Hans Zimmer has turned his hand to composing ringtones.
The film composer has teamed up with Chinese smartphone maker Oppo to offer users two ringtones and “an orchestra of system sounds”.
The new sounds also include a gentle alarm and a phone activation sound as well as “a range of energising text and notification alerts.”
AdvertisementIn an Oppo-created promotional video, which you can view below, Zimmer says: “To me everything is a story. Ultimately it always ends up being about how do we get closer?
“I hear colours,” he continued. “I want the ringtone to open a door that says there’s the possibility to feel something. Our whole world changed because of the pandemic, and in a very fundamental way: the idea of physical contact has disappeared.
“I felt somehow it was my duty as a musician to figure out how to replace a little bit of that spirit that comes from one heart over to the other heart. The only way you can do music is by connecting notes, and those notes connect to musicians, and musicians connect to an audience, and suddenly you have a form of communication that you’ve never had before.
“That’s exactly what these phones are doing these days. They connect us.”
The composer previously spoke about how Billie Eilish came to be chosen for the latestBond theme tune, ‘No Time To Die’.
AdvertisementHe explained that there were a “box of songs” that were in the running for the theme song, including “this small, leanly produced, very personal song by Billie”. “I just went, ‘That’s it,’” he toldGQ. “And everybody said, ‘Well, but it’s not quite right. It’s not good.’ [I said] ‘No, no, no, here’s the mistake you’re making – she and Finneas haven’t seen the movie yet. They don’t know what they’re writing about. Get them on a plane, get them over here.’”
He continued to say that it was “undeniable” to him that Eilish was the right choice. “It felt hugely personal; it felt really well crafted,” he said. “I really liked how lean it was.”