NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In recognition of National Vinyl Record Day (Aug. 12) and supporting the National Museum of African American Music. (NMAAM), Nissan is releasing a limited-edition LP of lofi music called Driven by Electric Beats.
Inspired by driving in the morning and evening, the album is a collaboration between Dope Candi. and Harold “HB” Burns. – two artists from Nissan’s Electric Beats program, an initiative that works with Black musicians to promote diversity in music production.
Limited to just 1,000 copies and priced at $23, the album is available online and in-store at The Groove Nashville and NMAAM’s Amplify Store.
Following the success of the Lofi Girl animated film, a four-hour, single-shot ride-along of a woman driving an Ariya through a Japan-inspired landscape, Nissan takes lofi music and animation from the digital into the physical world.
Printed on the Driven by Electric Beats vinyl is a zoetrope pattern that animates while the record spins. Artwork on either side of the picture disc features a man and woman behind the wheel of the Ariya, nodding heads and tapping fingers to the beats.
Sonic serenity
The two tracks of the Driven by Electric Beats album are inspired by morning and evening driving and the dual personality of the powerfully peaceful Nissan Ariya. Electric Dawn motivates and energizes while Nightscape is calming for the listener to decompress at the end of the day.
Nissan returned to the lofi genre for the potential wellbeing it can help provide listeners. Studies indicate lofi music helps with concentration, lowers stress and anxiety, and may even improve mental performance.1
At the end of each side, a locked groove contains an audio sample featuring the driving sound of Nissan’s all-electric Ariya. This loop plays peacefully until the listener stops the record – an ‘Easter egg’ made possible by the uniqueness of the vinyl format.
“In 2023 we had this incredible reaction to the Ariya Lofi Girl commercial. It was four hours long, but people kept coming back to watch it – over 18 million times! There were so many comments about how the music and animation had a calming effect,” said Marisstella Marinkovic, vice president and chief marketing officer, Nissan U.S.
“With the Driven by Electric Beats LP project, we wanted to support some fantastic initiatives but also provide vinyl fans with tracks they can turn to for a boost of concentration, motivation or relaxation. That’s the amazing quality of music – the ability to bring us together and create positivity all around.”
Passion with purpose
The Driven by Electric Beats album supports the NMAAM, an establishment that Nissan has partnered with for various culture-uplifting efforts. Opened in Nashville in 2021, NMAAM is the only museum dedicated to preserving and celebrating the many genres created, influenced and inspired by Black musicians.
