In this advert we see a couple’s insecurities about their home put under the spotlight as a motley crew of household ornaments come to life and mock them on the state of their abode. The gang of knick-knacks, including a porcelain panda and a disgruntled dinosaur, taunt the couple by performing a scathing diss track - a staple of the grime genre. Fortunately the quick-witted couple soon realise that IKEA has everything they need to turn their home into a festive hangout, allowing them to “Silence the Critics” once and for all. The track was performed and co-written by legendary grime MC, D Double E, a hugely influential figure in the grime scene.

The music in this advert was performed and co-written by D Double E, a hugely

influential figure in the UK grime scene. Grime is a sub-genre of UK garage, typified by lyrics that revolve around gritty depictions of urban life. Despite being highly revered by critics and fans, grime was still a relatively unknown genre to many. This advert was widely praised for its authentic representation of grime, and The Guardian newspaper credited it as being the moment IKEA “brought grime to the masses”. The full length track premiered on the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show to widespread acclaim, quickly joining the race for Christmas number one and cementing the advert's status as a true cultural phenomenon.

Unique animation helped establish the individual personality of each character.

We found ourselves pondering things we never thought we’d have to ponder. How does a ceramic snail-shaped cruet set look when they "spit bars"? How does a plastic toy dinosaur move to convey a serious attitude?

We used footage of grime artist D-double E free-styling to finesse the lip sync and match his lyrics. Characters were redesigned to enhance the acting up until the animation was final. Mouth shapes and expressions were resculpted to enhance specific lines and eyes were redrawn to improve eye contact and attitude. For the Rabbit we used a mix of 3d and 2d animation to maintain the physicality of a ceramic object.

All characters were created in 3d to look photoreal. Subtle imperfections were created during build to enhance detail. We studied the lighting of the set to create photoreal renders for compositing.