Peaches

* Music Video
* Soundtrack

**Peaches** is a song performed by Jack Black (as Bowser) in *The Super Mario Bros. Movie*.

## Lyrics

This one is for my one and only true love

Princess Peach

Peach, you're so cool

And with my star, we're gonna rule

Peach, understand

I'm gonna love you 'til the very end

Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches

Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches

I love you, oh!

Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches

Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches

I love you, oh!

Mario, Luigi, and a Donkey Kong, too

A thousand troops of Koopas couldn't keep me from you

Princess Peach, at the end of the line

I'll make you mine, oh!

Oh!

Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches

Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches

I love you, oh!

Peaches!

Peaches!

Peach!

Peach!

## History

Midway in the film, Bowser is on his piano in his lair, and begins playing a song about his love for the Mushroom Kingdom's ruler, Princess Peach. The only person he cares about, Bowser explains in song the great lengths he will go to get closer to the Princess, and neither Mario, Luigi, nor Donkey Kong, let alone his own army, will stand in his way. Near the end of the song, Kamek interrupts Bowser and informs him about Mario's arrival.

At the end of the film, Bowser plays the rest of the song, only to be interrupted by a Toad guard in Peach's castle.

## Concept

The film's initial draft did not incorporate a musical background for Bowser. Aaron Horvath, one of the film's co-directors, told *GameSpot* he wanted a musical Bowser, but planned for a more metal track in the vein of Tenacious D. After deciding that it would be boring for Bowser to simply say, "I love Princess Peach", Horvath decided to tell the song through a ballad. The original demo was recorded with Eric Osmond on vocals. Two days later, Black completed the final recording of the song with an original piano track by his pianist.

## Music videos

The song received two official music videos. The first one was a live-action music video directed by Cole Bennett. The video depicts Black wearing a Bowser-inspired costume and playing the song on the piano while in a room with windows overlooking computer animated landscapes from the film. The video was uploaded by Lyrical Lemonade the same day as the single's release. On the same day, a behind-the-scenes video was posted on Lyrical Lemonade's secondary channel. On April 10, the music video reached No. 2 on YouTube's trending page.

The second video features clips of Bowser performing the song on his piano, as well as other clips from the film. It was uploaded by Illumination on April 10, 2023.

## Reception

The song was considered to be the highlight of the film by several critics. Owen Gleiberman of *Variety* praised Black's performance as Bowser, especially through "Peaches". He compared the song to Meat Loaf's songs on *Bat Out of Hell*, and further compared Black to Meat Loaf and Tom Jones. Kristin Smith of *Plugged In* praised the live-action music video, writing, "it’s an innocent, silly ballad...with flashy colors and plenty of fun to (they hope) entice viewers to go see *The Super Mario Bros. Movie*." *Comic Book Resources* listed the song as the best song from the film, writing, "the best part of the song is Jack Black, who sounds like he's giving the performance of his life as the love-struck Koopa King". In a positive review of the film, Christopher Cruz of *Rolling Stone* called the song a "hit", expecting it to be "a TikTok staple to the chagrin of parents everywhere." Kristy Puchko of *Mashable*, who gave the film a generally negative review, wrote, "All my gripes about this movie were silenced during the interludes when Black lets loose in all his rock star might to sing, "Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches," over and over". Reflecting on this and other Bowser scenes in the film, she commented, "...[the] balance of stupid and fun are perfect."

Conversely, Brian Tallerico of *RogerEbert.com*, a self-described lifelong *Mario* fan who criticized the film for lacking in creativity, called the song "truly uninspired", opining that "How on Earth a film like this gets a rock talent like half of Tenacious D and doesn’t let him unleash a few clever Bowser tunes is one of this film’s many mysteries."

### Accolades

On April 10, 2023, the song became eligible for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 96th Academy Awards.

### Commercial performance

The song has reached number 56 on the US *Billboard* Hot 100 after debuting at number 83, making it Black's first solo single to chart. The song also reached the top 40 in Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.