The film's initial draft did not incorporate a musical background for Bowser.[1]Aaron Horvath, one of the film's co-directors, told GameSpot he wanted a musical Bowser, but planned for a more metal track in the vein of Tenacious D. After deciding that it would be boring for Bowser to simply say, "I love Princess Peach", Horvath decided to tell the song through a ballad.[2] The original demo was recorded with Eric Osmond on vocals.[2] Two days later,[2] Black completed the final recording of the song with an original piano track by his pianist.[1]
Music videos
The song received two official music videos. The first one was a live-action music video directed by Cole Bennett, depicting Jack Black wearing a Bowser-inspired costume and playing the song on the piano while in a room with windows overlooking computer-animated landscapes from the film. The video was uploaded by Lyrical Lemonade the same day as the single's release.[3] On the same day, a behind-the-scenes video was posted on Lyrical Lemonade's secondary channel.[4] On April 10, the music video reached No. 2 on YouTube's trending page.[5]
The second video features clips of Bowser performing the song on the piano, as well as other clips from the film. It was uploaded by Illumination on April 10, 2023.[6]
Reception
The song was considered to be the highlight of the film by several critics. Owen Gleiberman of Variety praised Black's performance as Bowser, especially through "Peaches". He compared the song to Meat Loaf's songs on Bat Out of Hell, and further compared Black to Meat Loaf and Tom Jones.[7] Kristin Smith of Plugged In (publication) praised the live-action music video, writing, "it’s an innocent, silly ballad...with flashy colors and plenty of fun to (they hope) entice viewers to go see The Super Mario Bros. Movie."[8]Comic Book Resources listed the song as the best song from the film, writing, "the best part of the song is Jack Black, who sounds like he's giving the performance of his life as the love-struck Koopa King".[9] In a positive review of the film, Christopher Cruz of Rolling Stone called the song a "hit", expecting it to be "a TikTok staple to the chagrin of parents everywhere."[10] Kristy Puchko of Mashable, who gave the film a generally negative review, wrote, "All my gripes about this movie were silenced during the interludes when Black lets loose in all his rock star might to sing, "Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches," over and over". Reflecting on this and other Bowser scenes in the film, she commented, "...[the] balance of stupid and fun are perfect."[11]
Conversely, Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com, a self-described lifelong Mario fan who criticized the film for lacking in creativity, called the song "truly uninspired", opining that "How on Earth a film like this gets a rock talent like half of Tenacious D and doesn’t let him unleash a few clever Bowser tunes is one of this film’s many mysteries."[12]
The song reached number 56 on the US Billboard Hot 100 after debuting at number 83, making it Black's first solo single to chart.[17] The song also reached the top 40 in Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
