Bryan Adams Brings 12 Artists On The Road for 2022 Pirelli Calendar
The Pirelli Calendar is back with a photographic story celebrating artists as they wade through the stages of life "on the road."
Indeed, 2021 was not a lucky year. With the discomforts of the pandemic and several sociocultural shocks, it was hard to find joy in even one of the most welcome and delightful events: the calendar of calendars, the Pirelli.
If you press the forward button, however, not only is the new year on the horizon but, with it, after a wise pause for reflection, also the 2022 Pirelli Calendar. It bears the signature of Canadian photographer and singer Bryan Adams and addresses a theme of conjunction between two worlds, music and art, in a metaphor that unites us all. The photos in the 2022 On The Road Calendar are a tribute to those who have spent their lives grinding out the miles through the stages of a tour. Getting back to savoring those moments was, for Adams, as well the other 11 artists and colleagues, a chance to finally reconnect to life and to their own destiny.
This week, the project was unveiled in Milan together with the company's new logo which celebrates 150 years of activity in 2022. Unfortunately, Adams is completing the last days of quarantine in Italy after contracting COVID-19. Don't worry, he's fine and on the mend—that's life on the road.
The calendar is presented in a square format, the same as a vinyl LP, and contains 160 pages with more than 70 shots, including portraits and stills. A true collector's item.
Artists and musicians are a tribe, they share the same way of life
In the 2022 Pirelli Calendar photos, all the emotions of being on the road, away from home, and at home everywhere, converge. Adams portrays a romantic and melancholy mood that only the tribe of musicians and artists have experienced. His gaze portrayed some of music's biggest stars like Cher who made her debut the same year as the first Pirelli Calendar. He then let himself be enchanted by Iggy Pop and a languid Rita Ora, the latter of whom did not hesitate to showcase one of an artist's most intimate and private moments—that of the aftershow where the hype is still high but fatigue creeps between the mascara-laden lashes and the tried muscles. The pick on St. Vincent's tongue was the stroke of genius at the end of the shooting session.
On set, the musicians relived all the moments of their tours, from the tension before the performance to the pauses between rehearsals and concerts, from long journeys between cities to solitude in a hotel room. Adams confirmed, "We musicians never really see the facade of the building, but always only the back: we see the artists' entrance, we see the backstage area, we see the basement ... we pass from the artists' entrance to the car door to the hotel door to the train door and then to the bus door. A lot of doors, then, but it's always about travel..." Along with Grimes, Jennifer Hudson, Normani, Bohan Phoenix, Saweetie, and Kali Uchis, the photos were taken in a matter of three days last summer over three locations: the Palace Theater and the Chateau Marmont Hotel in Los Angeles and the Scalinatella Hotel in Capri.
