Tessellated, whose real name is Joshua Meeks, is a music producer and songwriter who was raised in Jamaica, has had a tune he wrote in college picked up for a new ad for Apple. The 21-year-old musician adapted his original tune “’I Learnt Some Jazz Today’ for use in Apple’s newest advertisement for the company’s AirPods called “Bounce.” The track was discovered in an earlier incarnation on SoundCloud. Apple has a history of raising the profile of musicians whose music it uses in its ads. In 2007, Apple used the song “1234” by the Canadian singer Feist to promote its iPod Nano, and in 2008, the band Chairlift was picked up by a major recording label when the company used its song “Bruises.”
Tessellated first heard from Apple through a vague email message that did not describe exactly what was wanted or where the firm wanted to use the song. After the songwriter and Apple had been in communication for some time it became clear that the track might be used in an ad. He said the original version of the tune was made in 2016 while he was attending college in Orlando, Florida. Tessellated produced and recorded the song in just a few hours one night following the discovery of a sample from Massago that served has his inspiration. Once the Apple project was launched, he totally revamped the tune and added new instrumentation and lyrics to make it conform to his current work standard and to make it work with the visuals.
Tessellated describes his musical style as fusion, a mix encompassing his Jamaican roots in dancehall and reggae and Bob Marley along with sources of inspiration from hip-hop, jazz, funk, and R&B.He says his music represents a “delicate balance” of both elements that allows both to be identified as separate styles while also heard together as something that is new.
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The musician had dreamed of having his songs selected for one of Apple’s iconic ads, but his thoughts were not formulated as something that could actually happen. Now he says that he is glad the choice of his music by Apple happened the way it did and believes he could not have a better place for his song to be showcased.
Tessellated hopes that audiences will like his music and that the exposure via Apple will result in a larger number of people listening and discovering his other tunes as well. While he is unsure of the scale of his future recognition, he is excited to “be on for the ride” wherever it takes him.
Photo Source: Tessellated Facebook