It went to air 48 hours later, and is currently set to run through June 10. So on the morning of May 14, Rexha did her own hair and makeup and filmed a dynamic outdoor video of herself performing her song. Now for the next obstacle: could Rexha self-record her appearance in the commercial, and within the next 24 hours? Yes, but Butzky was able to buy an extra 12 hours to give the singer-songwriter a break from separate sessions she’d been logging for her next musical project, expected later this summer. “I was thinking about all the kids this year who aren’t getting the full graduation experience and how I could uplift them and get them excited again by giving them their own special graduation song to celebrate to.”Īfter Rexha’s song inspired several more weekend calls and negotiations, Butzky received word by May 12 that both the song and Rexha herself had secured a starring role in the Walgreens campaign. “I felt it was important to honor the legacy of the song and maintain some aspects of the original while putting a 2020 twist on it,” Rexha says. Rexha infused elements of her own high school grad celebration with the more remote realities faced by this year’s class. This project came together rather quickly because graduations across the globe are happening in real time right now, and I wanted to make sure that all the students have a chance to celebrate with the song.” Writing the perfect song can take a long time, but it’s an exciting and rewarding process. “I definitely like to spend a lot of time with my music, making sure that what the world hears is exactly how I want it to sound. Rexha tells Songs for Screens that the rapid-fire turnaround for Walgreens was counter to the approach she typically applies to her songwriting. “They wanted it to feel youthful and young, and when you’re a gifted writer like Bebe you’re able to capture that.” “By Saturday night, sent back a demo with a 60-second sample and a 30-second version of her lyrics to ‘Pomp and Circumstance,’ where she dropped this beat on it and it just totally worked,” Butzky says of Rexha, who first cut her teeth as a songwriter for Eminem & Rihanna and G-Eazy before being recognized as one of Variety’s 2018 Hitmakers. I knew Walgreens wasn’t going to go with any artist.” Butzky submitted a shortlist of artists by late Friday night, and by Saturday morning had the go-ahead to approach Warner artist Bebe Rexha to write a demo to submit for Walgreens and VMLY&R’s review. “I said, ‘Okay, well, I need to find an artist that can actually write, and wants to do things.’ I had to A&R all this stuff running through our heads and still get it approved by the client. It’s not unlike the Super Bowl rush to secure music for ads that usually occurs during the holidays and extends until the last 48 hours before the Big Game, as song choices get cycled through until the last possible second. As brands and agencies struggle to turn around new commercials that can still inspire and entertain audiences during such an anxious time, the extreme limits placed on filming them means ideas are often greenlit within days of campaigns making it to air. The frenzied campaign music brief, led by VMLY&R’s executive music producer Theresa Notartomaso, has become the new norm in the post-pandemic advertising hustle.
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