Yep, That's Julian Casablancas in That Ad

So here we are, in that dangerous post-Thanksgiving and pre-Christmas realm, a time of absurd sales and annoying, jingling commercials. But you know what's not annoying? An Acura ad with the sweet voice of Julian Casablancas playing in the background. Acura recently released their holiday commercial of ~beautiful, happy, glittery~ people jamming along to Casablanca's epic cover of "I Wish It Was Christmas Today." Call me a terrible Strokes fan or Saturday Night Live fan, but I didn't even realize at first Casablancas' song was a cover of the classic SNL skit that featured Horatio Sanz, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Kattan, and Tracy Morgan playing a much more lo-fi version.

It seems like the fine people brainstorming car commercials are feeling the resurgence of The Strokes as much as I am. A few weeks ago, Volkswagen premiered a spot for their all-new Golf, which featured the classic track "Reptilia." Both of these commercials stirred up all kinds of memories for me, as I was dangerously obsessed with the album Room on Fire while dating my high school boyfriend who happened to drive a Volkswagen GTI. I also may have only dated him because he looked like Julian Casablancas in a dark room if you squinted your eyes a little bit. (Don't blame me, it was high school.) But, I digress.

This cover of the SNL classic was actually recorded back in 2009, and appeared as a bonus track on Casablancas' debut solo album, Phrazes of the Young. He told NME, "Everyone seems to do a Christmas song at some point, so I always said to myself I'd do that song... I now checked that off the list of things to do!"

I wish I could say this commercial prompted me to head over to my Acura dealer and scoop up a new, snazzy vehicle ASAP, but I will say that it stirred up so much nostalgia of my high school/college years that it led into a full on spastic dance by my Christmas tree. Isn't that was Christmas is about anyway? So, thanks Julian, you've once again secured your top spot in my list of favorite musicians OF ALL TIME. <3