TIME FOR SOME ACTION

SAVOUR You won’t hear Pharrell Williams’ new song 100 Years - part of a unique collaboration with Louis XIII - but if you think a century ahead by joining the fight against climate change, your descendants will certainly be able to.

It’s a grey, overcast November afternoon in Shanghai and Pharrell Williams is describing 100 Years - The Song We’ll Only Hear If We Care. “It’s supersarcastic. I wanted to do something that was a bit different. I feel like call-toaction songs are usually very boring. You only listen to them once,” says the Grammy Award-winning superstar. “Here, I’m trolling all the pseudo-scientists who don’t care about the ecosystem. I don’t get it, you know: 106-degree weather in October in Los Angeles is crazy to me. If they don’t believe in anything, why shouldn’t I fight fire with fire?”

For all of us in the world apart from 100 people, we’ll have to rely on Williams’ words, as we’ll never hear his new song in our lifetimes. Created in partnership with Louis XIII Cognac, 100 Years is the creative expression of an innovative project that stems

from Williams’ and Louis XIII’S dedication to addressing environmental issues. Playing on the cognac house’s reputation for always thinking a century ahead, the original musical composition will only be released in 2117.

This evening, the song - which has been recorded onto a clay record fashioned from the chalky soil of Cognac - will be played once before it’s locked in a bulletproof FichetBauche safe that’s vulnerable only when submerged in water. With the alarming rise in sea levels, which scientists have predicted will result in a significant portion of the world’s land mass disappearing underwater within a century, the threat of destruction is credible. Even the record’s hiding place in the cellars of Louis XIII is no guarantee of its safety. “There needs to be some sense of preservation here,” Williams notes. “When you think about the dramatic effects that our current decision-making could lead to in the future, we’ve got to get involved. I felt it was incredibly admirable that Louis XIII and the House of Remy Martin cared enough about their own process, knowing that they need human beings to be alive so they can continue their traditions. It’s more than a business for them - it’s a lifestyle and a culture. And the last time we all checked, cultural existence requires human beings.” “We live from the terroir - it’s our most precious asset,” asserts Eric Vallat, CEO of the House of Remy Martin, echoing Williams’ remarks. “It makes you feel very humble because you don’t master

“We live from the terroir – it’s our most precious asset. It makes you feel very humble because you don’t master nature.”