Skype Working Together Commercial – What’s the Song?

A new Skype commercial returns communication to its most basic form, the person-to-person conversation, with the help of a vibrant dream-pop song.

The theme of the ad is "working together," and it makes use of 'Afternoon,' a track by Trevor Powers' one-man band named Youth Lagoon. The song's whistling and distant vocals give the promo a warm, quirky vibe as children in a classroom communicate the old-fashioned way, by passing notes to one another.

The commercial focuses on a girl named Sam. She discreetly sends a note to a boy in the back of the class, with the help of a few friends who keep the note out of sight of the teacher. The boy gets the note and sends it back. Based on Sam's expression, his answer is exactly what she wants to hear.

What does the note-passing have to do with Skype, the popular videoconferencing software? A narrator in the commercial explains that Skype takes users back to the time before email when communication was a more personal endeavor. "While technology has put the world at our fingertips, it's up to us to use it the way we were meant to," he says.

'Afternoon' appears on Youth Lagoon's 2011 debut, 'The Year of Hibernation,' which earned critical acclaim for the 22-year-old Powers, even if the album didn't chart anywhere. Skype isn't the only company to recognize the promotional appeal of 'Afternoon.' The medical drama 'Grey's Anatomy' also used the song earlier this year.

Watch Youth Lagoon's 'Afternoon' in the Skype Working Together Commercial