Thundercat has teamed up with Candy Crush to take on the Diana Ross classic Upside Down.
The tune was penned by disco legends Bernard Edward and Nile Rodgers from the 70s band Chic, who helmed production on the former The Supremes front woman’s 1980 album Diana.
Thundercat’s new version of the late disco stomper is released in association with the computer game Candy Crush Saga and comes hot on the heels of recent tunes I Wish I Didn’t Waste Your Time and his Remi Wolf collaboration Children of the Baked Potato.
The collaboration with Candy Crush turns the song into a multisensory world brought to life through a playable music video and limited-edition bone-conduction lollipops that literally let you taste the beat.
At the heart of the campaign is a one-of-a-kind playable music video that lets fans step inside the new track. As the beat builds, fans can match visuals in sets of three to gamify the story, triggering bursts of color, unlocking surprises, and racking up points in a topsy-turvy, joy-filled ride.
On the creation of the song, Thundercat notes “I’m grateful to Candy Crush for the opportunity to cover such a legendary song.”
Back in 1979 Diana Ross was riding high with her popular disco era album The Boss. She wanted to enter the new decade with a fresh new sound and approached production duo Bernard Edwards and Nile Rogers to help make her next album.
The duo had found success with their own band Chic created a string of disco era hits and had also created dance floor smashes for Sister Sledge. They wrote all the songs for the next record from the Motown legend. Alongside Upside Down they also penned the hits My Own Piano and I’m Coming Out.
Just before the album’s release though Diana Ross got cold feet about the record, a backlash against disco was underway and she had the tracks remixed, sped up, recorded new vocals and had long instrumental breaks in the tracks edited. While it was a huge hit, the finished product was not what Rodgers and Edwards had imagined. It would be decades before the original version of the album would be heard by fans.
Over the years the tune has been covered by hip-hop artists Salt-N-Pepa, late 90’s Australian pop star Collette put out a version, and Swedish band Alcazar used the melody of the tune for their hit This is the World We Live In.
