Celebrating What Connects Us with Mercedes
Mercedes-Benz’s “Satellite of Love” tells a modern love story that lives somewhere between earth and orbit, grounded in technology but driven by emotion. A cinematic romance between a fully electric CLA and a satellite drifting through space is not an everyday narrative, so the music had to do more than underscore the film. It had to carry cultural weight, emotional memory and a sense of shared connection.
Tracks & Fields handled the full music process for the campaign, from search and clearance through to producing a bespoke re-recording of one of the most recognisable songs in popular culture, “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life”.
A film about connection, told in space
Satellite of Love, uses a visually rich, AI-assisted production pipeline to tell an unexpected love story in outer space. The 90-second film places the new all-electric Mercedes-Benz CLA in a long-distance romance with a satellite, a poetic metaphor for the invisible infrastructure that keeps modern vehicles constantly connected.
Generative AI was used to build the vast space environments, later refined with high-end VFX compositing. The result is a deliberately cinematic world, complete with controlled light reflections, carefully crafted motion and an emotional presence that turns machinery into character.
The message is simple and celebratory. “Let’s Celebrate What Connects Us” is not just a tagline, but the emotional core of the film. To land that message, the music needed to feel instantly familiar and deeply human.
Choosing a song that already lives in our hearts
Few songs carry the emotional recognition of (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life. Originally performed by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes for the 1987 film Dirty Dancing, the track is synonymous with romance, transformation and unforgettable moments. It is a song about connection, about finding something extraordinary in another presence, and about a feeling you want to hold onto.
For T&F, the challenge was not simply to license an iconic track, but to make it feel organically woven into a story set in orbit, far removed from dance floors and summer resorts. That began with a detailed music search and rights clearance process, ensuring the song could be reimagined in a way that respected its legacy while serving the film’s narrative.
T&F then produced a custom re-recording, tailored to the pacing, tone and emotional arc of the film. The new version retains the soul of the original while allowing space for the visuals to breathe. It builds gradually, mirroring the growing bond between car and satellite, and lands its emotional peak alongside the film’s resolution.
The result is a track that feels both timeless and newly discovered, reinforcing the idea that connection can exist across any distance.
When technology serves emotion
Mercedes-Benz has been clear that AI was never used for spectacle alone, but as a tool in service of storytelling. The same principle applies to the music. In a film that relies on cutting-edge visuals and a futuristic setting, the re-recording of (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life provides emotional grounding, anchoring the story in something instantly familiar and deeply human.
For T&F, the work went beyond simply delivering a cleared track. The focus was on how music functions as narrative glue. The song guides the viewer through the story, mirroring the growing bond between car and satellite and giving weight to the film’s central idea of connection across distance.
Satellite of Love shows that even in a world defined by satellites, data and electric mobility, emotion remains the most powerful connector of all. When technology, storytelling and music are aligned, the result is a film that feels both forward-looking and timeless.
Get in touch to explore how we can help lifting your next project to the next level with handling the whole music process.
