Golden Globes Pianist Chloe Flower on How She Buried the Hatchet With Michelle Yeoh After Her

Posted by Larita Shotwell on Saturday, July 6, 2024

Musician Chloe Flower went viral on Tuesday night thanks to the Golden Globes, but not for the reason she wanted. Flower was chosen to play the piano for the show, and ended up trending on Twitter after viewers assumed she was playing winners off the stage during their speeches.

It all began when Michelle Yeoh won best actress in a motion picture, comedy or musical, for her role in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Midway through Yeoh’s acceptance speech, piano music started to play signaling her to wrap it up. Yeoh turned to Flower, who was at the piano, and said, “Shut up, please. I can beat you up, OK? It’s that serious.”

Related Stories

Photo illustration of a robot's hand holding a magnifying glass VIP+

Cloud Adoption Key to Media Business Exploiting AI

Toxic Fandom

Toxic Fandom: How Hollywood Is Battling Fans Who Are ‘Just Out for Blood’ — From Social Media Boot Camps to Superfan Focus Groups

But Flower wasn’t playing the music — and while Yeoh might have been joking, the internet was ready to pounce. Flower clarified to Variety the day after the show that the only time she was playing music was when she was on camera.

“My job was to bring everybody back from commercial break with a performance, so I don’t know how that got lost in translation,” she said.

Popular on Variety

But what audiences didn’t see was Flower and Yeoh having a moment off-camera. “After she won her award, she walked past the piano and I spoke to her,” Flower said. “We embraced. We touched and we held hands. I said, ‘I would never disrespect you and play during your speech.’ She was so lovely and nice.” Flower added there were no hard feelings.

It didn’t end there. Later, as Austin Butler collected his Globe for best actor in a motion picture drama for “Elvis,” he quipped, “You could at least play ‘Suspicious Minds’ or something” when music cued him to wrap up his acceptance speech.

“I spoke to him too. He walked past me and I said, ‘Hey, congratulations, that wasn’t me playing,'” Flower said.

As big as the Beverly Hilton ballroom might appear on a TV screen, the space is more intimate in-person, Flower pointed out. “I don’t think viewers were aware of how small it really is,” Flower said. “I think everyone was looking in my direction because I was on a piano, and I became the face of sound.”

In addition to iconic tunes, Flower got to play some of her own original music during the ceremony. She even released a single titled “Golden Hour” in honor of her appearance at the awards show.

After posting a tweet to clarify events, Flower said she put her phone away for the rest of the night. But having had several hours to reflect, Flower ultimately considered the night a success. “We were able to deliver the music,” she said with pride. “I had a great time.”

I would never play piano over people’s speeches!! I’m only playing when you see me on camera! #goldenglobes

— Chloe Flower (@ChloeFlower) January 11, 2023

Read More About:

Jump to Comments

More from Variety

Most Popular

Must Read

Sign Up for Variety Newsletters

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Variety Confidential

A Variety and iHeartRadio Podcast

ncG1vNJzZmiukae2psDYZ5qopV9nfXN%2FjpqumqqUqHyiwMelnK2do2S0sLjDnqVmn5ykr6a%2FjKmgmqaZqMFur8elpp5llqG8uLHRrGSmoZOdsq24xGawnqeYYr2trdiem2anlpt6cn6SbmtxbmZqgXA%3D

CATALOG
    FEATURED TAGS