Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue To Focus On Indie Rock
Posted by Joseph Lee on 02.03.2012
Coincides with a two day music festival...
This year's Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue will have a focus on indie rock in addition to the pictures of women in swimwear.
On February 14th, the issue will feature four pages of editorial and 17 model spotlight videos on SI.com showcasing 17 artists in rock, indie and electronic genres. There will also be a two-day music festival called the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Beauties & Beats, which will be held at the Las Vegas Cosmopolitan Hotel. It will be sponsored by Lexus. It's the first music festival hosted at the Cosmopolitan, which debuted in late 2010.
MJ Day, senior editor of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, said music has always played a role in the magazine's production, from the soundtracks of photo shoots to energizing members of the staff. Day contacted her friend Brent Dicrescenzo, music editor of Time Out Chicago, to help choose which 17 bands would be featured.
She said: "We've dabbled in music a bit in the past with previous issues, but now with all four digital platforms we thought it would be such a great way to integrate and basically enhance the Swimsuit experience."
Ten of the artists will be at the music festival, including Delta Spirit, Elan Atias & White Elephant, J. Roddy Walston & The Business, Little Hurricane, Maluca, Nick Waterhouse, Vonnegutt, Selebrities, White Denim and headliners Black Lips. The other artists featured in the magazine include Bosco Delrey, DJ A-Trak, Hanni El Khatib, Kito & Reija Lee, New Look, Rhye, Toro Y Moi and The newno2. Each artist will be paried up with a different model, and will feature new or previously unreleased songs.
The festival's ten acts were booked by Kristen Reynolds, senior talent buyer at C3. She's also booked acts like Coldplay, Foster The People, Adele and Young The Giant to play large to medium-sized concerts over the last year.
Rehan Choudhry, director of entertainment and special events for The Cosmopolitan, hopes this festival will help the venue get noticed. Choudhry said: "The audience we brand as 'the curious class,' they're lifestyle enthusiasts, people who travel the world and seek authentic, meaningful experiences. Frankly, they're an audience that never visited Vegas before…It's very difficult to create a meaningful experience for them, you can't fake it."
