Cups

"Cups" is the first single from the Pitch Perfect soundtrack. It was released on March 26, 2013 through Republic Records.

A folk pop song, Kendrick's version uses the children's clapping game known as the cup game for its percussion. The music video was directed by Jason Moore and released on April 12, 2013. In the film, Kendrick appears as a diner worker who imagines everyone drumming their cups along with the tune. It reached number six on the US Billboard Hot 100, giving Kendrick her first top-10 record in the United States. It was also a top 30 hit in Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands and New Zealand.

## Background

"Cups" incorporates lyrics from the 1931 song "When I'm Gone" by the Carter Family. Written by A. P. Carter, J. E. Mainer and his Crazy Mountaineers reworked "When I'm Gone" into an Appalachian folk song in 1937 and retitled it to "Miss Me When I'm Gone". British musicians Heloise Tunstall-Behrens and Luisa Gerstein, who performed under the group name Lulu and the Lampshades, reworked the Carter Family's version and introduced the cup game as the song's percussion. Their version of the song was uploaded to YouTube in 2009 with the title "You're Gonna Miss Me". In 2011, Anna Burden covered Lulu and the Lampshades' rendition of "When I'm Gone" and uploaded it to YouTube; her video went viral after it was uploaded to Reddit, leading other musicians to record cover versions using the cup clap technique.

Anna Kendrick discovered the song after watching a video post on Reddit. Kendrick performed the song in the 2012 American musical comedy film Pitch Perfect (2012). The actress told Movieline she was not looking to be in Pitch Perfect and that the musical aspect in the movie's script made her nervous. She ended up being charmed by it later on and decided to stay. The movie's original script called for Kendrick's character Beca Mitchell to perform the nursery rhyme "I'm a Little Teapot" (1939), for a scene in which Mitchell auditions for a college a cappella singing group, the Barden Bellas. When she was asked to demonstrate her singing ability before filming, she performed "Cups"; the film's producers decided to write it into the movie's script in place of "I'm a Little Teapot". In the film, Kendrick uses a plastic cup to play along with the song's rhythm.

The remix features a new bridge section, a folk pop string arrangement, guitar and xylophone, and has been extended by a minute. It was produced by Pitch Perfect director Jason Moore, Julia Michaels, Julianne Jordan, and the Underdogs. Music critics described "Cups" as a folk pop track.

This song is entirely in the key of C Major.

## Critical reception

The song was well received by critics. It was described by Heather Phares of AllMusic as "charming", and as "undeniably catchy" by Jeff Benjamin of Fuse. Benjamin praised Kendrick's audition scene, which he thought was an "awesome musical movie moment". Kelly Lawler from USA Today stated Kendrick's rendition in Pitch Perfect is "cute and all" but was really not all that special. However, she commended Kendrick's "spontaneous performance" of the song on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Slate's Chris Molanphy said the 2013 remix neutered the original version of "Cups" and said he would rather listen to Kendrick's "weird-America ditty" version. Writing for Billboard, Andrew Unterberger praised the original track, describing it as "totally charming", but labeled the remix as "mumfordized" and "needlessly extended", saying it still hits one hell of a flat note. Houston Chronicle's Joey Guerra lauded the remix, and wrote Kendrick's "plaintive delivery" made it easy to love.

Douglas Wolk of Time magazine placed the song at number nine on his end-of-year list, describing Kendrick's version as a "terrific arrangement." Marcus Jones of Entertainment Weekly put "Cups" at number nine on his The Best Songs From Movies of the 2010s list. Writing for Screen Rant, Nicholas Howe ranked the song at number one on his Pitch Perfect: Top 10 Covers In The Movie Series list, noting its near-universal popularity.

## Live performances

Kendrick performed the song on the Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Saturday Night Live in 2012, 2014, and 2017.