That time we got rickrolled! Rick Astley recently stopped by Us Weekly’s New York City headquarters to teach a few lucky staff members how to sing his trademark 1987 hit “Never Gonna Give You Up.”
In the video above, the 50-year-old ’80s icon wows with an a cappella rendition of the chorus from his world-famous track. After Astley — whose eighth studio album, 50, is available Friday, October 7 — finishes, Us’ Entertainment Director Ian Drew takes a stab at making the tune his own. “I’m impressed, Ian!” the British hitmaker says.
Next up: Us Weekly Video correspondent Christina Garibaldi — who not only slays with pop star-worthy vocals, but busts out some pretty great dance moves as well.
Us video editor Courtney Keyes is last, but certainly not least. She hits every note perfectly — and even inspires Astley to break out into some original choreography!
“I’m impressed, to be honest,” he jokes in the video. “I thought you were all gonna be awful.”
Reflecting on the impact of “Never Gonna Give You Up” — which hit No. 1 in over 25 countries during the height of its popularity — Astley explains, “It [will be] 30 years next year that this song came out. I just remember hearing it and thinking, ‘This tune has really, really got something.’”
The song was given new life and introduced to a whole new generation in 2007 when it became the subject of a popular internet prank (labeled “rickrolling”) that involved misleading links redirecting to the “Never Gonna Give You Up” music video.
Astley shares with Us: “And then when we put the vocals on it, I loved it. And I really felt it had something different and it had something a bit special.”
Watch Astley and the Us crew give it their all in the video above.
