Bumble’s packing a serious one-two punch with its recently released Super Bowl commercial, which features not one, but two, powerful women of note. There’s of course Serena Williams, whose push for women to take initiative and take charge is coupled with footage of the tennis champ slaying on the court. But there’s also a lesser realized power current running through the Bumble Super Bowl ad, via the song that scores it all: the take-no-prisoners ballad “Soul Survivor” by Rita Ora.
The hit single, which comes off Ora’s latest studio album, Phoenix, hits all the right notes with lyrics that complement Williams’ confident swagger. “I’m a soul survivor, I made it through the fire/ I started with nothing, I’ve got nothing to lose,” Ora croons the chorus in her trademark rasp.
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Other notable lyrics seem to be straight out of Williams’ journal, touching upon the exasperation of having to push hard against the limits of sexism and a chorus of naysayers: “Damn frustrating that you think I could never make it/ Look who’s standing right in front of you/ Yes, it’s me/ What you doing?/ Did you think you would see me ruin?/ After all the shit that I’ve been through.”
At last year’s U.S. Open, Williams was famously chided for having a “meltdown” after arguing with the umpire and breaking her tennis racket, even though numerous men have made an almost secondary career out of their unsportsmanlike tantrums (see: John McEnroe, Ilie Năstase, and Jimmy Connors, to name a few). She ultimately lost out to Japan’s Naomi Osaka, capping off a challenging year that involved an emergency C-section and the discovery of blood clots in her lungs.
Williams’ Bumble ad, which is all about self-empowerment, provides the perfect framework within which Ora’s vocals and message can really soar. Whitney Wolfe Herd, Bumble’s founder, CEO, and co-creative director, said via press release: “By sharing our message with a global audience of hundreds of millions, we are aiming to leverage this cultural moment widely considered to be male dominated and flip the narrative to show that no matter the playing field, we are here, and we have the power to be heard.”
Also, a fun fact: the creative team behind Bumble’s impactful Super Bowl ad was led by women. And it shows.