The Beach Boys song that makes Scarlett Johansson cry
Scarlett Johansson has been making a name for herself as one of the most in-demand actors in Hollywood for years now. Whether as one of the founders of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the first Avengers movies or starring in Oscar-nominated films like Marriage Story, Johansson always knows how to relate to the audience on a visceral level rather than just the spectacle of the movie theatre. While she has made many audiences shed tears through the years, there’s one song that she still goes to pieces over.
Then again, music was always consistent in Johansson’s life. Throughout every one of her films, music has played a vital role in moving the story along, whether that means her stepping behind the microphone for the karaoke scene in Lost in Translation or the brilliant soundtracks that have accompanied movies like Jojo Rabbit.
Alongside her film career, Johansson would also move into the vocal department, starting a solo music career featuring her trademark smoky voice. Although it’s easy to pick up on influences from artists like Tom Waits in her delivery, one of the essential pieces of her musical development was The Beach Boys.
When talking to KCRW, Johansson remembered getting into the 1960s hitmakers through her mom, recalling, “My mom was kind of a teenager in the 1960s, and she was living in Manhattan and hanging out in Greenwich Village and seeing Jimi Hendrix play when he was Jimmy James and the Moody Blues and Richie Havens and she also, of course, listened to a lot of The Beach Boys and stuff.”
Before Johansson started working in front of the camera, Brian Wilson put together teenage symphonies based on standard pop songs. Although most fans would point to tracks like ‘Surfin’ USA’ or ‘God Only Knows’ as the group’s signature tunes, Johansson had an affinity for the song ‘In My Room’.
While the melody has a trademark Beach Boys arrangement, the lyrics Wilson wrote for the track are much more candid than his standard teenage love songs. After facing the day and having to answer to one intimidating face after another, Wilson is content retreating to his room, where he knows he will be okay.
As The Beach Boys became more hectic, the lyrics to ‘In My Room’ would become more pointed for Wilson, who quickly adopted the studio as his makeshift room to make musical magic on albums like Pet Sounds. Considering the mental strain he suffered at the hands of his father, bandmates, and abusive therapist, Johansson remembered having a visceral reaction when hearing the song live.
Attending a concert put on by Wilson, Johansson remembered bursting into tears, explaining, “I have to say that when he played this song, I cried. I cried. I don’t think that I’ve ever cried that hard at a concert before. I find his whole story very touching, and this song, the lyrics were very poignant. I think that a lot of people have that when they’re a teenager, where their room is really sort of their safe haven, and they can hold all their secrets there”.
The allure of fame might change someone, but Johansson understands the poignancy of returning to that musical haven whenever possible.
