Starting as a segment on James Corden's The Late Late Show, "Carpool Karaoke" has evolved into its own full-blown series, which can be seen in its entirety on Apple Music. The first episode, which featured Corden hosting alongside actor and rapper Will Smith, mixed fun, conversational banter (including how he apparently has "the ears" to play Barack Obama in a movie) with some singalongs to Smith's biggest tracks from back in the day, including his 90's jam "Getting Jiggy With It." Now, the show goes into R&B territory with this week's guests, John Legend and Alicia Keys.
Corden, who's riding in the backseat this time, lavishes both stars with monumental praise, saying that there's "nothing" they can't sing, individually or presumably together, that won't sound good. Responding in a humble manner, both Legend and Keys use the episode as an opportunity to trade vocal duties on their own hit songs, providing her the opportunity to belt out "All Of Me" and giving him a chance to get down to "No One." In one of the episode's funniest moment, they also improvise musical jingles for products and services that exist in real life, such as Lyft and natural deodorant. It infuses the proceedings with some comedy and potentially gives us all a sneak preview of some upcoming commercial work - seriously, Lyft should totally hire Legend to do his thing for their company or app.
The threesome also groove to an old-school track, bumping Kool & The Gang's "Hollywood Swinging" during this episode of "Carpool Karaoke." It's a track that has a history in hip-hop as well, having been sampled by the likes of Mase, Ol' Dirty Bastard and Too $hort. While the biggest names are probably still gravitating towards the original segment on the CBS late night show, it's an interesting collection of talent that Apple Music has lined up for the remainder of this show's first season run. Only time will tell if the public will continue to take to it in the long-term, but just like Lip Synch Battle before it, there's definitely a devoted audience out there that loves these types of shows.
A clip from episode can be seen below; the full episode of Carpool Karaoke can be seen on Apple Music.