10 Years Later, ‘Sing Street’s Director Shares His Real Take on That Ambiguous Ending

A decade later, Sing Street’s Cosmo (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) and Raphina (Lucy Boynton) still board that boat and set sail for England. Ten years on, no matter how the world has changed or what dreams have yielded to reality, those two kids still cut through a choppy sea with the determination of an entire life of possibilities stretched out before them.

The ending of co-writer and director John Carney’s acclaimed 2016 coming-of-age drama remains as ambiguous, yet strangely hopeful, despite the crashing waves. Sing Street is a tribute to the power of creation, of art, and explores that through a group of Irish teens in recession-era Dublin who form a band with the intention of impressing a girl. What begins as a tale as old as time, a young love story, transforms into a heartbreaking and fantastical journey to find their place in the world.

With Carney’s Power Ballad set to open in theaters, Collider’s Steve Weintraub had the chance to talk with the filmmaker, where he took the opportunity to get Carney’s thoughts on Sing Street’s hotly debated ending. In addition to discussing his 2006 music drama Once, Weintraub inquired whether Carney believed Cosmo and Raphina truly set out to conquer the world, or do the waves “turn them back?” Thoughtfully, Carney reveals his true take on that final scene:

“What I should have done with that scene is halfway through it, I should have had a little white text come up — do you remember the way on MTV the name of the record label would come up, and the band and the song? Halfway through, I think I should have done that so that you know, and you’re like, ‘Why are there titles on the screen?” And it should have said, like, ‘Go Now’ by Sing Street, PolyGram records or whatever, and you’d go, ‘Ah, this is the ultimate video.’

When you’re that age, you’re constantly living in a fantasy world, aren’t you? And reality is a pain in the ass. Reality is the gravity, or the waves, that are messing your dreams up. So I think ultimately, really, what he’s in there is the ultimate pop video. And maybe they did take the boat, but I don’t think they got there. But I think they got somewhere else, which is they fully confirmed the fantastic world that the movie had been sort of experimenting with.”

20 Years Later, John Carney Says ‘Once’s Love Story Would Be Impossible Now

“They’ve missed the entire point of the movie…”

Image via Fox Searchlight Pictures

COLLIDER: It’s the 20-year anniversary of Once. Once is a love letter to the mid-2000s Dublin, and the city has undergone such a massive transformation with gentrification and with it being a tech hub. Do you think that if you were telling the story today, these two could even afford to meet?

JOHN CARNEY: I think that’s a great question. And I think the answer, sadly, is no. I keep seeing this in every city that I go to. All of the movies that I love, being here in New York at the moment, just couldn’t take place in New York anymore. All of the artists meeting in cafes, now they can’t afford to live anywhere there. They can’t afford to buy a coffee in that place. We live, unfortunately, in that weird time where this is happening to so many cities.

One of the really annoying things about Once and Dublin is now you get all these buskers playing “Falling Slowly” on Grafton Street, but they’re playing through these massive amps, so they’ve missed the entire point of the movie. So it’s like a gig with drum machines and guitars, and speakers singing the songs from Once. I often go up to them, and they just think I’m a whack job, which I am as well, but I never say, like, “I directed the fucking film. Stop doing that.”

But it’s that thing that happens, isn’t it, where it’s like art happens, people love art, they want to move to where that art happened. So they move, and tech comes in, and the prices of the places go up, and the artists just have to fuck off. Then you’re left with the leftovers of that, and the artists have nowhere to go. So, that’s been going on everywhere for a long time.

How ‘Power Ballad’ Turns a Simple Melody Into a Stadium Anthem

John Carney on building a song that works for both Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas.

In Power Ballad, John Carney returns to the powerful world of music, telling the story of a washed-up wedding singer, Rick, played by Paul Rudd, who makes a connection with Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas), a former boy band member fading from the limelight. The two meet at a gig, where they bond over their passion for music and a late-night jam session, and where Rick bares his soul and a track he’s been working on for years. But when Danny steals the track to reignite his career, Rick sets out to claim the recognition he deserves, no matter the cost.

Don’t miss the full conversation with Carney in the video above, where he revisits his masterpieces Once and Sing Street, and shares the process of crafting an unforgettable ballad and anthem with Sing Street composer Gary Clark.

One of the things that you do so brilliantly is you have a song that means two different things to two different people. Danny is performing it for a stadium audience, but for Rick, it’s something so personal. It’s really hard to make a song work in both environments, so how did you and Gary [Clark], who you did the song with, come up with this song to have it meet both things that it needs to do?

CARNEY: That’s a great question. Here’s what happened: I came up with the melody of the verse, the part that nobody remembers, and I sent it to Gary, and I was like, “I think this is nice, and it’s ballady.” And he was like, “I think it’s nice, too. Let me see where I can take it.” And then he nailed us with that incredibly soaring chorus. But the great thing is, I still get the shared credit on it, even though nobody can remember any of the bits that I did, and all the good bits are Gary, which is fine, and I love it.

He’s the only person that I know that could take that little personal melody of the beginning, which is kind of more Rick, and take it into that place where it could plausibly be played in a stadium to 30,000 people. He just has that magic of going tonally to the top line that a big power ballad-type song has to go to. So, it was really good fun writing it, and as you say, and you’re absolutely right to identify it, it has to plausibly feel it comes from the Paul Rudd character and was embellished by the Nick character, who kind of gave it its big production gloss and juiced it up. But it has to wear both of those shoes.

Power Ballad is in select theaters starting May 29 and expands nationwide on June 5.

Release Date

May 29, 2026

Runtime

98 minutes

Director

John Carney

Writers

Peter McDonald, John Carney

Producers

Anthony Bregman, John Carney, Peter Cron, Rebecca O’Flanagan, Robert Walpole