Santogold, Julian Casablancas And Pharrell Are Converse All Stars
What do you get when you combine the selling power of Bud Light's Santogold with the laconic New York charm of the Stroke's Casablancas and the non-laconic L.A. sizzle of N.E.R.D.-y Pharrell Williams (not featuring Lindsay Lohan)? Basically, a well-produced Neptunes-style sneaker jingle with the guy from the Strokes and Santi on it. Could be worse ... we like commercials that sound good. The Guardian gives us the deets about how the power trio plans to lace up and sell us new kicks.
...Santogold -- the scattershot American electro-punk who is currently one of the most talked-about artists -- is fine with it. "It's like one of the main ways to get our music heard now and so it's stupid for artists to shy away from that," she said to Gigwise.The new untitled song is "such a Pharrell track", Santogold said. We hope this means it recalls the heights of Justin Timberlake and not the lows of Skateboard P.
A video has also been shot, in which we assume Converse trainers will feature prominently.
Finally, if anyone's worrying that this kind of arbitrary commissioned project might somehow be lacking in a clear, creative vision, Santogold offers the following lucid insight: "Everybody on it does their own separate thing and we didn't do it together so it ends up being just this weird long song with sort of everybody with lots of their own personalities separate."
As we've mentioned plenty of times, we love Santogold's voice and flow and everything, but that last quote has us less than enthused (and more than a bit confused).
UPDATE: Cornerstone Promotion dropped us a line with more details on the collab:
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the iconic shoe brand, Converse has brought together Pharrell, Julian Casablancas, Santogold and N.E.R.D to create an original full length track. The song will be made available to the world as a free online download. The collaboration came together when Pharrell and Julian sat down to discuss ideas in New York. After Julian was on board, Pharrell saw Santogold at SXSW for the first time and thought she would be a perfect fit. Santi recorded with Pharrell in Miami. Julian recorded with Pharrell in Miami after Santogold & then again in LA. More information and the track will be released shortly.
Posted at 3:33 PM in Commercial Appeal
Tags: Julian Casablancas | Pharrell | Santigold | The Strokes
could selling out get any more All-Star?
Score = 3
This is what Julian's doing with his time?
Score = 1
she's in some dumb company there farealz. have you heard about the kurt cobain chucks they are selling "distressed just like the way kurt wore his chucks" and with his writing all over them. bring on the BoMMB
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Yeah, why would Jules ever want to be involved with a company when his entire band has been wearing their shoes for years and years? What a sell out. Grow up, times have changed and there's no shame in putting some good shit on the teevee or the radio. I guess it would be cool if they were doing an iPod commercial though, right? Jesus.
Score = -2
Fuck yr Jesus.
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yes, times have changed. in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, nobody wanted anything to do with mass comunication and money. commercial culture had nothing to do with pop music. finally, america has endorsed the teevee and radio! and not just for ipod commercials!
Score = -2
Kudos.
Score = 1
Converse Chuck Taylors are the worst.
They have no arch support whatsoever and like many other products, have not been made in America since around 2002/2003.
http://www.citizenstrade.org/pdf/chicagotribune_converseallstars_09262004.pdf
Stick with P.F. Flyers. Mad arch support, they have.
Score = 1
The real Converse corporation went bankrupt in 2002 and subsequently sold their shoe company to Nike. Nike then turned around and shipped production overseas, drastically cutting the cost of production through slave labor, while simultaneously raising the retail price by almost 200%. "New Chucks" are made of imitation canvas that's exactly half the strength of the old material, which leads them to rip in places that the old Chucks never did. Completely worthless. So basically a dirt-cheap product that wasn't popular enough to keep its manufacturer afloat was reformulated into an extremely inferior quality version of itself.... and thanks to MTV product placement(Avril anyone?) people were suddenly willing to pay upwards of $50 a pop for a flimsier version of a shoe that they previously refused to wear. Sometimes I think that the average American will fall for anything...
Score = 4
I am shocked and offended by your rebellious attitude.
Score = 2
@ steve.
you had me until the avril lavigne thing. you think she was the first one to wear those things on mtv? in the words of axl rose: "You're crazy, hey, hey You know you're crazy, oh my! You're f**kin' crazy, oh child You know you're crazy"
Score = 1
Of course Avril Lavigne wasn't the first one to wear Chuck Taylors on MTV. But when you consider the story behind her ultra-contrived success (failed country singer is given "punk" image by marketing executives and a paid songwriting team writes "punky" songs for her album), I think it's possible that her punk costume was deliberate product placement. Shortly after she became hugely successful, Chuck Taylors became THE shoe for mainstream trendmongers to wear.
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are you guys serious? what a bunch of whiners? i, for one, want to hear the song. when would you ever get Santogold, Pharrell and JC in a room together, much less write a song. can we at least talk about that? it's about the music and so what if converse made it happen. better converse, a shoe most of us have worn for like, forever, than sketchers. wake up and join the modern age. anyone know when the song will come out? i can't imagine julian c and pharrell on a song together. who knows, maybe pharrell is produce the strokes' next album. wtf! then again, could be cool.
Score = 0
How in the hell can a marketing campaign, some of which appropriates the words of DEAD pop icons (a few who were openly opposed to commercialism) to sell SHOES, be about "the music?"
And if you think Pharrel and the dudes from the Strokes are going to magically produce anything except some watered down, corporate-approved, "this will appeal to the hip indie demographic" musick... well, let's just say I'm kind of glad I'm not a naive 15-year-old in this current pop climate. It keeps me from buying into some stupid 90s/80s Myth of Music that mainstream rags (like Stereogum) are championing. Trust me, the 80s and 90s were just as dumb, shrill, pointless, and commercialized as the 60s and 70s were.
Score = 2
hmm... do you work for converse's PR company by any chance?
I'm disappointed that someone who describes his band as hardcore would advertise for NIke.
Score = 0
Vans anyone?
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...And yet yet here you are, reading Stereogum. Nice one.
Score = 1
chucks were supposed to be the cheap alternative shoe. f*ckin trendersters.
Score = 1
This is a completely lame attempt by Converse to cash in on these rising stars to commemorate their shoe's birthday. It's like "when marketing departments attack". Whomever pitched this hare-brained scheme needs to be scolded. Also, the Faders converse advertorials look awfully pathetic - nowhere near as good as the ones in Vapors, which are hot.
Score = 0
Well, I've been waiting to hear something new from Julian for like two and a half years. So... this is something new...
I'm depressed now.
Score = 0
has anybody seen the new ad now in magazines featuring the 3 mentioned and frank carter of Gallows? if you have, who is the dude with the bass. help me out here
Score = 0
The guy bass player is James Rushent form the band "Does It Offend You, Yeah?"
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I have loved Julian (and The Strokes) for nearly a decade, this is true. I love Pharrell and I think Santogold is pretty fucking awesome. To get them together is a feat in itself. Go team corporate. The song isn't amazing, but it DOES NOT SUCK. People are getting bogged down with "corporate America, fight the power, blah blah blah" and not appreciating the fact that is a song FOR AN ADVERT. What do you want, more Cure, Reed, Stones and Hendrix songs in the background? Because they are all so original. Not knocking their style, but end of the day they are playing on an advert just like these guys. Are they corporate sellout whoreface bitches who kiss 'the man's' ass? I wonder....
Score = 1
Julian does have a life outside of the Strokes, anyone would take up a converse campaign if offered. I love these ads he and everyone else in them looks stunning!
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does this mean the strokes will be making a comeback??? cuz if it was that would be bitchin ass man!!!
kurt cobain IS CHRIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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