Canadian musician CRi undertakes ‘life changing’ campaign with Apple

A Montreal electronic musician says he’s still figuring out the biggest opportunity of his career after Apple bought one of his songs for a worldwide ad campaign promoting the Apple Watch Series 12.

The campaign, released this week, features “Naissance,” a song by Quebec artist CRi, whose real name is Christophe Dubé.

Dubé, 36, said the process went quickly. About three weeks ago, his publicist received a call from Apple requesting an isolated audio track. Then, about a week ago, the company contacted him again with an offer to buy the song.

The musician described the deal as “life changing.”

For an artist, Dubé said, featuring music in Apple’s global campaign is a major accomplishment.

“You know, for an artist, I wouldn’t say this is a dream, but it’s definitely a milestone,” he told Global News on Friday.

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“When you start making music, you think maybe one day I’ll play Coachella and maybe one day Apple will use my music for one of their campaigns around the world. It’s like part of a dream and I still can’t believe it’s actually happening to me. It’s crazy.”

The song, whose title translates to “birth” in English, was originally composed six years ago.

Beyond the financial impact, Dubé said the agreement reinforces his belief that large companies still recognize the value of human creativity at a time when artificial intelligence is transforming the creative industries.

He also sees this project as an example of the benefits of cross-border collaboration.

Dubé said the partnership shows that strong working relationships between Canadian artists and American companies remain possible despite political and economic tensions.

The campaign has attracted millions of views on YouTube, providing what Dubé calls invaluable exposure for his music.

For the Montreal artist, this experience marked a career-defining moment and an opportunity to introduce his work to a global audience.

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