The Spotify Premium and TBWA\SA-produced short film ‘Unleash’ is youthful, authentic, gritty and real. A tribute to Mzansi’s style, culture and the places, ‘Unleash’ is Spotify’s most locally-relevant custom ad campaign in South Africa.
Celebrated international director and photographer, Fausto Becatti’s, short film traces the development of the vibes, beats and street styles of Mzansi, weaving an intricate web of movement, sound and mood. Home to arguably the most vibrant, innovative, textured and exciting dance and music scenes in the world – enriched by 11 official languages and a fusion of cultural influences – South Africa has initiated and participated in wave after wave of extraordinary dance styles and trends, from gqom to kwaito, patsula to gwara-gwara, and amapiano to bhenga.
Produced by Bioscope Films, ‘Unleash’ is a love letter to this diversity – to the movement, the music and the soul of South Africa. South Africa also has a unique energy and this needed to be communicated. The interpretation was two-fold. First through Becatti’s shooting techniques and visual direction, which saw the piece shot on film to capture the gritty textures of Jozi’s most-recognised landmarks. And then, through the confident and effortless physicality of dancer Chelsea Samuels.
Samuels breaks, pops, locks and freestyles in a variety of settings, from a tyre dump, to a stairwell; Soweto’s iconic Eyethu cinema and an abandoned fuel station; the Jozi skyline and a cellphone store with a cacophony of ringtones that morph into song – because music is truly everywhere.
Becatti’s striking visuals are coupled with a driving custom track by Pressure Cooker Studios’ Keith Kavayi and powerful voice overlays by beat poet Koleka Putuma, who traces the evolution of music through juxtapositions of contrasting and harmonious styles, from house, to hip hop, maskandi, amapiano, rock and gospel.
Creative lead on the project and executive creative director at TBWA\SA, Kabelo Moshapalo, said, ‘Critically, the audience had to see themselves in the film. It needed to resonate with how we talk to the music and how the music moves them. At TBWA\SA we live culture; we breathe it, we seek it out, and then we weave our clients into it.’
Armed with these deep insights into culture and youth, and with a client that dominates the music space, TBWA\SA was able to locate Spotify Premium in South African culture in a way that truly encapsulates the brand’s rich customer experience that tailors and enriches musical tastes and appreciation.
Moshapalo said, ‘We had to strike a chord in being relevant culturally in the South African context, which isn’t easy because of our diverse musical tastes, which is both quite global and hyper-local in terms of some of the genres and the specific charts.’
Moshapalo explained that the beat poet, Putuma, actually tells the story of the South African music experience and how it’s layered and diverse, a melting pot, expressive and unique. ‘Then we created a track that essentially would be the backdrop for the choreography seen in the video where our dancer, Samuels, is moving to the word and moving to the rhythm, with a mix of unique dance styles and movements that are, again, authentically South African.’
The construction of the beat had to be sonically unique and multi-layered, to echo the sentiment in the poem, of diversity, inclusivity and in the liberation of music for the people, and the music needed to be in-sync, in tune and enjoyable, he said, noting that Pressure Cooker, ‘did a remarkable job in crafting it that way’.
TBWA
www.tbwa.co.za
