New Line Cinema has put “Love Me Sexy,” a single from Will Ferrell’s upcoming movie “Semi-Pro,” for sale online a month before the movie premieres and the soundtrack drops.
Available on iTunes, “Love Me Sexy” features Ferrell singing in character as ’70s basketball player/impresario/buffoon Jackie Moon. “Semi-Pro,” starring Woody Harrelson and Andre Benjamin alongside Ferrell, is scheduled for release on Feb. 29, with the soundtrack available on the 26th.
“Semi-Pro” takes place during the merger of the American Basketball Association with the National Basketball Association, a deal that resulted in two teams from the ABA being dropped from the sport altogether. Moon – a one-hit wonder who made his bucks from the release of “Love Me Sexy” – is owner of the Flint Michigan Tropics, a team languishing in the standings. In order to increase their chances of making it to the NBA, he comes up with stunts in order to boost the team’s popularity. (Two words: Bear wrestling.)
“Love Me Sexy” was written by Ferrell, Scot Armstrong and Nile Rodgers. Besides the original track, the song is available for download in a cringe-inducing-yet-hilarious a capella version, and an instrumental.
Beyond this single, the “Semi-Pro” soundtrack will feature tracks by Curtis Mayfield, War, LaBelle, Sly and the Family Stone, the Ohio Players, and “Hairspray’s” Elijah Kelley doing a cover of Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Shining Star.” New Line Records, a division of New Line Productions, will release the soundtrack, which will be distributed through Warner Music Group’s independent arm ADA.
A video of “Love Me Sexy” was uploaded to YouTube at the end of January, and has received almost one million views.
