LeAnn Rimes recently spoke about moving past her image as “America’s Sweetheart” and embracing her sexuality, especially after her role in “Coyote Ugly.”
Rimes, who burst onto the music scene at just 13 with her hit song “Blue,” was 17 during her memorable cameo in “Coyote Ugly.”
In the film’s finale, she performed a duet of “Can’t Fight the Moonlight” with lead actress Piper Perabo, donning a daring outfit of a low-cut crop top and snakeskin pants as they danced on the bar.
During an appearance on “Good Morning America,” Rimes reflected on how that moment shifted her career trajectory. “That was kind of my introduction to sexiness and selling sex,” she shared, now at 43. “I mean, really, I was ‘America’s Sweetheart’ until that point. Then I wondered, ‘What do I do now?'”
Laughing, she added, “I know what to do in a bar now, but back then, yeah, it was really just some good editing.”
The movie depicts Violet Sanford, a timid aspiring songwriter who relocates to New York and finds herself working at the lively Coyote Ugly bar, where bartenders like “Coyote” thrill the crowd with their spirited performances.
“Coyote Ugly” became a box office sensation, raking in $113 million globally and eventually earning cult classic status.
The track “Can’t Fight the Moonlight,” written by Diane Warren and sung by Rimes, peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Recently, Rimes recreated her famous scene in a video shot at Nashville’s Coyote Ugly Saloon, where she lip-synced to her song alongside her “9-1-1 Nashville” co-stars.
She humorously included a reference to a classic line from the movie in her Instagram post, adding a playful note about her cast members enjoying their time between filming.
On “Good Morning America,” she reminisced about her experience filming “Coyote Ugly” and how, after 26 years, she and her co-stars have all grown together since that time.
Rimes had fun recounting memories from filming, joking about her first time dancing in a bar and how her mother was thrilled. “I was 17, and there was this chicken cutlet situation I had to deal with,” she said, laughing at the memory of her youthful confusion about the whole experience.
Shifting to her song, Rimes discussed her new rendition of “Can’t Fight the Moonlight” from her EP, “Re-Imagined,” released in June 2018. She noted the song’s remarkable international success, hitting number one in eleven countries, though it took a while to catch on in the U.S., where it became a Top 20 hit almost two years later.
“It’s weird how things turn around,” she commented, marveling at the unpredictable ways of the universe. “You just never know what’s going to happen, and it’s pretty wild how successful it’s been.”
