“Lip Sync Battle,” now in its fifth season, is an American reality show, in which celebrities battle against each other while lip syncing and dressing up in crazy costumes. The idea originated on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” where Fallon would occasionally compete with other celebrities on his show. It was such a hit that it developed into its own show. The Paramount show is hosted by LL Cool J with color commentator Chrissy Teigen. “Lip Sync Battle” has provided many laughs for its audience over the years. While there are way too many great battles to recount, we break down the top 5 must watch best lip sync battles.
Best Lip Sync Battles #5 – Julianne Hough vs. Derek Hough
While the siblings/professional dancers did not dress up head to toe in costumes, the sheer awkwardness and funniness of it all, makes it one of the best Lip Sync Battles of all time. Derek started off the battle with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ hit, “Can’t Hold Us” and lots of hip thrusts.
Julianne made it even more awkward with Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass” where she shimmed across the stage and brought out the singer herself. For the second round, Derek put on a blonde wig and channeled Sia for her song, “Chandelier.”
Julianne said her brother was never going to ‘live this down.” Julianne made her brother very uncomfortable when she sang The Lonely Island’ “I Just Had Sex,” crawling across the stage and dancing with shirtless men. While Derek was still trying to recover from what just happened, Julianne took home the belt and the title of winner.
The siblings battled again in a live performance in Central park where Derek took home the win.
Best Lip Sync Battles #4 – Melissa McCarthy vs. Jimmy Fallon
While not on the show directly, Fallon still does the sketch on his own show. The two comedic actors have us laughing from beginning to end. Fallon starts off with Melanie’s “Brand New Key” and pretends to be slipping on a ‘brand new pair of roller-skates’ while hilariously performing the song.
Then McCarthy shocks the crowd with DMX’s “X Gon’ Give it to Ya,” adorning a cap and sneakers. Fallon claps back with a hilarious version of ZAYN’s “Pillow talk,” using a pillow as a prop and making the song funnier than it is meant to be.
McCarthy sealed her win when she put on protective glasses and had items thrown at her while ‘belting out’ “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas, resulting in glasses covered in confetti and a win from the actress.
Best Lip Sync Battles #3 – Emily Blunt vs. Anne Hathaway
The Devil Wears Prada co-stars went head to head in an epic battle. Hathaway opened with Mary J Blige’s “Love,” which was so out of left field for the actress, but she killed it. Blunt, whose husband, John Krasinski, is the show’s creator, lip-synced to “No Diggity” by Blackstreet. She ends with a mic-drop.
Adding some pizzazz to their performances, the actresses go all out for their second lip sync. Blunt wows the crowd with Janis Joplin’s “Piece of My Heart” adorned in a big fur coat. While Blunt thought she had the win in her pocket, Hathaway comes out dressed head to toe as Miley Cyrus for a rendition of “Wrecking Ball.” She even licks the sledgehammer and rides a wrecking ball, making her the clear winner of the battle.
#2 – Tom Holland vs. Zendaya
The Spiderman co-stars had a heated battle. Holland started with Nelly’s “Ride Wit Me” while giving Zendaya (fake) attitude. Zendaya lip-synced to Erykah Badu’s “Tyrone.” While these performances were great, the actors were just getting started.
Zendaya dressed up as Bruno Mars for a performance of his song, “24K Magic.” She would have won too if it wasn’t for Holland’s “Singin in the Rain/ Umbrella” Mashup. Dressed up as Rihanna in her music video and copying her dance moves, Holland took home the belt that night.
#1 – Channing Tatum vs. Jenna Dewan
The former couple brought out all the stops when they dressed up for both performances. Tatum reenacted “Let It Go” from Disney’s Frozen while dressed as Elsa. He dedicated the performance to their daughter, Everly. For his second performance, Tatum ran the competition as he performed “Run the World (Girls)” by Beyonce while dressed a Beyonce. Little did he know, Queen Bey appeared on stage with him in the end making it the best performance ever.
Dewan danced and lip-synced to her idol, Paula Abdul’s, “Cold-Hearted,” dressed as she was in the music video, all the while Abdul made a special appearance and the women danced amazing together. For her second performance, Dewan made fun of then-husband’s movie, Magic Mike XXL by performing to “Pony.” She even gave Tatum a lap dance and pulled out all the stops.
In the end, they were both too good that LL Cool J called it a tie and awarded the belt to both of them.
“Lip Sync Battle” is a show that provides a lot of laughter, fun, and heated competition. We can’t wait to see what stars deliver in the future.