Stella Artois was originally named after a star, and brewed as a holiday gift. More than a century later we made the brand’s origin story relevant to a new generation, by bringing science and music together for a unique collaboration inspired by a beautiful scientific fact: every star has a sound.

With the help of astrophysicist Zoltan Kollath, we translated star light frequencies into sounds which we gave to John Legend, who wrote an original holiday track named “Under the Stars”, as a gift to the world.

This unique collaboration led to the world’s first duet between a figurative, and an actual star. But Stella’s gifting tradition didn't stop there.

We created a first-of-its-kind light installation in NYC, giving its people the one thing the city can’t offer due to light pollution: The Stars. On the opening night of the experience, John Legend premiered his new track live, which was captured and shared as the official music video.

The word about the experience spread fast, filling up all time slots. For a week, New Yorkers were lining up every evening to experience the stars closer than ever before, sharing their celestial moments on social media from this highly instagramable space.

As guests entered the pitch black space, the stars came to life one by one in a mesmerizing performance. From there, the guest was the conductor, triggering special abilities unlocked through interaction.

As a guest reached for a star, a sensor triggered it to descend. Some unlocked unique sound bites of star oscillations, recorded by our astrophysicist. While some had a hidden camera that captured the special moment showing our guest reaching for the stars.

In the end, this idea merged cutting edge technology with science, music, culture and a strong back story, which made a new generation take notice and listen.