Hasta La Creative!

Johannes Leonardo’s new “Superstar” campaign for Adidas, which features Pharrell and is centered around the Supershell collection he designed, claims to both democratize the idea of superstardom and make it less ambiguous.

Well, you can’t accuse them of aiming their sights too low, that’s for sure.

The first video in the campaign questioned the idea that fame is necessary for superstardom, and the more recent video, “Audience of One,” makes good on that premise by introducing a bunch of people no one has ever heard of as Pharrell-approved superstars.

They include American musician Pusha T, actor/director Grigoriy Dobrygin, Japanese designer Yoon, Chinese designers VJ Mian, and Mexican illustrator Smithe, all of whom state that they create purely for self-expression, with no desire for fame or glory. (Given that they’re all appearing in an ad for a global shoe brand featuring a major celebrity, they don’t seem too allergic to the idea of fame, though.)

One neat aspect of this campaign is the “pay it forward” component, wherein the five people I just named will shine a light on other creative people, forever marking them as cool via the hashtag #OriginalSuperstar. Who knows, perhaps future elements of this campaign might even focus on shoes in any significant way.

Does Brian Wilson know who Lorde is? Or why there’s a tiger on his piano?

This lavish video boasts an array of stars performing Wilson’s 1966 Beach Boys classic “God Only Knows” to help launch BBC Music, described by the company as “an ambitious wave of new programs, innovative partnerships and ground-breaking music initiatives.”

Karmarama created the clip, which features luminaries representing various generations and styles. The Impossible Orchestra, as it’s called, features Wilson, Lorde, Elton John, Pharrell Williams, One Direction, Stevie Wonder, Dave Grohl, Jake Bugg, Emeli Sandé, Chris Martin and many more. Kylie Minogue floats in a soap bubble. Baaba Maal rides by in a balloon. Alison Balsom sits perched in a gilded cage.

The extravaganza debuted yesterday during a pan-channel BBC broadcast, and the video’s nearing 800,000 YouTube views already. The song also benefits BBC’s Children in Need charity, is available for download and streaming and was released as a physical CD single in the U.K.

“One of the things that interested me most about this project was the ideas of bringing together so many different styles of music,” says Ethan Johns, who produced the tune. “To make so much diversity work within one piece of music was quite a challenge.”

Naturally, the initiative’s been compared, favorably and otherwise, to other musical megastar team-ups, such as the 1997 Children in Need reboot of Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day,” which was a global smash. (Elton John is only star from that outing to appear in “God Only Knows,” by the way.)

One story in the Guardian brands the new effort as “not quite a perfect day,” noting “There’s something self-aggrandizing about this—but with the amount of music the BBC covers, perhaps it is deserved?” Coverage elsewhere on the site disdainfully notes that “God Only Knows” arrives just as “the corporation’s battle to retain the television license fee [is] getting almost tougher by the week.”

Tough crowd.

BBC Music director Bob Sherman explains the project, and the song choice, thusly: “Everybody gets the significance of ‘God Only Knows.’ And that’s what we’re trying to do with BBC Music. We’re trying to make it feel like it’s an all-encompassing brand for everybody.” That quote comes from the “making-of” clip, in which Queen guitarist Brian May—whose trademark fret runs on “God Only Knows” are a highlight—seems to offer a slightly different take, calling the song “quite enigmatic, really.”

Some view the CGI effects and costumed theatrics as overkill, but I’d say the grand scale fits the message, which is quietly captured in the closing bars of the performance. Wilson sits alone at the piano, sans tiger or bombast, just looking into the camera and singing his brilliant song.

Utilisant le nouveau morceau « Come Get It Bae » de Pharrell en featuring avec Miley Cyrus, la nouvelle campagne World of Redbull 2014 permet de mettre en avant ses athlètes de l’extrême en action, à l’image de Sally Fitzgibbons et Jamie O’Brien en surf ou encore le plongeur Orlando Duque pour ne citer qu’eux.

Le duo de réalisateurs français WeAreFromLA a réalisé pour le morceau « Happy » de Pharrell Williams un clip étalé sur 24 heures, réunissant sur le site 24 hours of Happy 360 plans séquences filmés à Los Angeles. Une version de 4 minutes dévoilant quelques guests, à l’image d’Odd Future ou encore de Jamie Foxx.

A l’occasion du prochain album de Daft Punk – « Random Access Memories » prévu pour le 20 mai, dont le premier single « Get Lucky » a été récemment dévoilé, le photographe Maciek Kobielski a pu immortaliser pour Obsession Magazine les 2 français déguisés en robots dans leurs tenues Yves Saint Laurent.