Usher teams with Rémy Martin for Cognac, NFT, Vegas experience
Limited edition NFT is powered by artificial intelligence
Rémy Martin, Cognac Fine Champagne and Grammy Award-winning musical artist Usher have teamed up to launch the global campaign “Usher x Rémy Martin 1738: A Taste of Passion”, featuring a limited edition bottle and NFT, whose design was inspired by AI integrated technology. The new Rémy Martin 1738 Accord Royal bottle titled “Usher x 1738 AI Powered,” highlights a new era of bottle design and is coupled with the debut of A Taste of Passion Experience, a multi-sensory, immersive experience that will accompany Usher’s My Way Las Vegas residency .
“For almost 300 years, excellence has been at the heart of Rémy Martin, and through this partnership we have reached an incredible milestone, where we see a brilliant breakthrough at the intersection of art, fine cognac and technology,” says Amaury Vinclet, Global Managing Director of Rémy Martin. “As a brand that has been a long-term collaborator with Usher and shares the same values, we are proud to have him launch the first limited edition bottle design for Rémy Martin 1738 Accord Royal. This bottle is a first for the spirits industry in terms of how the technology was used and gives spirits lovers and Usher fans alike a rare collectible they will treasure forever.”
When creating the “Usher x 1738 AI Powered” limited edition, Usher used his own musical vocabulary to describe his olfactory experience with the acclaimed Rémy Martin 1738 Accord Royal, a smooth Cognac characterized by notes of toast, vanilla and brioche. Fed through AI technology known as Generative Adversarial Neural Networks and Contrastive Language-Image Pre-Training, the avant-garde depiction of tasting notes transformed Usher’s words into works of art that make the invisible visible. Reissued in black and with a special seal celebrating Usher’s 25th anniversary In my waythe emblematic 1738 Accord Royal bottle brings Usher’s “Taste of Passion” to life with a design that now aptly embodies the harmony between music, technology and art.
“I’m an artist at my core, so transforming an abstract sensory experience like taste into something visual really spoke to my creative process,” says Usher. “I leaned into the exemplary Rémy Martin 1738 Accord Royal flowing through me and am so impressed with the visuals that came out of the AI process – they truly represent the blend of tasting notes captured in the taste. It’s rewarding to see those words translate into real-world artwork that my fans can engage with while bringing flavor front and center.”
A total of 50 limited edition bottles were created as part of this latest collaboration. 25 Usher x 1738: Limited edition AI powered bottles will be available to purchase exclusively on BlockBar.com, the world’s first direct-to-consumer NFT marketplace for luxury wines and spirits. The release goes live on Friday the 29th. July at 10:00 AM EST on a first-come, first-served basis. Priced at $500, each NFT is available for purchase with ETH or credit card. At 10.00 am, the first users who reserve the bottle will have 10 minutes to get to the checkout. Users who successfully check out will receive an NFT proving ownership of the physical bottle, which is stored with BlockBar until the bottle owner is ready to redeem. The remaining 25 bottles will be gifted to Usher and his team to celebrate the 25th anniversary of In my way.
Each NFT is uniquely branded, and each purchase comes with the option to keep the NFT, resell it on BlockBar.com’s marketplace, gift it, or redeem it for the physical bottle from October 2022.
“We are very excited to be a part of such a huge moment for Rémy Martin as they enter the world of NFT and launch a new limited edition bottle that will be our first ever music collaboration to hit BlockBar.com,” says Dov Falic, co-founder and CEO of BlockBar. “As a globally recognized brand known for craftsmanship and excellence, we are honored to have the opportunity to offer a rare collectible created by one of the world’s most celebrated artists, Usher.”
The Usher x Rémy Martin 1738: A Taste of Passion partnership will go beyond the bottle to showcase a world of possibilities and excitement at the intersection of music, technology, art and cognac, which will come to life through the launch of ‘A Taste’. of Passion Experience” in Las Vegas. Leveraging AI technology to visually articulate the taste of the Usher x 1738 Accord Royal AI Powered offering, “A Taste of Passion Experience” will usher in spirits and music lovers alike, where the brand will host a multi-sensory experience while nodding to Usher’s brilliant career. To build on the evening’s splendor, attendees will enjoy a range of Rémy Martin 1738 Accord Royal cocktails specially curated by Rémy Martin and Usher, including The Rémy Roller, brimming with an effervescent blend of Rémy Martin 1738 Accord Royal, aromatic notes of ginger ale and angostura bitters, and finished with a lemon wedge garnish.
The long-standing partnership between Rémy Martin and Usher, who both share a quest for excellence and innovation, first began over a decade ago when Rémy Martin became the official partner of the OMG World Tour. This latest collaboration celebrates not only excellence in music, technology and art, but also the 25th anniversary of My Way, Usher’s seminal album that catapulted him to stardom. The celebration of excellence goes back centuries for Rémy Martin and Rémy Martin 1738 Accord Royal, which is a unique blend of eaux-de-vie commemorating the reward of excellence awarded to Rémy Martin by King Louis XV of France in 1738. Rémy Martin Cellar Master Baptiste Loiseau has inherited the house’s savoir-faire from previous generations of cellar masters, and through this transfer of knowledge, Rémy Martin 1738 Accord Royal continues to encompass the spirit of celebrating the depth of character and the thrill of indulging in moments of collective success.
The immersive A Taste of Passion Experience runs on select nights through October 29, coinciding with Usher’s My Way Las Vegas residency.
