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'Feel Like I Do' and love these movie stars' attempts to become music stars

Illustration by Anne Latini for EW

Read more from EW's 2021 Happy List — a collection of pop culture pleasures to make your year even better.

Want to know the first song I'm going to sing at karaoke when returning to such a place is safe? Vin Diesel's "Feel Like I Do."

I swear, this is not a bit, which is something anyone who knows me probably won't believe, considering my obsession with anything and everything Fast & Furious. But, my Fast allegiances aside, the feel-good pop single from Diesel was released last September and instantly landed on the Billboard charts, bringing much-needed joy to both me and the virtual audience at The Kelly Clarkson Show (my dance moves are probably as awkward as theirs).

This inspired both a plea to Lorne Michaels to let Diesel be the Saturday Night Live host-musical guest and a nostalgic-filled deep dive into other attempts by movie stars to branch out into music. Here's a few of the latter that can't help but give us good vibrations.

THE SONG: "Party All the Time" (1985)
THE ARTIST: Eddie Murphy
SAMPLE LYRIC: "You never come home at night because you're out romancing. I wish you bring some of your love home to me."
VIDEO HIGHLIGHT: The presence of Rick James, future story subject of Eddie's brother Charlie Murphy on Chappelle's Show.

THE SONG: "Good Vibrations" (1991)
THE ARTIST: Mark Wahlberg/Marky Mark
SAMPLE LYRIC: "Drug free so put the crack up, no need for speed, I'm anti d-r-u-g-g-i-e, my body is healthy, and rhymes makes me wealthy."
VIDEO HIGHLIGHT: Marky Mark alternating between having sex and working out shirtless in an abandoned warehouse.

THE SONG: "Respect Yourself" (1987)
THE ARTIST: Bruce Willis
SAMPLE LYRIC: "Take the sheet off your face, boy, it's a brand-new day."
VIDEO HIGHLIGHT: Smug bartender Willis laying the groundwork for Tom Cruise's performance in Cocktail.

THE SONG: "Feel Like I Do" (2020)
THE ARTIST: Vin Diesel
SAMPLE LYRIC: "Who goes out on a Tuesday night in this town? Bar's too quiet and the cover band is too loud."
VIDEO HIGHLIGHT: Kelly Clarkson's virtual audience awkwardly dancing to the track's debut.

If the Fast & Furious 9 press tour doesn't include a Diesel stop at 30 Rock, then I'll feel like we all failed.

A version of this story appears in the February issue of Entertainment Weekly, which you can order here — one cover features LaKeith Stanfield and the other Daniel Kaluuya — or find on newsstands now. Don't forget to subscribe for more exclusive interviews and photos, only in EW.

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