LeAnn Rimes Dishes on How ‘Coyote Ugly’ Changed Her Image: ‘They Put Me on a Bar and It Was All Over’

LeAnn Rimes is laughing as she looks back on the moment Hollywood decided she wasn’t “America’s Sweetheart” anymore — all thanks to Coyote Ugly.

During a Wednesday, February 25, visit to Good Morning America, the country singer said her cameo in the 2000 hit, which starred Piper Perabo, Maria Bello, Tyra Banks, Bridget Moynahan and Izabella Miko, marked a major shift in how fans perceived her.

“That was kind of my introduction to sexiness and [how] sex sells,” the two-time Grammy winner, now 43, shared. “I mean really, I was ‘America’s Sweetheart’ until they put me on a bar, and then it was all over. So I was just like, ‘What do I do?’”

Rimes filmed the scene when she was just 17, performing her hit “Can’t Fight the Moonlight” on top of the movie’s notorious bar, which the bartenders were known to turn into their personal dancefloor.

According to her, Rimes’ smooth choreography wasn’t exactly natural at the time. “I know what to do now on a bar, but back then that was just really good editing,” she said. “Really good editing.”

More than two decades later, Rimes has revisited the iconic moment, recently hitting the counter at the Coyote Ugly Saloon in Nashville with her 9-1-1 Nashville castmates. There, the “Blue” singer posted a playful recreation of the movie’s finale to her Instagram on Friday, February 20. “They were so excited,” she said of her costars, explaining that the idea came to life after a group chat.