This morning, as I was trying to will myself out of bed, I heard Chris Brown’s “Forever,” which is currently the No. 3 song in the country and which has a nicely airy constitution for something that you’re going to hear intermingled with those last-moments-of-sleep dreams about work. Little did I know that what I was actually listening to was an extended remix of the newest ad for Wrigley’s Doublemint Gum, a factoid that the chewing gum’s parent company will officially announce tomorrow, when it unveils ad campaigns featuring Brown (for Doublemint), Ne-Yo (for Big Red), and Julianne Hough (for Juicy Fruit). It’s all part of an effort to make boring old stick gum relevant in a world of ice-blasting Chiclet knockoffs.
In case you haven’t yet heard “Forever,” here it is:
Note the use of “double your pleasure, double your fun” in the chorus. Hands up if, like me, you just thought that the use of said phrase was another example of culture in 2008 incessantly borrowing from itself! Instead, it was all part of a secret plan to indoctrinate the youth!
Mr. Brown was commissioned to write and sing both the pop song and a new version of the Doublemint jingle, introduced in 1960.
First, Mr. Brown updated the jingle and recorded it with hip-hop producer Polow Da Don. Then, during the same Los Angeles recording sessions in February, paid for by Wrigley, Mr. Brown added new lyrics and made a 4½-minute rendition of the tune, titled “Forever.”
In April, Mr. Brown’s record label, Jive, released the song to radio stations and digital download services as a single. After the song became a hit, Jive added it to his 2007 album, “Exclusive,” and re-released the album in June.
And now the song is a contender for the top spot on the chart, which Wrigley must be thrilled about (although I’m sure that Wrigley’s execs are kicking themselves for not getting current No. 1 Katy Perry to redo the Big Red jingle instead of Ne-Yo). And Brown must be thrilled, too, since the speedy way in which he wrote both tracks has jacked up his hourly rate for songwriting:
Mr. Brown said in an email that he wrote “Forever” and the related jingle in about 30 minutes each. “I actually thought it would take longer to write a jingle they would like,” he wrote. “But they said it was a perfect fit after the first try.”
Take note, Rihanna–you probably got the Brown-assisted “Disturbia” at a bargain-basement price!
Chew On This: Hit Song Is A Gum Jingle [WSJ]
Chris Brown - Forever [Dailymotion]
Maura, when are you gonna blow the lid off the story that Whitehall-Robins bankrolled “I Kissed A Girl” as part of an ad campaign for this???
I was outraged for about .5 seconds, really. I rather like “Forever” and still do — but I doubt it’s going to affect my gum brand purchasing decisions, though.
I KNEW IT. Oh well, the song is still delightful. The album, on the other hand, is terrible- reissue tracks or no- as a result of selling his best tracks to Ri-Ri, so however he gets his money, I guess.
This just irks me - it’s not depressing enough that music today is devoid of any of the artfulness that made it great even 15 years ago - but that it’s artisans can now be bought and sold into writing music for a product is sad. I always thought musicians were musicians because they loved being musicians, not because money was to be had at every turn, but I guess it’s understandable today, considering music as art has been gone for years.
Troy McClure: “If you have two Pepsis and you drink one, how refreshed are you?”
Girl (raising hand): “Pepsi?”
McClure: “Partial credit!”
Man, this is squicky. Worse than what the TV networks are all trying to do with in-show product placement.
So does this officially mean that “Disturbia” is a promo for a forthcoming Shia LaBeouf sequel?!
Somehow, I had managed to avoid hearing “Forever” until now, so my first exposure to the song comes with “full awareness” of this deal. So that’s probably a big part of why I’m having so much trouble getting outraged about this.
Maybe I’m just too cynical, but…BFD?
@Chris Molanphy: YVAN EHT NIOJ…
orange is the new pink…
This might actually make me hate this song (slightly) less, since before a lot of my annoyance was at the way an old ad slogan was meaninglessly shoehorned into the lyrics for no apparent reason. At least there’s a reason now!
@Al Shipley: Although this still doesn’t excuse the absolute idiocy of the “we only got one night to dance forever” shit.
Maura,
When do we get a full review of Warped? Did you also notice that the place seemed slightly empty on Saturday?
Katy Perry should really do an update of the Oscar Mayer jingle. Or Armour.
[blog.newsok.com]
So wait, I was supposed to come out of the other end of that four minutes wanting gum? I do have a kind of cheesy aftertaste in my mouth….
@Rob Murphy:
I’m not outraged or offended. Just bored and trying to remember any sort of hook from that entire thing.
I don’t understand why I only have one night to dance forever and what it was to do with Doublemint gum and SUVs.
It’s not that, it’s just the complete sacrifice of his music to shill for a product.
Yes… because musicians have always been true to their craft while shunning commercialism:
@Halfwit: Thanks for pointing this out in a more relevant way than I was planning too. I’d drummed up a response that had something to do with the Medicis and royal court composers that was rather … dry.
I know I’m a little late here, but it needs to be said:
“So kiss (a girl) a little longer … “