Cate Blanchett to display ‘booty-shaking skills’ in new music video for Sparks

Oscar-nominated actress Cate Blanchett will display her “booty-shaking skills” in a new music video for US pop-rock duo Sparks.

The video sees the Australian actress, dressed in a bright yellow suit and red headphones, join veteran musicians Ron and Russell Mael.

Premiering on Friday, the video accompanies Sparks’s new single The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte, which will also be the title track of their upcoming album.

The pair met Blanchett in Paris last year, prior to her rampant success during the 2023 awards season for her performance in Todd Field’s film Tar.

“We met Cate Blanchett in Paris at the Cesar Awards last year, little knowing that a year later one of the great actors of our time – and a splendid person – would graciously consent to lending her booty-shaking skills to the first video from our new album,” the Mael brothers said.

“Dreams really do come true. We will sleep well tonight knowing that forever we can say we co-starred in a film with Cate Blanchett.”

The duo are known for their quirky approach to songwriting and their music is often accompanied by sophisticated and acerbic lyrics, occasionally containing literary or cinematic references.

The new album is their first release on the Island Records label in close to five decades, following on from classics including 1974’s Kimono My House, which featured the hit single This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us.

Blanchett’s turn as the complicated and tortured master-composer Lydia Tar has won her multiple accolades in recent months.

She has won the best leading actress categories at the 2023 Golden Globes, Baftas and Critics Choice Awards, alongside multiple other nominations.

The video for The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte will premiere on YouTube at 5pm on Friday March 3.

The album is available for pre-order online.