Miss America (Kira Kazantsev) is just like you and me.
That is, if you count yourself a fan of the 2012 cult musical comedy Pitch Perfect.
Representing New York in this weekend's pageant, Kazantsev used the talent portion of the competition to display her cup smacking ability. In the vein of PP star Anna Kendrick, she sang while rhythmically "playing" a red solo cup.
The song was Pharrell's "Happy," and the performance was... a winning one, clearly.
Kendrick noticed, and immediately took to social media to express her excitement.
So I guess @Pharrell and I can't stop collaborating. #MissAmerica #WhatIsHappening?? pic.twitter.com/AhsTA62PJJ
— Anna Kendrick (@AnnaKendrick47) September 15, 2014
The cup phenomenon took off after Kendrick performed the song "When I'm Gone" in Pitch Perfect. Despite little promotion initially, the track eventually reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Kendrick spoke with Vulture about the whole thing last year.
"I am bewildered," Kendrick said. "I don't even know what to say about it. The weirdest thing to me is that it's outpositioned artists who are out there promoting their singles, as they should be - they're musicians! And I've been making movies. Like I just made this little movie in Harlem, instead of doing something to further the success of the single, and yet there it is. It makes no sense. Don't get me wrong - it's so cool! But it's bizarre to me that I'm off doing something else, and it's happening on its own. It's so cool. But it is absolutely bewildering."
She also shared this nugget with MovieLine a couple years ago:
"I met [director] Jason [Moore] like two years ago about it and they did ask me to sing, so I sang that song with the cups [from the film] that I learned from a YouTube video, and they were like, "Oh my god, that's going in the movie!"
