Starting last month, the world watched as elite athletes from all over once again met in one of the world’s great cities to compete for their team and their country at the Olympics and Paralympics.
From the fortifications of the Parisian infrastructure to the development of a TV production to the sheer devotion and preparation of the athletes, this event, and events like it represent investment, commitment, and, of course, commerce (I now own Olympics gear inspired by my viewing…).
But through all of the fanfare, the close victories, the hero stories, and the sad losses, there was a constant reminder that music is always there — the great unifying force, the soundtrack to all of our lives. Music was present in every movement these athletes made. It was there for them in their training, when they were away from their teammates and working out with their headphones on, soundtracking their rise to excellence, just as it was there with trumpets blaring (figuratively or not) when they accepted their gold. It was there when Snoop Dogg, Pharrell Williams, and Jin from BTS carried the torch, when Flavor Flav or Tim McGraw cheered from the stands. And it was there as each anthem rose from the speakers.
In 2021, Downtown composer and producer Victor Le Masne was approached to work on a reimagining of the French national anthem for the Olympic transition ceremony, the literal passing of the torch. That started him on a journey that led him to create the outstanding theme music for the entire Olympic Games — a brilliant blend of organic symphonic instrumentation and electronic music that touched on the history of French music, our collective relationship with music, and the concept of music as the fabric of our lives.
These moments, moments where music gets woven in with other cultural events and touchpoints, are constants for us, the fans, but for the musicians and composers, they are often rare opportunities that stand out as career highlights. For those of us working in the industry on their behalf, these are exciting moments - opportunities we celebrate with and for our clients. We strive to bring to them these opportunities, whether it’s a Super Bowl ad campaign or a song placement on a TV show. These moments serve as catalysts for us to go out and share the good work of our songwriters, a showcase of their unique genius.
The Olympics and Paralympics are over, but there will be more. There will be big performances linked to political campaigns, there will be Super Bowl halftime shows, there will be new TikTok trends, and there will be a song reimagined for an animated movie that I take my child to. We will keep finding ways to share music and have music shared with us. But in Paris, the high of the Olympics is still there as the summer comes to a close, and the memories still linger—especially of Downtown client Boombas’s rare performance as Cassius at the closing Paralympics ceremony and of Phoenix’s Olympics closing ceremony appearance, where they invited a number of guests on stage including Downtown clients and French electronic pioneers Air to perform together their classic song ‘Playground Love.’ That performance was a great full-circle moment for the ceremony, one that started in some ways at the very first camp or practice that the future Olympians attended and the songs they played as they worked to inspire themselves to keep after it all.
At the end, in a performance riddled with sound problems and production issues, a moment where we were faced with the limitations that still exist when you try to capture lightning in a bottle, we also got to see the athletes dancing ecstatically at the feet of the musicians, singing along to every word. This was their closing ceremony, and they loved every moment of it.
Music, the great unifier.
