Beats by Dre Pairs Soccer’s Finest With Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne
A new campaign for the launch of Beats by Dre‘s redesigned Solo2 headphones collects some of the biggest names in soccer and features cameos by celebrities including Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, Lebron James and Serena Williams, among others. The theme behind the ad is “The Game Before the Game,” and the five-minute clip shows the pre-game rituals for the athletes and celebs (who all just happen to be wearing Beats headphones) as they get in the headspace to compete.
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The clip begins with Brazilian soccer star Neymar, Jr. calling his dad who helps hype him up for a big game, and from there the tension builds. Other famous footballers who appear, all with a look of anticipation on their faces, in the clip include Germany’s Mario Götze, Great Britain’s Daniel Sturridge, Spain’s Cesc Fàbregas, Uruguay’s Luis Suárez, Mexico’s “Chcharito” and the Netherlands’ Robin Van Persie, among others. Minaj shows up toward the end reading a magazine about soccer, and Lil Wayne hangs out backstage with a soccer ball chain hanging from his neck.
British rocker Jamie N Commons wrote the clip’s song, “Jungle,” with Brooklyn group X Ambassadors. The track has previously been used in the trailer to the film Welcome to Yesterday and in a clip for Orange Is the New Black. “We had a really huge track from a really huge artist,” Beats’ Chief Marketing Officer Omar Johnson told Billboard. “The moment we heard this song, we literally said ‘nope, that’s the right song.'” They instead went with “Jungle,” which Beats’ Jimmy Iovine had on what Johnson described as a “secret iPod.” “As a hit picker for his entire career, he typically likes one, two, three songs and we got it,” Johnson said.