Music is incredibly personal and can move listeners to a certain emotion or memory. However the same song can evoke different feelings or have alternative meanings for each person. For example, one may feel heartbreak but another may feel empowerment. Deezer’s Music With Sole showcased this personal journey through a digital campaign that visually showed the different interpretations of the same song.

Using the close connection between sneaker culture and music, Deezer challenged a graphic artist and a musician in three different countries to use colourful sneaker designs to show what a song meant to them personally. All three musicians involved in Music With Sole were part of Deezer’s support programme, Deezer NEXT, as the development of emerging artists is hugely important to Deezer’s ethos. The pairings were as follows:

• Brazil: hip-hop singer Cynthia Luz with artist Pomb interpreting ‘Deixa Ela’

• Colombia: reggaeton singer Feid with artist Pol interpreting ‘Nuestra Canción’

• UK: pop singer Zak Abel and artist Daniel Cordas interpreting ‘Love Song’

Deezer challenged the graphic artist in each region to first listen to the track on their own, before creating their interpretation on a blank sneaker. The musician then described the meaning of their song. For example in the UK, Daniel Cordas drew a burning bridge and a toxic ocean to reflect a bad breakup in Zak’s ‘Love Song’. While Daniel had alluded to negativity, Zak’s shoes were covered in warm ‘sunset’ colours to signify the positive end to his relationship. For every region, the shoes were completely contrasting and visually showed the deeper meaning music has to each person.

The designers also created a special Deezer ‘Flow’ pair, featuring the songs that influenced both artists on their creative path. To launch the campaign, Deezer created a wide range of assets including video and a competition for PR, social and the Deezer community.