Frank Sinatra and Kendall Jenner are connected through a song and a fashion campaign. In August 2017, Jenner appeared in an Adidas Originals film featuring a reworked version of “My Way,” the standard closely associated with Sinatra. The advertisement combined contemporary celebrities, Renaissance art references, and futuristic settings to explore originality. That combination explains how an entertainer celebrated for his recordings and a model known for contemporary fashion became part of the same creative project. Understanding the connection starts with the commercial itself—and with the distinction between appearing in an advertisement and performing its soundtrack.
The Adidas Campaign That Connected Their Names
Jenner appeared in the third installment of Adidas Originals’ “Original Is Never Finished” campaign. Released in August 2017, the film also featured basketball player James Harden and rappers Playboi Carti, 21 Savage, and Young Thug. Terence Neale directed the film, with creative agency Johannes Leonardo behind the campaign.
The campaign’s premise was that existing work can become the starting point for something new. Its creators revisited familiar music, recognizable artworks, and scenes from earlier advertisements, changing their presentation to suit a different cast and setting.
“My Way” provided the musical link between these elements. Contemporary coverage described the soundtrack as a remix or modern cover of the song associated with Sinatra. That wording matters: the advertisement reinterpreted an established standard rather than presenting a newly recorded Sinatra performance.
Kendall Jenner’s Role in the Film
Jenner’s sequence drew inspiration from Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus. She appeared inside a futuristic pod, assuming a pose that connected the Renaissance painting’s central figure with a science-fiction setting.
Elsewhere, the film referenced Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. Those visual quotations gave the advertisement a recognizable artistic foundation while allowing its performers to inhabit altered versions of familiar images. The clothing and footwear belonged to contemporary sportswear; the compositions reached back centuries.
One reading of the sequence is that the pod turns the idea of emergence in Botticelli’s painting into a technological rebirth. The viewer does not need to identify every reference to follow the scene, but recognizing the artwork adds another layer to its construction.
What Jenner Said About Originality
In an interview accompanying the campaign, Jenner described originality as putting a personal spin on something and acting in a way that feels authentic. Asked about her own approach to “My Way,” she emphasized enjoying her life, doing work she loved, and avoiding distractions.
Her comments help explain her role in the campaign. The song’s central idea offered a prompt for the cast to discuss individual expression. Jenner answered as a participant in a fashion project, connecting its theme to her own working life.
That perspective also makes the advertisement easier to understand. A campaign about originality can seem contradictory when it borrows famous imagery. Here, the creative argument was that originality can come from how someone interprets an existing idea.
The History Behind Sinatra’s “My Way”
The music had already undergone a significant transformation before Adidas used it. “My Way” is an English-language adaptation of the French song “Comme d’habitude.” Paul Anka wrote the English lyrics with Sinatra in mind, changing the subject into a reflection on a life lived on one’s own terms. Sinatra was its celebrated interpreter, rather than its songwriter.
Sinatra recorded “My Way” on December 30, 1968. His album of the same name followed in March 1969 on Reprise Records. The album also included interpretations of contemporary songs such as “Yesterday” and “Mrs. Robinson,” placing its title track among material drawn from different corners of popular music.
The song’s history makes its later advertising use particularly fitting. Its melody had already crossed languages, and its English lyrics had given that melody a different emotional purpose. The Adidas treatment added another interpretation, this time through fashion, moving images, and a revised musical arrangement.
Why the Song Fits the Advertisement
As an editorial reading, “My Way” supplies a clear theme of personal agency. Its narrator looks back on choices, setbacks, and convictions. In the advertisement, that reflective idea accompanies younger performers presented as people shaping their own identities.
The music and visuals therefore work in parallel. The soundtrack revisits a familiar song, while the imagery revisits established artworks. Together, they give the campaign a practical example of the creative process it describes.
A Collaboration Across Time?
Calling the advertisement a direct collaboration between Sinatra and Jenner would blur an essential distinction. Sinatra died on May 14, 1998, almost two decades before the film appeared. His association with the project comes through the song’s musical history; Jenner participated in the later production.
A useful way to understand the credits is to separate three contributions: the people who wrote the song, the singer whose rendition became famous, and the cast who appeared in the advertisement. They belong to different stages of the work’s history.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Frank Sinatra song appears in Kendall Jenner’s Adidas campaign?
The campaign uses a reworked version of “My Way,” the song Sinatra released in 1969. Its arrangement was adapted for the advertisement’s contemporary setting.
When did Kendall Jenner become an Adidas ambassador?
Jenner announced her Adidas Originals partnership in May 2017, before the August release of the campaign film discussed here.
Did Jenner’s advertisement win the Cannes music award?
The campaign’s launch advertisement won the Cannes Lions Grand Prix for Music in June 2017. Jenner’s August installment followed that win, so the award should not be attributed specifically to her film.
Where can listeners find Sinatra’s original recording?
The recording appears on Sinatra’s 1969 album My Way. A 50th-anniversary edition released in 2019 also included additional live performances and duets, offering different interpretations from his catalog.
The Frank Sinatra and Kendall Jenner connection belongs to the history of music in advertising. Adidas brought a song associated with Sinatra into a film featuring Jenner, using its theme alongside reimagined art. The result offers a specific example of how an established work can acquire a new setting and purpose.
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