What Does Music Taste Like? A Cookware Brand Is Converting Spotify Songs Into Recipes

Whatever your taste in music, this cookware brand has the platter for you. 

J. Walter Thompson Brazil developed an algorithm for Tramontina that converts any song on Spotify into a recipe. The agency worked for six months with neuroscientist Marcelo Costa, conductor João Rocha and renowned chef Renato Carioni, employing the cognitive principle of synesthesia—the phenomenon where one sense involuntarily influences another.

They assigned components of taste (temperature, acidity, texture) to various aspects of music (rhythm, tone, instrumentation) and taught an A.I. to cross-reference the data and generate recipes.

“Consider a samba with its diverse instruments, and very resonant sounds—you can associate it with heavy food,” Rocha says in the project video. 

“If a song has nothing positive, it has a bitter taste,” Carioni says.

Banners and audio ads running on Spotify in Brazil present various songs and ask users which flavors the tunes suggest. A website called Flavor of Songs reveals the recipes, along with a description of the Tramontina cookware required and a link for purchase. 

The A.I.’s mixing and measuring of aural and gastronomic ingredients is so nuanced, we’re told, that each song in Spotify’s database—all 35 million—will generate its own distinct dish. For example: 

The Kinks’ ’60s stomper “You Really Got Me” yields roasted chicken thighs with lemon pepper and toasted macadamias. (What else?)

Beethoven’s “Fur Elise” delivers foi gras terrine with salmon roe and arugula salad. (Naturally.) 

The Human League’s ’80s fave “Don’t You Want Me” generates BBQ chicken with sweet beets. (Dinner and dancing!) 

Marvin Gaye’s sexy, soulful “Let’s Get It On” produces duck cannelloni with shrimp mayonnaise and black truffles. (Bedtime snack?)

Oddly, Jimmy Buffet’s “Cheeseburger in Paradise”—a song that hungrily name-checks fast-food—generates white fish stew with sweet and sour beetroot and moroccan couscous. (Lyrics aren’t the only recipe factor. Besides, JB, that old son of a son of a sailor, would probably approve of the results.)

Enough examples already. You’re full by now. 

“After months of qualitative research, we found that the Tramontina brand is very strong,” JWT executive creative director Rodrigo Da Matta tells Muse. “It is associated with quality and durability. Which is very good. On the other hand, we also found that young people do not have the perception that it is a brand for them. It’s for their mother. That’s where we started thinking about strategies on how to change this scenario, talking to young people and building the Tramontina of the future. And the solution was to unite territories with which they have lots of affinity—music, gastronomy and technology.”
 
Overall, it’s a tasty use of A.I. that hits plenty of high notes—and any other silly puns you’d care to serve up. Last year, Royal Caribbean launched the somewhat similar Soundseeker. Working with the Berklee College of Music, the cruise line created a bot that composed original tunes based on the visual details in vacationers’ holiday photos. 

CREDITS

Creative Agency: J. Walter Thompson Brazil 
Client: Tramontina
Title: Flavor of Songs
CEO/CCO: Ricardo John
ECD: Cassio Moron, Rodrigo Da Matta
Copywriters: Rodrigo Da Matta, Kiko Borger, Heinz Boesing
Art Directors: Gustavo Rates, João Mendes, Marcus Prado, Cristiano Schein
Designers: Gustavo Rates, João Mendes, Marcus Prado
Creative Technologist, Creative Data: Sergio Costa, Tom Corral
Editing: Marcus Prado
Motion: Marcus Prado
Head of Production: Maisa Delgado
RTV: Carolina Pivato
Digital Producer: Sergio Costa, Tom Corral
Photographer: Régis Fernandez
Head of Client Services: Felipe Giacon
Operations Director: Thiago Segundo
Executive Director: Renata Dall Onder
Account Management: Fabricio Soares, Ricardo Montezuma, Rochele Pahs
Media: Giovana Venturelli, Maria Fernanda Galetti, Carolina Lopes, Ana Paula Rotta, Nathalia Silva, Luisa Maia
Planning: Stella Pirani, Marcus Pesavento
Client Approval: Darci Friebel, Rosane Fantinelli, Joice Patzlaff, Josiane Lamera Toazzi 
Technology Producer: Casion
PR: Andrea Assef, Vivian Zeni, Livia Martins, Jessica Hartley
Extra Credits: Chef Renato Carioni, Maestro João Carlos Rocha, Dr. Marcelo Fernandes da Costa

TEASER
Production: Landia
Director: Aline Lata
Executive Production: Carol Dantas, Sebastian Hall
Assist Executive Production: Larissa Delfini
Head of Production: Camilla Bastos
    
Photography direction: Erico Toscano
Production: Natalia Petrechen
Editor: Wellington
Post-production coordinators: Elton Bronzeli, Rafael Malavazzi 
Post-production/Finishing: Landia, M&A
Color Grading: Marla Colour Grading

AUDIO
Production: A9 Audio
Soundtrack: Apollo 9 and equipe A9
Account Management: Renata Schincariol, Guta Lima