Sir Elton John
The Lockdown Sessions
Creativity has no restrictions.
Insight
When the pandemic put just about everything on pause, Sir Elton John inspired everyone with creativity, collaboration and connection.
Pushing the boundaries with Sir Elton’s own music, the genre-defining result is The Lockdown Sessions featuring collaborations with more than 20 of the world’s most loved and respected artists including Dua Lipa, Lil Nas X, Ed Sheeran, Charlie Puth, Gorillaz, and Rina Sawayama as well as Eddie Vedder, Stevie Wonder and Stevie Nicks.
Sir Elton John says: “Some of the recording sessions had to be done remotely, via Zoom, which I’d obviously never done before… all the tracks I worked on were really interesting and diverse, stuff that was completely different to anything I’m known for and took me out of my comfort zone into completely new territory. And I realised there was something weirdly familiar about working like this. At the start of my career, in the late ‘60s, I worked as a session musician. Working with different artists during lockdown reminded me of that. I’d come full circle: I was a session musician again. And it was still a blast.”
Idea
Artistic liberation, optimism and resilience.
To launch The Lockdown Sessions and selected releases from the album, animated visual assets were tailored for each artist to share on their social media channels. The creative references the aesthetic of the album artwork, using the same colour palette, gradient and fonts with stars and sequin elements. These bold designs and animations retain the album motifs of friendships, connection and togetherness.
The stars aligned.
For the launch, Sir Elton invited every artist on the album to take part in a Zoom call. To add to the anticipation, a WhatsApp chat between the artists organising the gathering was also shared. The meeting itself featured the same idiosyncrasies we all experience, from guests on mute, poor connections, animal filters, and late appearances.
Impact
Number one.
The Lockdown Sessions album went straight to number one in the Official UK Albums Chart. Cold Heart (Pnau remix) by Sir Elton and Dua Lipa went to number one in the Official Singles Chart, as did Merry Christmas by Sir Elton and Ed Sheeran.
