My Drive Thru
Encyclopedia
"My Drive Thru" is a collaborative single by The Strokes
lead vocalist Julian Casablancas
, American singer-songwriter
Santigold, and The Neptunes
producer
and N.E.R.D member Pharrell Williams
. The song was created for Converse's centennial
and was released in June 2008.
that Casablancas and White recorded "My Drive Thru" separately, "so it ends up being just this weird long song with sort of everybody with lots of their own personalities separate." Williams worked with Casablancas and White individually in Miami, New York City
and Los Angeles
. Santogold described the song as "such a Pharrell track." White continued that she wasn't worried about the song being for a brand. "It's like one of the main ways to get our music heard now, and so it's stupid for artists to shy away from that."
Williams, who appears on and produced the song, spoke of the collaboration:
from the Converse website. The track received thousands of daily downloads, according to Converse.
The Times
made "My Drive Thru" their track of the day, calling it "a three-headed Frankenstein monster of coolness" that was "a lovely attempt to allow guitar music, beats and R'n'B to come together in one happy bundle." Paste
referred to the song as "a pulsating, guitar-driven grab bag of a dance track." Stereogum
said the song was "a single-riffed blend that laces up elements of Pharrell, Santi & Julian's day jobs into a perfectly produced summertime pop cocktail." Gigwise.com
was less positive, saying "the beat is repetitive, even a bit boring at times, but what saves it is the interaction of Santi White and Casablancas." Pitchfork Media
felt that "the beat should get your shoes tapping, but it doesn't sound like an example of artists taking the corporate dollar to make something they couldn't profitably do on their own."
was created for a two-and-a-half minute version of "My Drive Thru", directed by Psyop's Marie Hyon and Marco Spier. It builds on the campaign's paper doll chain theme, where people are connected by their Converse shoes. "The artists were filmed on a soundstage using three HD cameras and then animated using CGI. The production took about four months to complete as well as the use of nearly 10,000 paper cutouts of the artists." The video uses stop motion
, and creates the illusion that Casablancas, White and Williams are all "unfolding" like paper dolls. The video clip debuted on MySpace
and MTV
on July 9, 2008. According to reports, it was one of the top ten shared videos in its first day of release, with over 750,000 streams. The music video was shortened into 30-second and 60-second cinema
and television advertisement
s which debuted on July 14, 2008.
The Strokes
The Strokes are an American indie rock band formed in 1999 in New York City. Consisting of Julian Casablancas , Nick Valensi , Albert Hammond, Jr. , Nikolai Fraiture and Fabrizio Moretti ....
lead vocalist Julian Casablancas
Julian Casablancas
Julian Fernando Casablancas is an American singer-songwriter and musician of The Strokes. Casablancas pursued a solo career during The Strokes' hiatus, releasing the album Phrazes for the Young on November 3, 2009....
, American singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Santigold, and The Neptunes
The Neptunes
The Neptunes are a record production duo consisting of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, who are credited with contributing the sound for many successful hip hop, R&B and pop artists in the late-1990s and 2000s...
producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and N.E.R.D member Pharrell Williams
Pharrell Williams
Pharrell Williams , commonly known simply as Pharrell, is an American rapper, singer, record producer, composer, and fashion designer. Williams and Chad Hugo make up the record production duo The Neptunes, producing hip hop and R&B music...
. The song was created for Converse's centennial
Century
A century is one hundred consecutive years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages .-Start and end in the Gregorian Calendar:...
and was released in June 2008.
Background
Various media outlets reported in May 2008 that Casablancas, Santigold (Santi White) and Williams had teamed up to create the song for Converse's centennial "Three Artists, One Song" campaign. White told Gigwise.comGigwise.com
Gigwise.com is an online music magazine that features music news, photos, album reviews, music festivals, concert tickets, and a community forum. Founded in 2001, the magazine is based in the United Kingdom....
that Casablancas and White recorded "My Drive Thru" separately, "so it ends up being just this weird long song with sort of everybody with lots of their own personalities separate." Williams worked with Casablancas and White individually in Miami, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. Santogold described the song as "such a Pharrell track." White continued that she wasn't worried about the song being for a brand. "It's like one of the main ways to get our music heard now, and so it's stupid for artists to shy away from that."
Williams, who appears on and produced the song, spoke of the collaboration:
Release and reception
"My Drive Thru" was made available as a free music downloadMusic download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
from the Converse website. The track received thousands of daily downloads, according to Converse.
The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
made "My Drive Thru" their track of the day, calling it "a three-headed Frankenstein monster of coolness" that was "a lovely attempt to allow guitar music, beats and R'n'B to come together in one happy bundle." Paste
Paste (magazine)
Paste is a monthly music and entertainment digital magazine published in the United States by Wolfgang's Vault. Its tagline is "Signs of Life in Music, Film and Culture."-History:...
referred to the song as "a pulsating, guitar-driven grab bag of a dance track." Stereogum
Stereogum
Stereogum was one of the first MP3 blogs. It was created by Scott Lapatine in January 2002 with a focus on independent and alternative music news, downloads, videos, and gossip. Stereogum has received several awards and citations, including the 2008 Plug Award for best music blog, Blender's...
said the song was "a single-riffed blend that laces up elements of Pharrell, Santi & Julian's day jobs into a perfectly produced summertime pop cocktail." Gigwise.com
Gigwise.com
Gigwise.com is an online music magazine that features music news, photos, album reviews, music festivals, concert tickets, and a community forum. Founded in 2001, the magazine is based in the United Kingdom....
was less positive, saying "the beat is repetitive, even a bit boring at times, but what saves it is the interaction of Santi White and Casablancas." Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
felt that "the beat should get your shoes tapping, but it doesn't sound like an example of artists taking the corporate dollar to make something they couldn't profitably do on their own."
Music video
A music videoMusic video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
was created for a two-and-a-half minute version of "My Drive Thru", directed by Psyop's Marie Hyon and Marco Spier. It builds on the campaign's paper doll chain theme, where people are connected by their Converse shoes. "The artists were filmed on a soundstage using three HD cameras and then animated using CGI. The production took about four months to complete as well as the use of nearly 10,000 paper cutouts of the artists." The video uses stop motion
Stop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
, and creates the illusion that Casablancas, White and Williams are all "unfolding" like paper dolls. The video clip debuted on MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
and MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
on July 9, 2008. According to reports, it was one of the top ten shared videos in its first day of release, with over 750,000 streams. The music video was shortened into 30-second and 60-second cinema
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and television advertisement
Television advertisement
A television advertisement or television commercial, often just commercial, advert, ad, or ad-film – is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization that conveys a message, typically one intended to market a product...
s which debuted on July 14, 2008.