On Sunday night, audiences were split by Rick Astley and Rylan Clark's unexpected rendition of a You Spin Me Round duet.
During BBC One's New Year's Eve Rocks concert, the 57-year-old hitmaker of "Never Gonna Give You Up" stunned the audience by inviting the 35-year-old host of This Morning on stage to perform the legendary 1985 hit by Dead Or Alive, to a varied reception.
Fans and critics reacted in on the performance on Twitter, with some calling the show "camp genius" and others insisting that the BBC's choice to screen the duo has put the country on its a**e.
Although Rylan is now more well-known for his TV hosting, he first gained notoriety in 2012 as a hopeful on the ninth season of X Factor, where he placed fifth.
After Holly Willoughby left the show, he removed himself from music and turned to reality TV. He is currently a presenter on This Morning, where he has received praise from critics. Nevertheless, some of his admirers have pushed him to go back to singing.
"It can't get worse than me singing you into the new year. 2024 is on the up from here...," Rylan joked on Twitter in response to the performance. 'Happy new year,' he wrote before posting a picture of himself writing 'New Year' while appearing bored and glaring at the camera. New Identity. And anything that b*****s'.
ALSO READ: Rick Astley Re-records 'Never Gonna Give You Up' Due to Hearing Loss [Listen]
Fans of the show wrote on the microblogging platform.
One said, "Bringing out Rylan for Rick Astley's New Years show is camp genius..."
Another added, "Rick Astley and Rylan. 20 mins in and 2024 has peaked already!... "
Some said "Rylan and Rick Astley doing You Spin Me Round is the start to 2024 we all needed..."
Critics meanwhile got intense with their comments.
One wrote, "Been Rick Rolled and now got Rylan singing, what a w**k start to 2024 #HappyNewYear... Rick Ashley and Rylan to kick off 2024. The only way is up..."
"Rick Astley and Rylan singing You Spin Me Round? Stop the Earth, I am getting off... Well Rylan just spoiled the Rick Astley set... Whose idea was that?...," another wrote.
Astley/s 1987 smash song Never Gonna Give You Up, which topped the charts in 25 countries, including the US, and his debut album Whenever You Need Somebody, which sold over 15 million copies, proved insignificant despite his enormous popularity. In 1988,
he won the Brit Awards for Best Single. It also didn't matter that the Never Gonna Give You Up music video has Astley wildly dancing in a trenchcoat akin to a cheap Jim Kerr from Simple Minds, and is the cutest, most iconic thing from the 1980s ever.
In the eyes of the critics or the general public, most artists struggle during certain phases of their careers, and Astley was no exception. He still wrote songs and records in his home studio, although he took a long break to raise his daughter with his Danish film producer wife, Lene Bausager, who is now his manager, before embarking on another tour in 2004.
A true examination of Astley's comeback must include Rickrolling, the irrepressible internet craze from the 2000s in which people are tricked into clicking a link and viewing the Never Gonna Give You Up video. After Michael Jackson, a-ha, and Guns N' Roses, Ashley is the fourth artist from the 1980s to reach the billion view milestone on YouTube with the official video, which has accumulated about 1.5 billion views.
Eighteen million Americans had been rickrolled, according to a 2008 poll. Rickrolling was ridiculed by Astley, who called it "brilliant" and "funny."
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