Watch: Anne Hathaway belts ‘Since U Been Gone’ out in front of Kelly Clarkson

Anne Hathaway was a guest on The Kelly Clarkson Show last week. Joining the ex American Idol star for what started out as a friendly game of Sing That Tune, Anne was unable to conceal her competitive spirit for long and things got progressively more heated with each new song. 

“Kelly, you better start stepping up your game,” host Matt Iseman teased the singer, who responded by saying, “Can you play a freaking song I’ll know?!” Acquiescing to Clarkson’s request, the band then played her own song “Since U Been Gone” to try and give her a chance… but once again, Anne was too quick off the mark for Clarkson. 

Already in the lead, the Love & Other Drugs star wasn’t about to let her competitor get ahead and promptly launched into a pretty impressive rendition of the hit tune – all before Clarkson had even realised what was happening. 

“How did you know it from just that?”, she laughed, clearly a little embarrassed that she hadn’t gotten that one. Turns out Hathaway is a Clarkson superfan as it seems and graciously replied, “we all love that song, everybody here knew it”. 

While it’s true we all love that song, Anne Hathaway is more of an acquired taste… kind of like Marmite. Some people love her, others really (really) don’t. Whatever party you fall into though, there’s no denying that she nailed that performance. Even Clarkson herself was floored. Literally. 

Sticking up for the actress and her “intense theatre kid energy”, entertainment writer Evan Ross Katz described it as “a top tier moment in culture”. “I’m so glad that we as a society (collectively, cause some of us knew all along) have come around to recognising Anne Hathaway’s intense theatre kid energy as an endearing quality vs. one worthy of ridicule. Kelly’s reaction of dropping face-first to the floor makes so much sense,” he continued, later adding, “bravo to all involved”. 

Aside from proving that she’s one hell of a singer (though her Les Misérables performance is a clear indication of this), Hathaway also chatted to Clarkson about her new project, in which she stars alongside Jared Leto. Called WeCrashed, the series debuted last week and centres on the wild and chaotic love story at the centre of WeWork founder Adam Neuman’s equally narcissistic approach to business. 

Catch it on Apple TV now.