Yes, That’s Really Nicholas Galitzine Singing in ‘The Idea of You’ — And He Sounds Fantastic

The Idea of You, a new romance that began streaming on Amazon Prime today, has been dubbed “the Harry Styles fanfiction movie,” and it lives up to that promise in the best way. That includes the banging Idea of You soundtrack, which is packed with original songs performed by a fake boy band. And honestly? These fake boy band songs are good. Better, even, than some of the real boy band songs out there.

Based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Robinne Lee—and not, in fact, fanfiction—The Idea of You stars Anne Hathaway as a 40-year-old single mom who dutifully takes her 16-year-old daughter to Coachella to see her favorite boy band, August Moon. When she accidentally walks into the trailer of the 24-year-old frontman, Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine), there are immediate sparks. Solène (Hathaway) insists she’s too old for him, but Hayes is persistent, and, eventually, their love story blooms.

The film was directed by Michael Showalter (Wet Hot American Summer, The Big Sick), who also co-wrote the script with Jennifer Westfeldt. In an interview with Showalter from The Idea of You production notes, the director said, “It was important to all of us that August Moon be a great band; we’re not poking fun at the boy band phenomenon, we’re celebrating it. So we put together this group of guys who are each unique but, together, create a realistic looking band with some incredible songs, to give audiences the experience of going along on this ride.”

The original August Moon songs were penned by hit-maker Savan Kotecha—who has written and produced for some of the world’s most famous artists, including One Direction, Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, and Ellie Gouldin—and then performed by the band.

Is Nicholas Galitzine singing in The Idea of You?

Yes, Nicholas Galitzine is the one singing in The Idea of You. Doesn’t he sound fantastic? There’s need to call in someone else to dub over the vocals, High School Musical-style, when you have a voice like that!

In addition to singing all those songs with August Moon (the boy band featuring actors/singers/dancers Raymond Cham Jr. as Oliver; Jaiden Anthony as Adrian; Viktor White as Simon; and Dakota Adan as Rory), Galitzine sings a few song solo, including “Go Rogue,” and the acoustic version of “The Idea of You.”

This isn’t the first time Galitzine’s singing voice has been featured on screen. You can also hear him crooning as Prince Charming in the 2021 Camila Cabello Cinderella movie, as well as on the soundtrack for his first big movie role, 2014’s The Beat Beneath My Feet. He’s great singer!

In an interview for The Idea of You press notes, Galitzine said he was far more nervous about the dancing aspect of the role. He spent months training with choreographer Dani Vitale. “Dani holds a special place in my heart,” Galitzine siad. “The way she worked and the safe space she created for me was liberating. Becoming so confident in your body, and emoting and galvanizing an audience are very particular skills, and I was surrounded by four guys who are trained dancers, so that portion of the movie was something I was pretty terrified about.”

In that same interview, music supervisor Frankie Pine said he “was ultra-impressed with Nick’s work ethic. You could throw anything at him, and he’d bounce into it. ‘Hey, play guitar. Hey, play piano. I need you to sing.’ He was down with anything and everything that would make his character more believable. And he has such a swoony voice!”

“Swoony” is right. No wonder Anne Hathaway was down bad! Can you blame her? It might just be time for Nicholas Galitzine to drop an album for real. Just saying!