If you need the dulcet tones of an Australian Academy Award winner to soothe your 2020-frayed nerves, might I suggest a subscription to HBO and a few moments spent watching The
Undoing? I’ll admit the accompanying murder mystery might not be the best prescription for your spiking anxiety levels, but the show does feature a lovely little ditty known as “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” sung by the one and only Nicole Kidman, in the opening credits.
Kidman, who plays the show’s protagonist, Upper East Side therapist Grace Fraser, seems to know that the only cure for seasonal affective disorder is to feature on more tracks, as she’ll also be singing in Ryan Murphy’s upcoming Netflix movie-musical The Prom. If you remember her time on the Moulin Rouge!stage, she does indeed know her major from her minor, though she doubts herself frequently: She told Zoe Ball's BBC Radio 2 show her voice is “not good.”
Apparently husband (and fellow Aussie) Keith Urban convinced her otherwise. Kidman told Ball: “We were in lockdown; we were in Tennessee in Nashville and the director [Susanne Bier] sent me a text going, 'Would you sing the title track, "Dream a Little Dream," for the series?' I was like, 'What? No, I so don't want to do that, my voice is not good,’ which is always my reaction, and she said, 'No, no, I think you can sing it.’”
Undeterred, Urban brought her into their at-home recording studio—as one does—to work with her on the piece, and Kidman says, “We laid it down and sent it in, and they mixed it so it ended up in the series… I don't know if that's a good or bad thing.”
In a video for HBO, Kidman elaborated on the story, saying Bier told her she “had to do it.” So she gave in. Nicole, you’re doing 2020 right.