- A video of Ariana DeBose rehearsing her BAFTAs rap has been shared on TikTok by Benjamin Rauhala.
- Rauhala helped DeBose create the BAFTAs performance that went viral on social media this week.
A Broadway music director has shared behind-the-scene videos of Ariana DeBose rehearsing her BAFTAs performance on social media, and it's even better than the actual performance.
On Sunday, DeBose took to the stage at the British film awards ceremony to celebrate all the women who had been nominated that evening. At one point, the Oscar-winning actor performed a rap naming the likes of Cate Blanchett and Viola Davis, and declared that "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" star Angela Bassett "did the thing."
The performance instantly went viral on Twitter, with people poking fun at the rap and turning it into a meme, especially the line about Bassett.
Music director Benjamin Rauhala, who helped DeBose create the song, shared a video on TikTok Wednesday showing DeBose practicing the rap and her dance moves backstage at Sunday's awards.
@brauhala Backstage with #ArianaDebose, getting ready to do the thing at the BAFTAs. #bafta #baftas #angelabassett ♬ original sound - Benjamin Rauhala
The text in the video reads: "Backstage with Ariana getting ready to... do the thing. It was an honor to give love to all of these iconic women and to get the party started! We are giggling at everyone who has our campy little number stuck in their head! Thank you for the love, and the hilarious memes. We had the BEST time putting this together for our friends at the BAFTAs. What a moment! She did the thing."
Earlier this week, Nick Bullen, who produced the 2023 BAFTAs, told Variety that he thought the social media response to DeBose's performance was "incredibly unfair, to be frank."
"We wanted to open the show with some energy, some fun, and also lay out straight away that this was hopefully going to feel like a different night, but with a familiarity as well, and what Ariana did was exactly that," Bullen said. "Everybody I've spoken to who was in the room absolutely loved it. She's a huge star, she was amazing."