Tom Holland just can't escape being a massive star. Between his secret relationship with Zendaya and his outlandish Marvel Cinematic Universe success, there just isn't any stopping Tom from appearing in the tabloids and news feeds. But back in 2017, he really was a newbie. Nobody knew who he was when he was cast as Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War and then, shortly after, the first of his solo web-slinging adventures. There's no doubt that his internet-smashing performance on Lip Sync Battle set Tom down a path of super-stardom.
In an interview with Insiderabout the history of Tom Holland's appearance on Lip Sync Battle alongside his future girlfriend Zendaya, the crew behind the reality competition show shed light on what really went down behind the scenes, why Tom chose to perform a hit Rihanna song and whether or not he actually wanted to be there.
6 Why Did Tom Holland Perform On Lip Sync Battle?
The main reason Tom Holland, as well as Zendaya, were asked to appear on Lip Sync Battle had to do with the promotion of Spider-Man: Homecoming a couple of months before its release.
"I really think it was in keeping with how they were positioning Spider-Man at the time, which was: It's all new. It's younger. They wanted to introduce Tom to an American audience in that spirit," Lip Sync Battle's executive producer Casey Patterson explained in an interview with Insider.
"They loved the idea that they could show how multi-talented he is because you're going to see the physicality in Spider-Man, but you really get to know someone when they come to Lip Sync Battle."
5 Why Did Tom Holland Perform Rihanna's "Umbrella"?
According to Lip Sync Battle's choreographer, Danielle Flora, in her interview with Insider, every time a celebrity comes on the reality competition show, they are asked to provide a list of music they love listening to. The writers of the show, as well as Danielle, then compile a list of ideas based on the music and pitch it to Casey Patterson.
Related: This Is How Zendaya Truly Felt About Tom Holland's Memorable Lip Sync Battle Performance
"Tom has such great taste in music, and we kicked around a lot of ideas, but we pitched him "Umbrella" because we thought we could do "Singin' in the Rain" in the beginning and it would just be a great way to show off the "Billy Elliot" side of him, too. He was fearless. He was like, That's it. That's absolutely it," Casey explained. "There was a little bit of like, 'Casey, what have you done?' kind of thing [from Sony]. 'You got Tom super excited about this big, risky idea.' But it was just so organic. He's speaking to an audience who wouldn't think twice about him doing a Rihanna song and doing it in tribute to exactly the way that she did it in the video.
4 Rihanna Needed To Give Permission To Tom Holland For "Umbrella"
Lip Sync Battle simply doesn't have carte blanche to pick whatever songs they want. They have to get each and everyone cleared by the artist and their representatives. So, while Casey and her team waited for Rihanna to clear "Umbrella", they prepared for Tom to do Britney Spears' "Oops I Did It Again" as a backup. But this never came to pass.
"We would clear song by song and have to go to each artist. We'd say we have Tom Holland coming on the show, and Rihanna would need to bless it. It's never a given," Casey explained. "The minute "Umbrella" [got approved] it was just immediate, unanimous. We were high-fiving, like, 'That's it. The world's going to go crazy.'"
While Rihanna declined a cameo during the song, she did approve it with her co-writer and producers, Kuk Harrell and Tricky Stewart. Although most of them didn't even know who Tom was at the time, according to their interviews with Insider.
3 Tom Holland's Lip Sync Battle Fishnets
Tom Holland had two very different looks on Lip Sync Battle. The first was a suit-and-tie to resemble Gene Kelly for his "Singin' In The Rain" bit. But the more famous was the French maid outfit, including fishnets, that he wore for the much-more famous Rihanna cover.
"My first reaction was, 'is he going to dress as Rihanna?' That's what we were all excited about," dancer Marvin Brown said to Insider. "And then in the first rehearsal he was like, I'm going to come out and sing 'Singin' in the Rain.' And we all just thought, 'Oh no, that means you're going to be [dressed like] a guy for the rest of it.' And he was like, No, no, no, I want to do a quick change."
Fortunately, the costume team designed a suit that could be torn off in the middle of the performance, revealing the much more scandalous outfit that, without a doubt, helped propel the bit into pop culture legend.
"Once we knew that he was going to be in the Rihanna look, Marvin continued, "we were like, 'Okay, this is about to be the performance of the night.'"
2 Did Tom Holland Hate His Lip Sync Battle "Umbrella" Choreography?
After showing Tom Holland the choreographed performance, he was asked by Danielle Flora if he wanted to add or change anything. According to the choreographer, Tom's response was simply, "Oh my God. I'm in. I can do it all."
"He was so devoted, he wanted extra time to come in and work with the dancers," Casey said. "He really leaned in, no hesitation, didn't flinch."
"He picked up the choreography so fast," Danielle added. "Then, he wanted to get those little nuances perfect. So, for instance, the rolling of the hips or the hips being pushed up, those accents are a little more feminine than maybe the way he would just naturally do them. So, it was just fine-tuning that."
1 Did Tom Holland Win Lip Sync Battle?
While Tom has admitted that his Lip Sync Battle was "nerve-wracking" he ended up completely acing it on the first take when it was recorded in April 2017. Despite the show rarely filming second takes, there was a concern that Tom wouldn't totally nail it right away. But he quickly proved them wrong, showing off his insane dance skills while staying in character.
With his outstanding performance, Tom took home the crown of Lip Sync Battle. He beat his now girlfriend Zendaya, who has since admitted that Tom "obviously killed it" and deserved the win. In her reaction to Rihanna's recent Superbowl Half-Time performance, Zendaya even joked that the singer should have brought Tom out on stage.
