Sir Elton John’s reaction to Challengers composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross winning a Golden Globe has gone viral.
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The legendary singer-songwriter attended the 2025 Golden Globes ceremony last night (January 5) in LA, and presented the award for Best Original Score alongside fellow musician Brandi Carlile.
John said the classic line “And the Golden Globe goes to…”, with Carlile opening the envelope. Before she could finish saying Reznor and Ross’ names, John erupted in delight, screaming “YAAAY” and holding up his fists in triumph, much to the amusement of Carlile.
Video footage of the reaction – from a night full of funny, interesting and heartfelt moments – has since gone viral online.
Elton John’s reaction to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross winning Best Original Score at the #GoldenGlobes
See the full winners list: https://t.co/zH8Pzwnws5pic.twitter.com/ojuRnAbwo2
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) January 6, 2025
One X user replied to the viral post, saying: “I can only hope to have a 5th of that energy and enthusiasm when I’m his age.”
Another said: “Elton John giving the legends their flowers – class act all the way. Reznor and Ross truly deserve it.”
Reznor and Ross, who also make up the rock band Nine Inch Nails, won the award for their work on the score for Challengers, Luca Guadagnino’s drama about a trio of tennis players experiencing a decades-long love triangle, starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist.
Challengers scored a four-star review from NME, with Matthew Turner writing: “The performances are exceptional, with off-the-scale chemistry between all three leads. Zendaya, in particular, is a force of nature, and you feel her angry frustration at her own career path (which was cut short by injury) in every scene. O’Connor and Faist are equally good, and if the film has a flaw, it’s only that it doesn’t explicitly dig deeper into their feelings for each other, leaving it as an underlying suggestion instead.
“The icing on an already delicious cake is the superb, pulse-pounding synth score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, which Guadagnino deploys in interesting ways – not just in the tennis match sequences, but also frequently having it start up in the middle of a dialogue scene to further underscore the tension. In short, this is game, set and match Guadagnino. Well played.”
Elsewhere at the Globes, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo recreated their viral ‘holding space’ meme, Sofia Vergara jokingly heckled Jodie Foster as she won an award for her performance in True Detective: Night Country, and comedian Nikki Glaser mocked Timothée Chalemet’s moustache in her opening monologue. Demi Moore made an inspirational speech, winning for her turn in body horror comedy The Substance, and samurai drama Shōgun was the biggest winner in the TV categories.