Today would have been Freddie Mercury's 73rd birthday.
To celebrate the music icon's legacy, The Mercury Phoenix Trust and Universal Music Group have joined forces to release a brand new music video for Mercury's track 'Love Me Like There's No Tomorrow' - originally from his 1985 solo album Mr. Bad Guy.
Created by animators Esteban Bravo and Beth David, the pair behind the Oscar-winning short film In a Heartbeat, depicts a heartfelt love story between two white blood cells who dance until one of them is diagnosed with AIDS
“We wanted to tell a story that was relevant to Freddie’s life, but not explicitly about him," Bravo and David explained, according to .
“The AIDS crisis of the 1980s is a huge part of LGBT+ history, and it’s something that we knew needed to be handled with care.
“It’s a fine line to walk between shedding light on a subject, and perpetuating a stigma, and we were cautious not to lean into tropes and stereotypes that might hurt the modern understanding of the AIDS virus, rather than help it.”
Bravo and David said that they wanted the video to celebrate the LGBTIQ+ community's "perseverance, strength and love".
“The LGBTIQ+ community fought for years for the right to proper research and healthcare, and because of that fight, millions of lives have been saved," they said.
“We wanted to celebrate that victory. Through perseverance, strength, and love, our characters not only survive, but live long, healthy lives together.”
Dave Rocco of Universal Music Group said that continuing Mercury's legacy was important for the record label.
“Of the many responsibilities we have to our artists, safeguarding their legacies is perhaps the most important one," he explained in a statement.
“As far-reaching and as radical a legacy as Freddie Mercury’s, it is our duty to ensure he continues to provoke, educate and inspire.
“In speaking with [Queen manager] Jim Beach about ‘Love Me Like There’s No Tomorrow,’ we knew this piece had to be made in Freddie’s image: honest, brave and, most of all, beautiful."
He added: “We wanted to tell a story not of two men, but rather of a connection and the ineffable power love has in conquering incomprehension and fear.
“It is a reflection of the thread that runs throughout Freddie’s oeuvre. It is what made him ‘never boring,’ and part of why his magic lives on.”
You can watch the full music video below:
