Lily James Performed Music with Abba

-Congratulations on "Mamma Mia!
Here we go again." You were fantastic
in this movie. -Thank you. -I didn't -- I didn't know that
you could sing and dance and do all that stuff.
Should I have known that? -No, definitely not! I mean, I
wasn't really sure myself. It was a bit of a gamble.

I mean, I've always loved it. But the fact that I was suddenly
properly doing it and people were going to watch
was a bit disconcerting. -You're fanta-- I watched it
with -- with my niece, too. And she didn't see
the first one.

And she was like -- she knows
"Dancing Queen" and ABBA. And then every time you came on, she was like,
"I love this girl." I was like, "I love her too.
I think she's fantastic." You were so good
and doing all the -- I mean the dance moves,
the choreography is so tricky. As well as singing and acting. That movie would have taken, you
know, 10 years if I was in it.

[ Laughter ] -Not judging by the little
rendition you just did then, it was great. -Oh, yeah. But that wasn't me. That was Charlie
doing all the work.

[ Laughter ] Did you know the first movie
when it first came out? Did you watch? -Yeah, I did. -You're big --
-Really big. Yeah, big fan. -Really? Big ABBA fan?
-Yeah.

-Me too.
-Are you? -Yeah, I love it. -It sort of something
I always grew up with. And then I saw the stage show
which originated in London, and I saw it
like about 10 times. -Really?
-Yeah.

-Really?
-Yeah. -And obsessed with it. And would you like --
would that be your -- was that your go-to
if you did karaoke or something? -Yeah. Although I'm terrible
at karaoke, but no.

I would just sing it
in the house all the time. And it was just a nightmare
and I -- my brothers would hate it
and tell me to shut up. I knew every word. -And then you're like, "Now I'm
the movie, dude." -So I'm like,
"You got to listen now!" -Hello? Yeah.
Who's laughing now, buddy? -Oh, actually,
at my mum's birthday, which was about two months before I even knew
a sequel was happening, before I even auditioned, I was pretty drunk
and I danced on the table in sparkly dungarees and sang
"The Winner Takes It All." Like, I karaoke'd, but yeah.

-But you -- there were other
people in the room? -Yeah.
-Okay, good, yeah. [ Laughter ] I didn't know
what the situation was. Yeah. And here you are in the movie.
-I wasn't on my own, yeah.

-And then the pressure.
I mean, Meryl Streep. I mean, did you --
-Yeah. -Do you remember
when you first met Meryl and said like,
"Hey, I'm playing you. Younger --
younger version of you"? -I do.

I mean, oh, God. That was the only thing
that really stopped me. Because I was like, "Who would
be crazy enough to do that?" Like, to try and --
I don't know. Anyway.

I did. I did it. And then -- and then when I met
her, because obviously I've -- I just, you know.
She's the greatest actor ever. And I've idolized her
my whole life.

And she was singing a song and she was in a chapel
and it was so beautiful. And I was just crying. And they were like,
"You're about to meet her." And I was like, "Oh, God!" And I was just trying to -- -"Hi, Meryl. Oh, you look like
fun.

Hi. How are you?" [ Laughter ] -Yeah, exactly. -Do you get to work with,
like, ABBA? -Yeah, I did. I recorded with Benny and Bjorn
from ABBA.

-What?! Are you kidding me? -Yeah, I did. -How awesome is that? -Just -- Just mind-blowing. They're total geniuses. And, in fact, last night we were
at the premiere in London.

And it was nearly midnight, and they were like, "Oh, Benny
wants to play the piano. Do you want to sing?" And I was like, that's --
No. Okay. Fine.

And then -- [ Laughter ] It's Benny. So me and -- the problem was
that Cher was at the party. And there had been whispers that
Cher was going to perform. So everyone -- -So hurry up and perform
before Cher performs.

-Oh, my God. -Because you don't want to
follow Cher, man. -It was terrible. Everyone was ushered into
the room thinking Cher is gonna sing.

And then it was me and my two
dynamos, Jess and Alexa, and we were a bit drunk and we just sort of sang along
while Benny played "Mamma Mia." It was disaster. -It was not Cher.
-It was not Cher. [ Laughter ] And everyone was like -- -Cher is fantastic in this
by the way! -Oh, my God.
-Cher sings ABBA. In this movie.
It's like -- I know.

People just fainted.
[ Cheers and applause ] People just fainted. It's great. It's so much fun. It's just -- you can't help but
like cheer and like sing along and dance along with it.

It's just fantastic.
You were great in it..