As a New Yorker, I have no need for cars, but every time I’m near one I’m like a kid in a candy store. Ooh! I can go wherever I want? No other people? No forced conversation? No ethical dilemmas that come with using a rideshare app? Every time I visit my family, the act of going to the grocery store and then putting the groceries in the car and driving it home is thrilling. So, naturally, I was excited to drive Audi’s newest SUV, the Q3. They describe it as their “entry-level” SUV, sleek and sporty for younger customers, but still at its core a luxury car. Yeah, I’m game.
But because a car is not just a car, it’s an identity, Audi planned a few days for press in Nashville so people could get to know the spirit of the car. For each car launch, Audi chooses a city that embodies this spirit. For the Q3, it was Nashville — creative, growing, innovative. To illustrate this, Audi took us on a winding route through the city and then an hour outside it — to an apiary, to a sustainable fashion store, and of course to barbecue. The grand finale was a performance by the singer Fletcher at Jack White’s Three Man Records studio.
The 25-year-old singer dropped her debut single in 2015 and has become a name to know in music. Especially if you’re the kind of person who loves to listen to emotive songs about heartbreak, but aren’t the saccharine Swift-y type. Her song “Undrunk,” which has 56 million plays on Spotify, will be relatable to anyone who has drunk dialed an ex (or worse). Fletcher says her goal is to be the artist that she needed when she was a young, LGBTQ teen. And since becoming well known, she’s realized how much her songs have resonated. Most notably, she ran into a fan in Germany who had her entire EP tattooed on her leg.
“She pulled up her leg and her whole leg was tattooed with my whole EP. Every lyric,” she told the Cut. “I was a little scared because I was like I hope I’m not irrelevant in like five minutes because that’s on your body forever.” That’s the risk you run when you’re an innovative creative.
