Gold Coast pop star Cody Simpson is setting the summer sun on fire with his version of I Want Candy. The 14-year-old’s re-recording of The Strangeloves 1965 hit is being used as the theme song for new animated movie Hop. This is a huge coup for Cody, who moved to Los Angeles with his family last year to follow his dream of becoming a singer. His debut single iYiYiY with Flo Rider gained him a legion of Bieber-esque female followers and set him up in the US market. He’s currently gearing up to promote his debut album, due for release later this year, so I was fortunate enough to catch up with the busy lad via email about his involvement with Hop. He had this to say about the recording experience:

“It happened so quickly it is still a blur! We got a phone call one day and two days later we had recorded the song. We had so much fun doing it and the track just motivated me and made me want to bring a huge energy to the song. It is a feel good song and we had a great laugh in the studio doing it. I had some help on my vocal production for the song from the great artist and songwriter Atozzio. We laid my vocal performance in one afternoon so it all went pretty smoothly. A camera crew captured a heap of behind the scenes footage for the movie promotion and some of that footage may even be used at the end of the movie.”

If you’re interested in that footage, it’s all over the interwebs and on YouTube, so have a Google. I also asked Cody about what it was like to be onboard a huge holiday blockbuster like Hop:

“It is a huge honor to be asked to part of the theme song for a major feature film. I cant wait to see the movie and to hear the song in the theatre! We are going to the premiere in LA on the 27th of March. There are ads on many bus stops and billboards in LA and every time we drive past an advertisement someone in my family yells “HOP”! I am so proud and excited.”

Hop sees the Easter Bunny accidentally hit by a car and it’s up to the offending driver, Fred (James Marsden), to help him save Easter. The kids flick uses a combination of CGI and live action and is scheduled to be one of the big holiday blockbusters. It features the voices of Russell Brand, Hugh Laurie and David Hasselhoff. Hop opens in cinemas on April 7.

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