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 L.A.
“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.”Pitchfork heard the track today, and we have to say that her description is quite spot-on. Over a bouncy rhythm indebted to old school soul, the three take turns singing verses that seem to have little to do with one another, and absolutely nothing to do with Converse or shoes in general. It sounds like a less shiny, more downtown version of the Timbaland/Justin Timberlake/Nelly Furtado Jam “Give It to Me”, complete with silly disses of unidentified targets (“I find your approach so adolescent / I may look young, but your game is pre-pubescent,” Santogold sings.)
Pharrell makes the unfortunate decision to try to sing (that has never worked out well in the past), crooning come-ons like “now thank you for coming to my drive-thru.” As usual, Julian sounds like he just woke up, making the line “if you wanna be like us you better work every night” kind of comical. There’s also a part near the end where everybody sings about how they “just wanna dance.” All in all, it should sound just fine in a TV Commercial.
*stereogum.com
*pitchforkmedia.com