Song of the Day 3/13: Sparks, “The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte”

Cate Blanchett didn’t win the Oscar last night for her performance as an orchestra conductor in “Tár,” but would Michelle Yeoh do this?

Like lots of Hollywood folk, Blanchett is a fan of Sparks, the art rock/electronica project of the Mael brothers, Russell and Ron. The duo has released 26 LPs over its 50-plus-year history, and though they’ve had chart hits in the UK and Europe, they’ve only attracted a cult following in their native U.S. They’ve been having their moment the past couple of years, though, since the release of the documentary “The Sparks Brothers” in 2021.

Russell Mael told Variety they learned Blanchett was a fan when they met her at a film festival where the documentary was screened, and she was game to appear in the video for the title track to their upcoming LP. They shot the video in Los Angeles last month.

“We didn’t even know she was gonna necessarily be dancing. It was more like ‘Come and stand in our video’ — you know, that would’ve been fine too. But that was what she felt like doing to that song. She came in with the red headphones she’s wearing in the video, and … she seemed like she’d actually been on a stage before or something.”

Ron, the serious one, said, “[W]e would like to take credit for having directed her, but we had nothing to do with that. It’s a little bit presumptuous to be directing Cate Blanchett. We were extras in our own video, in a certain way.”