As is well publicised, Beyoncé and Jay-Z are the stars of a continuous Tiffany & Company campaign. Now, in a new video for the company, Beyoncé covers the classic song ‘Moon River’, that Audrey Hepburn famously sang in the iconic 1961 film, Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
The song was originally composed by Henry Mancini with the lyrics by Johnny Mercer. Hepburn’s performance of the song won it an Academy Award for Best Original Song. The celebrations didn’t end there though. It also went on to win two Grammys at the 1962 edition, picking up Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
The campaign that Beyoncé and husband Jay-Z star in is entitled ‘About Love’, and kicked off in late August this year. In one of the advertisements for it, the couple posed in front of a mysterious, long-unseen Jean-Michel Basquiat painting entitled Equals Pi. The late artist painted the artwork in 1982, which is now regarded as his most coveted year of work, affording it a somewhat unprecedented level of respect.
The robin egg blue painting is smattered in Basquiat’s hallmarks. It features his signature crown motif and a head, all the while covered in his iconic scrawled text, with phrases such as ‘Amorite’, ‘Ten Yen’ and ‘Dunce’. Unsurprisingly, the title refers to mathematical equations. The painting was first published in GQ magazine in 1983 and again by W magazine in 2018, and in August this year, it was purchased by Tiffany & Company for around $20 million.
Friends of Basquiat have criticised the use of the painting’s use, although representatives of the company have defended it. One statement read: “The beauty of art is that it can be interpreted in a number of ways. All important works provoke thought and create a dialogue. Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Equals Pi is no different, and we are pleased to be able to share this work with the world.”
Listen to Beyoncé and Jay-Z cover ‘Moon River, below.
