It has been two decades since Sheryl Crow first serenated Lightning McQueen, Mater, and the other sentient automobiles in the town of Radiator Springs. In the opening scene of the 2006 Pixar motion picture Cars, Owen Wilson's young hotshot racer Lightning McQueen pulled some reckless moves in his quest for the Piston Cup, and Crow's song "Real Gone" played over the soundtrack. "Real Gone" hasn't become as synonymous with the Cars franchise as Rascal Flatts' take on "Life Is A Highway," but it's still shockingly popular. On Spotify, "Real Gone" is now Crow's third-biggest track, which is truly absurd. Now, after all these years, Sheryl Crow returns to the world of Cars.
Sheryl Crow is now a Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer, and this fall, she'll release her new album called Pick You Up — you know, like how the cars of Radiator Springs picked Lightning McQueen up, breaking down his ego and forcing him to learn the value of teamwork and empathy. At the D23 expo last weekend, Disney announced that a new Cars spinoff series called Cars: Lightning Racers is coming to Disney Jr. and Disney+ next year and that it'll have a theme song from Sheryl Crow — whose music, it must be said tends to sound really good in cars.
Sheryl Crow appeared at the D23 expo, performing her brand new Cars: Lightning Racers theme song "Built To Last," as well as "Real Gone." In fact, Billboard reports that the Cars: Lightning Racers soundtrack will feature "Built To Last" and 10 more original songs from Sheryl Crow. She's making a whole damn Cars: Lightning Racers album! Maybe that's why Pick You Up only has seven tracks — she had to save up all her music for the Cars show. Watch a clip of her performing "Built To Last" below.
