James Corden's Carpool Karaoke sketch has become one of the most popular features of The Late, Late Show, attracting acts such as Stevie Wonder, One Direction and Adele, but it very nearly didn't go to plan.
The presenter has revealed that after initially struggling to secure even "fifth rate" acts to take part he managed to sign Mariah Carey for the very first Carpool Karaoke, but there was one catch – she was refusing to sing.
Mariah Carey initially refused to sing on Carpool Karaoke
"She came out and said, 'Oh, I'm not singing today,' and she went, 'We'll just drive around and have a chat,'" James recalled during in an interview on Howard Stern's radio show. "I went, 'Oh, right. It's just, we call it Carpool Karaoke, so without that...' And then I thought, I've just gotta go. I've just gotta jump into it. Even if this bit is just me singing to Mariah Carey, it's still on the show. It may not be the recurring bit that we hope it is, but it's still probably on the show."
The 46-year-old eventually succumbed to James' charm, singing along to a number of her greatest hits including Fantasy, Always Be My Baby and Vision of Love.
"To her credit, she got involved and it was wonderful," James said.
The singer later changed her mind and got involved with the popular sketch
The sketch quickly proved a hit with both celebrities and viewers alike, with Justin Bieber making not just one but three appearances in Carpool Karaoke. Arguably the most successful to date is James' duet with Adele, who said she used to cover Spice Girls songs and pretend to be Geri Halliwell.
A YouTube video of the 15-minute meeting has now clocked up over 107 million views since it debuted earlier in the year.
