(DIYA TV) — Sir Paul McCartney is bringing his creative genius to the world of technology—exactly 52 years to the day after The Beatles made their historic first U.S. visit and appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, McCartney’s talents have been enlisted by Microsoft.
Skype, a Microsoft-owned company, will collaborate with the rock and roll icon to create a new group of 10 moving emoticons, which the company refers to simply as Mojis, for the desktop and mobile versions of its app. Characters named Sumo Cupid, Excited Octopus, and Flirting Banana will be included in the “Love” Mojis.
The animated emoticons wiggle and gyrate to short snippets of non-lyrical music, as well as the occasional “doo dee doo deeeeee” from Sir Paul himself. Picture them as GIFs without sound. The move was made in time for delivery by Valentines Day.
Sir Paul McCartney records in studio (Photo courtesy of TechRadar).
“Paul genuinely loves Skype and, inspired by our existing Mojis, was excited to lend his voice to the Mojis family,” the Skype team wrote in a statement. “Likewise we were over the moon to work with Paul, and it was a great creative challenge for us to create the animations to compliment his legendary sound. Take a look at the final product!”
During a press conference earlier in the week, Skype group manager Steven Abrahams said that the company’s users have now sent over half a billion mojis, and that until now, Skype had almost exclusively partnered with BBC television in the past to offer these advanced emoticons. Abrahams added that Skype is hoping to partner with more artists in the future, and hopes to keep a line of communication open with McCartney for future collaborations.
“We think artists — and in particular musicians — have a deep understanding of emotions,” Abrahams said. “And if you think about music as something very visceral, it’s really a great way of expression.”
Last October, Skype introduced clips from popular Bollywood TV shows and movies, along with emoji honoring Indian food, holidays, and traditions.
