The ‘intimate’ version of the song ‘313’ was recorded at the El Prado Museum.
Solemn and boring. That is the classic image we have had of museums since the Renaissance. However, in recent years, music stars such as Beyoncé have managed to make them closer, more visited and even more profitable. The last to do so was the Puerto Rican singer and composer René Pérez.
If we had stuck with the museum version of Ancient Alexandria – where the best writers, scientists and artists were invited to work – it would surely not be unusual for music stars like Beyoncé, Residente or Jay-Z to record video clips of their songs in the Prado or the Louvre. Since that did not happen and the concept of the museum as an exhibition place was the one that ended up establishing itself in the world, now they are betting on desacralizing it.
Music and museums
Beyoncé y Jay-Z
The impact was immediate. After what Beyoncé and Jay-Z launched the video clip for the song ‘Apeshit’ at the Louvre in Paris, the number of visitors skyrocketed to reach the record of 10.2 million during 2018, 25% more than in 2017. The song was the first preview of their joint album ‘Everything is Love’.
During the following year, the museum created a thematic tour entitled Jay-Z and Beyoncé in the Louvre, in which you can admire the works that appear in the video, among others the ‘Gioconda’, by Leonardo da Vinci; the ‘Consecration of Napoleon’, by Jacques-Louis David; the ‘Pieta’, by Rosso Fiorentino; and the Venus de Milo.
In the video clip, which now has nearly 300 million views on YouTube, the artists tour the museum while claiming, in the most casual way, a place for black identity in the history of art. The recording of the video clip lasted two days and meant income for the museum of around 40 thousand dollars.
Resident
There is something that is clear when listening to the album ‘The letters no longer matter’, René Pérez is no longer the same as he was 10 years ago, much less the same as he was 20 years ago. The songs from his second album as a soloist speak of what he finds dear. truth interests you, like mental health; The lyrics are uncomfortable, but they continue to have the same force of sonic attraction as always.
That strength can be felt in songs like ‘313’, a tribute to her friend Valentina Gasparini who died in 2022. In less than a month, the song has two official music videos. In the first, the surprise is the presence of actress Penélope Cruz; in the second, it was recorded in the Prado Museum.
There, Residente appears rapping in the iconic Sala 12, where legendary works by the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez are displayed, including ‘Las meninas’. Later, the stage moves to the Central Gallery, where Silvia Pérez Cruz sings along to ‘The adoration of the Magi’, by Pedro Pablo Rubens.
On the Prado Museum’s website, it is highlighted that this intimate version of the song ‘313’ is a preview of Residente’s two upcoming concerts in Spain and emphasizes that this space is “inspiration for any artist who wishes to work not only with the soul but with precision and practice.”
Baker Boy y Jess B
Baker Boy is one of the leaders of rap in Australia. In 2019, he recorded the video clip for the song ‘Meditjin’ (medicine), at the National Gallery of Victoria, in Melbourne. In the production, he and Jess B appear singing in various rooms of the museum, a building remodeled in the 90s by the Italian architect Mario Bellini.
The video clip, which has more than half a million views, shows Baker Boy rapping in his native language, Yolngu Matha, as well as in English, alongside six dancehall dancers, Jamaican popular music.
The musicians appear alongside works such as ‘Niño’, by Giovanni Toscani; the ‘Sagrada Familia’, by Perino del Vaga; ‘The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes’, by Giambattista Pittoni; and ‘The Confession’, by Giaour de Delacroix. As happens in the video clips of Beyoncé and Residente, the music and dance break the silence and solemnity of spaces to which. It would be amiss for us to recover the idea of the museum of Ancient Alexandria.
2024-04-10 12:31:04
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