When Australian comedian-musician Tom Cardy received a call from Uber to appear in their latest advertisement, the last person he expected to appear alongside was Canadian country-pop icon Shania Twain.
“It was crazy,” Cardy told Variety AU/NZ. “Uber got onto me and said, ‘Do you want to work with us?’ I said, ‘Okay, what have you got?’ Then they asked if I wanted to write a song, and the answer to that is almost always yes.”
He started making demos without knowing who his collaborator would be. “They kept saying, ‘We have someone cool we want you to work with,’ but wouldn’t tell me who,” he recalled. “Then they said I might have to fly to Canada, so I was like, okay, it’s either Justin Bieber or Shania Twain. And I knew which one I wanted it to be.”
Sure enough, his hunch was right. The first time he met the iconic Shania Twain was over a video call, and he quickly found himself producing her vocals. “I was literally saying, ‘Sing a bit more like this,’ and she was just incredible. She gets everything in one take.”
Eventually, he made it to Canada where the two filmed the ad, which features not one, but two Tom Cardys. “There was someone else on her other side pretending to be me,” he laughed. “It was like being on a road trip for eight hours with Shania Twain. You’re constantly like, ‘Oh, sorry, can you scoot up a bit?’”
Despite the surreal experience, the creative chemistry Cardy had with Twain was instant. The song he wrote was not wildly changed from his original demo, and Twain’s input slotted right in, with the star having created the harmonies you can hear in the ad.
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“It’s incredible to work with someone that adds so much to something,” Cardy reflected.
Known for his slightly absurd and humorous songs and videos, Cardy said Uber gave him full creative freedom. “They knew what they were getting with me,” he said. “They weren’t going to ask me to change it from what I can do really well. And that’s what makes a good collaboration, when you get someone to work with you and you just facilitate them doing what they do best.”
It’s Cardy’s first-ever ad campaign, a milestone he said feels both ridiculous and fitting.
“I think my fans will love it,” he grinned. “They’ve just seen me in my room making silly videos, and now suddenly I’m dancing in a car with Shania Twain. It’s just fun, weird shit for them to enjoy.”
As for whether we might see a full-length version of the 60-second song, Cardy’s keen: “I’d love to,” he said. “Let’s get this ad into the [triple j] Hottest 100, then maybe we can convince Uber to make part two.”