Long before Scarlett Johansson made her film debut in North with Elijah Wood in 1994, delivered her breakout role in The Horse Whisperer alongside Robert Redford at the age of, paired up with Bill Murray in Lost in Translation, gave piercing performance in Girl with a Pearl Earring, and picked up Oscar nominations for her roles in the 2019 films Marriage Story and Jojo Rabbit, she was performing sing-and-dance routines as a little girl for her family.
“I have always loved to sing,” said Johansson. “When I was a little girl, I wanted to be in musicals and all that kind of stuff. So it seemed like a really exciting adventure.” When she was 8, Johansson appeared in an off-Broadway production of Sophistry with Ethan Hawke. In 2010, Johansson made her Broadway debut in a revival of A View from the Bridge, which earned her the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play.
Music—singing, in particular—was always part of Johansson’s repertoire, from taking on the George Gershwin classic “Summertime” for the 2006 compilation Unexpected Dreams – Songs from the Stars, and singing “Trust in Me” for The Jungle Book soundtrack and “I Don’t Wanna” and “Set It All Free” for Sing: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Johansson stealthily merged her acting and music careers.
In 2021 Johansson also covered U2‘s “Where the Streets Have No Name,” “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of,” the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Heads Will Roll,” and more on the Sing 2 soundtrack.
By 2007, Johansson started recording her debut Anywhere I Lay My Head, her interpretations of Tom Waits‘ songs, followed by a collaborative album with Pete Yorn, Break Up, in 2009, and their 2018 EP, Apart, in 2018.
Throughout all her featured spots and guest vocals, Johansson also wrote a few songs along the way. Here’s a look at two songs ScarJo had a hand in writing.
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“Song for Jo” (2008)
Written by Scarlett Johansson and David Andrew Sitek
In 2008, Johansson released her debut album Anywhere I Lay My Head, produced by TV on the Radio guitarist and keyboardist David Andrew Sitek. The album is a collection of covers by Tom Waits and his collaborative songs with his wife Kathleen Brennan, featuring guest vocals from David Bowie (on “Falling Down” and “Fannin Street”) and contributions from Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe.
In the mix of Waits and Brennan covers is one original composition, the slow simmering “Song for Jo,” written by Johansson and Sitek.
Do you remember
How we’d fall asleep on the bathroom floor
Wasn’t always pretty on the white tiles
Cold as the sound of your daddy’s house
Wake abandoned
Smoke out the window blows
From your daddy’s house
You’re alive today
Small hands of a woman
With an animal heart
Johansson first started listening to Waits at the age of 11. Her friend’s father was playing Waits’ music all the time, and then Johansson had a boyfriend in high school who was a loyal fan. “I guess Tom Waits was always a part of my adolescence,” said Johansson of Waits. “It’s funny how the songs mean something different to me now than they did when I first heard them.”
“Candy” (2015)
Written by Scarlett Johansson, Este Haim, Holly Miranda, Kendra Morris, and Julia Haltigan
In 2015, Johansson formed a supergroup with Este Haim of Haim, Holly Miranda, Kendra Morris, and Julia Haltigan and they released their debut single “Candy.” A departure from some of the more folk-rock and artsier turns Johansson recorded in the past, “Candy,” produced by TV on the Radio’s David Andrew Sitek, who worked on her 2008 debut Anywhere I Lay My Head, was a ’80s synth-pop dream, inspired by the female groups that reigned the decade.
“The idea was to write super-pop dance music written and performed by girls,” said Johansson of the song in a statement. “I love Grimes. And I love the Bangles. And I love the Go-Go’s. I wanted it to be like those bands: ultra pop but also a little ironic, a little in on the joke.”
Boy, you got me craving sweets again
Cause boy, my tooth be aching for your skin
Boy, you’ve got me in the mood for love
Cause boy, you’re my chocolate from above
You’re the candy to my heart
Ooh, candy to my heart
You’re the candy to my heart
Ooh, candy to my heart
Boy, I make it pieces like a gum
Cause boy, I’m melting from your tongue
Boy, I’m your lollipop-wear
And boy, I love your dreamy stare
Shortly after the release of “Candy, a Los Angeles-based band who also called themselves the Singles issued a cease-and-desist alleging trademark infringement.
Photo: Jon Imanol/GTRES/Shutterstock
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