Balenciaga swap the runway for music, enlisting Swedish singer-songwriter Jay-Jay Johanson to curate a bespoke playlist.
Consisting of 30 tracks, Jay-Jay Johanson’s selections populate a dedicated page on Balenciaga.com that link to multiple streaming platforms. With 14 studio albums under his belt that experiment with melodic, melancholic, and ethereal sounds, Jay-Jay Johanson has carefully picked a selection of favourites, longtime influences, and new inspirations for the playlist, including “Femme Fatale” by The Velvet Underground, “Buffalo Gals” by Malcolm McLaren, and “The Cross (Ooh The Action)” by Grace Jones.
Accompanying Jay-Jay’s Balenciaga Music mix is a series of collages created in collaboration with Christophe Brunnquell, who in 2017 created a video for Jay-Jay’s song “Bury the Hatchett” by transposing the singer’s facial features onto printed self-portraits in surrealistic ways. For the new images, new portraits of Jay-Jay were taken, and the concept was recreated using a similar technique.
Balenciaga Music selects artists to create original playlists based on their personal tastes, giving audiences a window into their processes and backgrounds. These artists are chosen by Demna, who started off the series with his own mix, followed by collaborations with RuPaul, Aya Nakamura, Acid Arab, Pink Martini, and more.
Head to the Balenciaga website to listen.
