AMEX Music: Justin Timberlake

For Justin’s new Man Of The Woods album we wanted a way for fans to engage more deeply into the music. When we heard he was inspired by the beautiful natural landscapes of Montana and the countryside, we set out to find a way to bring those scenes to anyone that wanted them.

Using volumetric capture, we interviewed Justin about the making of this latest album and the inspirations behind it. This technology allowed us to place a three dimensional version of JT in our app. 

Aptly named “Outside In,” we sought to bring the Montana countryside to fan’s living rooms through Mixed Reality. Utilizing the power of the American Express Music platform, we released an iOS and Android app that allowed users to explore the inspirations behind the album, shop exclusive merchandise, and experience the song Breeze Off The Pond in spatialized audio.

Inside the app, users would place Justin on the floor and watch as we materialized a wooded forest scene. Interacting with different objects in the scene would trigger sounds, visual animations, and a volumetric Justin speaking directly to fans about the album. We also created one of the world’s first augmented reality shopping experiences where American Express cardmembers could purchase exclusive merchandise right inside the app. 

As users explored deeper they would uncover the completely immersive Breeze Off The Pond scene, where we took users out of their living room into a complete 360º scene of the Montana landscape complete with a pond and lots of breeze. As the song played through the scene would evolve and change to become ever more dramatic, colorful and breezy. Exploring the four corners of the play area users would engage our spatial audio to isolate certain stems of the track. For example, the corner with the puddle would house the drum and percussion track and users could see the beat visualized with ripples in the puddle. This gave users the ability to replay the song and be able to have a different listening experience every time. 

Fans everywhere engaged with the app and reveled in the fact that they could have their very own Justin Timberlake in their living room talking to them.