“There is some unbelievable music that has come from artists who are from L.A., did you know that?” That’s what Taylor Swift says on her 2011 Speak Now World Tour Live album before singing “Bette Davis Eyes,” but it’s also what the people planning the Olympics Closing Ceremony are asking the general public. The Games are being handed off from Paris to Los Angeles this Sunday, and the theme is La-La Land!
Variety reported that the Closing Ceremony will feature performances exclusively from L.A. natives. Snoop Dogg, who has been a fixture in Paris, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Billie Eilish are all reportedly set to usher the Olympics to the City of Angels. I wonder what kind of L.A. iconography they’ll be incorporating — perhaps Flea’s bass will be shaped like an Erewhon smoothie and Anthony Kiedis will sing from the driver’s seat of a Prius stuck in bumper-to-bumper.
It was previously reported that Tom Cruise will be a crucial element of the handoff from Paris to L.A. According to the Guardian, Cruise will be rappelling down into the Stade de France, before the ceremony cuts to prerecorded footage of the Mission:Impossible star zipping through the streets of Paris before hopping on a plane to California, where he then skydives onto the Hollywood sign. Sounds perfect to me.
This is just a taste of what you can expect in four years. If you think that the L.A. Olympics isn’t going to try and feature every single famous person you can think of, you got another thing coming. I’m calling it now: One of the Kardashian-Jenner children will be a torchbearer.
