopa banging on the keys and belting out a passionate love ballad about how much he loves Peach, with the incredible earworm chorus, “Peach, peaches, peaches!”
Even though the ballad that Bowser sings about the princess really only says “Peaches” over and over again, it’s something Mario fans will be humming. In one of The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s post-credit scenes, he even sings it after being given a mushroom to shrink his size and locked in a bird cage after suffering catastrophic defeat at the hands of Mario and Luigi. Peaches might have rejected him, and he might have lost Dark Land, but he still has a song in his heart, and Black deserves a lot of the credit for it.
Jack Black Wrote & Produced Bowser’s Catchy “Peaches” Song In Super Mario Bros Movie
The Super Mario Bros. Movie production notes explain that Jack Black helped write and produce Bowser’s “Peaches”, turning a 30-second demo into a full song, which wasn’t in the original script, and finished in a couple of days (via Insider). It comes as no surprise to longtime fans of Black’s musical career, which includes playing in the rock band Tenacious D, as well as starring in films like School of Rock, that he’d compose something as catchy as “Peaches.”
Black’s melodious voice aside, the very fact that Bowser, who looks like a rockstar and lives in a floating lava castle, belts out such a touching and catchy song makes him a more complicated villain. While most Disney villain songs showcase all the ways that the villain is going to destroy the hero and everyone he loves, Bowser’s song details the depth of his affection and even some of his insecurities, instantly setting it apart. It’s not easy making someone like Bowser seem capable of complex emotions, but The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Black chose to give him something more to do than stomp around and breathe fire.
Super Mario Bros 2 Needs To Repeat Bowser’s “Peaches” Song With A Bigger Musical Number
Bowser’s “Peaches” song was the highlight of a movie full of comedy, action, and adventure, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 should repeat its level of success. A bigger musical number, incorporating more characters than just Bowser, would be not only dazzling but a good running gag. Perhaps Bowser, in his stubbornness, will get an even bigger villains number with the rest of the koopas, or maybe all the toads will do a wink and a nod towards Disney with an “It’s A Small World After All”-type spoof.
With the box office success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie there’s little doubt that a sequel will be forthcoming, and it will need to go above and beyond to outdo the spectacle of the first movie. But with talents like Black involved, who has committed to making Bowser into an even more iconic villain than he already is, it will probably be even more successful. In the meantime, fans will just be singing “Peaches,” and Bowser will have time to reflect upon the difference between romantic love and possessive love.
