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Usher and Rémy Martin partner on NFT
By Georgie CollinsCognac brand Rémy Martin and music artist Usher have collaborated to launch the Usher x Rémy Martin: A Taste of Passion campaign.
The global campaign features a limited edition bottle for Rémy Martin 1738 Accord Royal called Usher x 1738 AI Powered, which touts a new-age design.
The brand previously collaborated with Usher last year for its Team Up for Excellence campaign.
Amaury Vinclet, global executive director of Rémy Martin, said: “As a brand that has been a long-time collaborator with Usher and shares the same values, we are proud to have him launch the first limited edition bottle design for Rémy Martin 1738 Accord Royal. This bottle is a first for the spirits industry in how the technology was used and gives spirits aficionados and Usher fans alike a rare collectible they’ll treasure forever.”
To create the Usher x 1738 AI Powered limited edition bottle, Usher used his own musical vocabulary to describe his olfactory experience with the renowned Rémy Martin 1738 Accord Royal.
The vocabulary was fed through AI technology, known as Generative Adversarial Neural Networks and Contrastive Language-Image Pre-Training, which transformed Usher’s words into artwork.
Reimagined in black and featuring a special seal that celebrates the 25th anniversary of Usher’s My Way album, the limited edition 1738 Accord Royal bottle brings Usher’s ‘Taste of Passion’ to life with a design curated to embody ‘the harmony of music, technology and art’.
“I’m an artist at my core, so transforming an abstract sensory experience like taste into something visual really spoke to my creative process,” commented Usher.
“I leaned into the exemplary Rémy Martin 1738 Accord Royal that flowed through me and am so impressed by the visuals that came out of the AI process – they truly represent the medley of tasting notes captured in the flavour. It’s rewarding to see those words translate to real-world artwork that my fans can engage with while bringing taste front and centre.”
A total of 50 limited edition bottles have been created as part of the collaboration, with 25 Usher x 1738: AI Powered limited edition bottles available to purchase exclusively on BlockBar.com from 10am EST on 29 July for an RRP of US$500.
Users who successfully check out will receive an NFT (non-fungible token) proving ownership of the physical bottle, which is stored with Block Bar until the owner is ready to redeem.
“We’re very excited to be part of such a big moment for Rémy Martin as they enter the world of NFTs and launch a new limited edition bottle which will be our first ever music collaboration to drop on BlockBar.com,” said Dov Falic, co-founder and CEO of Block Bar.
The remaining 25 bottles will be gifted to Usher and his team.
A Taste of Passion Experience
The bottle is debuted alongside the A Taste of Passion Experience – a ‘first-of-its-kind’ multi-sensory, immersive experience that will accompany Usher’s My Way Las Vegas residency. The experience will harness AI technology to visually articulate the taste of the Usher x 1738 Accord Royal.
Attendees will be offered a selection of Rémy Martin 1738 Accord Royal cocktails specially curated by the Cognac brand and Usher for the experience, including The Rémy Roller, which blends Rémy Martin 1738 Accord Royal, ginger ale and Angostura Bitters, and is garnished with a lemon wedge.
The experience is running on select nights from 15 July through 29 October, in tandem with Usher’s Las Vegas residency.
Earlier this month, Block Bar offered consumers the chance to buy a bottle from the last 50-year-old Karuizawa Japanese whisky cask.