Finnish solo artist Jay Ray's "137" featured in latest Ryan Reynolds & Hugh Jackman commercial!
UPDATE: Jay Ray has since gotten in touch and given his comment on the commercial. You can hear about that here.
Never thought this sentence would leave my mouth but… Actor Hugh Jackman and my roommate’s body pillow Ryan Reynolds introduced me to new music to headbang to. Today, the dynamic duo hit the world with a short advertisement for Laughing Man Coffee. The ad - entitled “Nice Morning” - shows Hugh Jackman forgetting he’s not playing Wolverine anymore and doesn’t need to stay in character for the next movie, that is until he drinks coffee from his brand. But what I think many metalheads noticed when watching the ad is pre-coffee Hugh’s taste in music, as a hard hitting song blasts over his sound system while he hilariously sits still and does nothing. A great addition for the commercial, but a big deal for the artist in question, Finnish solo artist Jay Ray, who’s song “137” is the song that was played very briefly in the tongue n’ cheek coffee commercial. You can check out the commercial below:
This came as a shock to many metalheads who knew Jay Ray’s work and was stoked to hear it. Meanwhile it struck curiosity to those (like me) who had no idea who was playing and wanted to find out. And, to my surprise, the artist isn’t even that big (which doesn’t matter, and now makes me read like a dick… let me try that again). I more mean; with something like Ryan Reynolds and even Hugh Jackman, you’d expect an act like Metallica, System of a Down or worse comes to worse Cannibal Corpse, bands with millions upon millions of fans all over the world and would be instantly recognized (at least that’s how corporate America usually goes about when including metal of any kind into a commercial (of course, Ryan and Hugh aren’t corporate America (or American (this is getting out of hand)))). But after a listen to the song “137” and the album it comes off of Self-Resonance, I’m personally glad he had some light shown on his work from an act like Ryan “my roommate’s body pillow is bigger than her” Reynolds. Incase you’re curious, the song and album it’s from have a very familiar and yet unique feel to it. It’s clearly an electronic and metal mix, something you’d expect from the metalcore/nu-metal world. Definitely nothing to crow about with that. But in my opinion, Jay Ray makes it his own with many different sounds and atmospheres incorporated into the structures of each song. Not quite prog, but it’s different enough to give each song off of Self-Resonance an identity of their own.
In terms of the commercial, it’s hard to tell if Jay Ray liked it to. I’m not sure, unless words like “Well dis was hell of a great surprise! :D” in a reply to a YouTube comment on the music video, and posting about it on Facebook saying “This is unreal!! There’s a clip from my song “137” on Hugh Jackman’s video (Laughing Man Coffee AD)! Check it out guys!“ which honestly could mean anything...
At the time of writing this, I have reached out to Jay Ray via email for further comment, and I’ll be sure to update you when I hear back. Check out the video for “137” below:
I thought I was done with these guys… apparently not!