Upon first hearing the track, Tyler had a strong emotional response. ” It made me cry because I loved it so much,” she remembers. She was right to believe in the song: the original hit was one of the decade’s best-selling records with six million copies sold and was nominated for multiple Grammys in 1984. That year, Tyler lost out to Michael Jackson and Irene Cara, for “Flashdance—What a Feeling.” “Now, I don’t mind losing out to Michael Jackson, I’ll tell you that much,” she said with a laugh.
But over the years, it’s remained popular as an enduring karaoke favorite. “God knows why, because it’s not an easy song to sing. But it’s a beautiful song,” Tyler added. “It’s a massive song, an evergreen song that you hear on the radio all the time, whether it’s an eclipse or not. And you know, you can bet your life on all these talent shows — X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent — [it] pops up so often with the contestants.”
It also spikes in popularity right around eclipses. Spotify tracked a 75 percent increase in streams the day after last year’s March total solar eclipse, and YouTube views for the music video are already growing in anticipation of August’s event, putting her at more than 300 million and counting. The music video, filmed over the course of two days in the Holloway Sanatorium outside London, is also a cult classic for its otherworldly themes and non-sequitur scenes. ” It was snowing on the ground, and I had to run barefoot,” Tyler remembered of making the clip.
The Total Eclipse Cruise experience will be more straightforward for viewers — although certainly unique in its own way.
While the cruise will continue on to visit islands in the Caribbean, Tyler will be ducking out to continue touring. Her most recent album, a Nashville-recorded collection is called Rocks and Honey.
(Source: TIME)