Meet the Two Singers Who Helped Make Apple's 2014 Holiday Ad So Special Dana Williams and Rhiannon Giddens
Apple is back to take you behind the scenes of its sweet holiday ad about a musical recording that spans generations.
Singer-songwriter Dana Williams, who stars as the granddaughter in the commercial, recaps its premise—she finds a vinyl copy of the Gershwin standard "Love Is Here to Stay" that her grandmother cut for her grandfather in the early 1950s, before he went to war in Korea. Then, Williams overdubs new guitar parts and harmonies using Apple's GarageBand software, to make a nifty holiday present for her grandmother.
Musician Rhiannon Giddens, who is best known as the lead singer of folk band Carolina Chocolate Drops but is now promoting her upcoming T-Bone Burnett-produced solo debut, plays the part of the grandmother in her younger days. (The old photo in the ad is actually of Giddens.) The Voice-O-Graph booth she used to create the faux-vintage record is the one at Jack White's Third Man Records in Nashville—in the video, a parade of execs from the label discuss the device's significance as a novelty in the '40s and '50s. (Not to mention the present—Neil Young just recorded an album in it, and you can too, if you go down to Third Man's digs in Music City, as White reminded Jimmy Fallon's audience this year.)
Williams, meanwhile, also explains that she uses Garage Band to record almost all of her music (don't mind the fancy mixer, monitors and racks full of outboard processing gear in the background while she talks about how simple the software is) before the video proceeds to wax philosophical on old technology and new technology.
While that juxtaposition—and the point that the tools play second fiddle to the message regardless—are spelled out well enough here, that idea was pretty clearly illustrated in the spot itself. But name-checking everyone there would've probably ruined the vibe.
- Can BMW's Snapchat-Inspired Campaign Attract Young Drivers?
- After 15 Years With BBH, Johnnie Walker Picks a New Agency
- Golden Corral Finds Its Lead Agency in Maine
- Why This Fashion-Minded Digital Agency Is Hungry for Food Clients
- Snapchat Quietly Bought a Smartglass Startup Owned by the CEO's Friend
- 5 Ways Television Changed Dramatically in 2014
- Carnival Asks Consumers to Choose Its First Super Bowl Commercial
- 24 Hours in Advertising: Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014
- If You Loved Aaron Draplin's Logo Tutorial, Here's More of His Design Wisdom
- Watch a Designer Who Really Knows What He's Doing Create a Logo From Scratch
- Sarah Koenig Buckles Under the Pressure of Serial's Final Episode in This Outstanding Parody
- 14 Brilliant Outdoor Ads That Rocked the Real World in 2014
- This Beautifully Simple Site Makes It Easy to Create the Right Digital Color Palette
- Can BMW's Snapchat-Inspired Campaign Attract Young Drivers?
- After 15 Years With BBH, Johnnie Walker Picks a New Agency
- 5 Ways Television Changed Dramatically in 2014
AdFreak is your daily blog of the best and worst of creativity in advertising, media, marketing and design. Follow us as we celebrate (and skewer) the latest, greatest, quirkiest and freakiest commercials, promos, trailers, posters, billboards, logos and package designs around. Edited by Adweek's Tim Nudd and David Griner.