The duet pays homage to the brand’s name Stella which directly translates to ‘star’ in Latin whilst uniting a figurative one with the literal kind
Stella Artois has joined forces with American music icon, John Legend, to debut a unique holiday single written and performed by the recording artiste titled, Under the Stars, in conjunction with the Belgian beer giant’s newly launched ‘Give Beautifully’ festive campaign.
“I’ve always been fascinated by space exploration. The sound of stars is ethereal and has this dreamy vibe which inspired Under the Stars, a song about spreading love and togetherness during the holiday season. I couldn’t think of a better way to gift my fans this year,” said Legend.
The first of its kind, the duet pays homage to the brand’s name Stella, which directly translates to ‘star’ in Latin whilst uniting a figurative star with the literal kind. Embodying the raw emotion brought on by thoughts of family and friends over the holidays, the song is a correlation between earthly feelings of fondness and night-sky gazing.
“Stella Artois was originally crafted as a holiday gift to the city of Leuven, Belgium and we want to pay tribute to our origin story and inspire the entire country to give beautifully this holiday season,” said Ricardo Marques, Vice President of Stella Artois. Listeners can stream the tune exclusively via the alcohol beverage maker’s website.
Meanwhile, the piece is said to feature the distinct sounds of four different stars in the universe across its intro, outro, and chorus. To achieve the objective, Stella Artois sought the expertise of astrophysicist, Zoltán Kolláth, to translate and analyse the unique frequencies—from audible qualities to atonal reverberations.
“Just as the keys on a piano work together to create a musical chord, each star’s frequencies work together to create the individual sound fingerprint of the star. It’s a fascinating process I have studied for many years, so it’s exciting to see the research put to use in such a way,” said Kolláth.
In line with the launch, the push will include an immersive light installation scheduled for unveiling in New York and an exhibit featuring the singer-songwriter slated for 9 December 2015. Also, across the next three days, fans will stand win passes to attend the said showcase via re-tweets of the brand’s Under the Stars.
Finally, through a curated gift guide, consumers can choose from an assortment of designer items to give out as presents including the marque’s limited-edition ‘Holiday Chalice’. Stella Artois will mark its debut at the country’s premier art show in Miami by giving fans the beautiful gift of art in partnership with Visionaire.
Miami show-goers will have exclusive access to free artwork from 12 distinguished artists as part of the publication’s complimentary issue and public installation from 3-6 December 2015, as presented by Stella Artois. Each premium-packaged gift box contains a special holiday bottle and more. View the making of the song here.
