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The song in the 2024 Michelob Ultra commercial & its story

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The commercial released by Michelob Ultra in 2024 features an old soul classic: the song has a peculiar story, let’s discover it.

Michelob Ultra started 2024 with a simple yet effective commercial, inviting all of us to enjoy their “Superior Light Beer.” It’s a short clip, and people remember it because of the song in the background: an instrumental track that sounds like old-times music coming from another world.

It is indeed a popular single that made the history of soul music: the song featured in the 2024 Michelob Ultra commercial is Soulful Strut by Young-Holt Unlimited. You can listen to it in full streaming below (and here is the commercial, in case you want to watch it again).

Soulful Strut
Watch this video on YouTube.

The portion used in the Michelob Ultra commercial is the instrumental song intro. The story of that track is fascinating: initially, it was a song recorded by Barbara Acklin in 1968 under the title Am I the Same Girl. You can listen to this version here on Youtube and enjoy her beautiful voice. However, this is not the version that was released first: for the first version released in November 1968, the song’s producer, Carl Davis, decided to remove the singer’s voice and release it as an instrumental track called Soulful Strut with the Young-Holt Unlimited, a trio formed some years before.

Unexpectedly, the instrumental version was a massive success, reaching number 2 on the US Billboard Easy Listening chart. When Barbara Acklin released her version in 1969, the song was still popular, but less than the instrumental version published the year before.

Over the years, Young-Holt Unlimited’s Soulful Strut has been sampled multiple times in its different versions, by artists like Dusty Springfield, Swing Out Sister, George Benson, and Joss Stone. You can easily catch the power of this song in the 2024 Michelob Ultra commercial: the start with a slow crescendo, the instruments filling the space, creating the energy for the track’s continuation.

It’s one of those songs you want to hear in its full versions after you listen to it the first time. Now you can.

Discover other curiosities about popular commercials on Auralcrave

Published by Carlo Affatigato

Carlo has been a web content creator for over 10 years. He founded Auralcrave in 2015, envisioning it as a new space capable of offering different perspectives on topics that passionate all of us. With a scientific background, Carlo developed an interest in music, cinema, literature, and art at a young age, transforming it into a complementary dimension to his professional growth. For years, he was a music journalist specializing in electronic and dance music, writing for the most important Italian magazines (both online and print). Movies and TV series have been a true obsession in many phases of his life: during university, it was not uncommon for him to set the alarm in the middle of the night to watch classic films airing on TV. With the advent of the Internet, Carlo became a keen observer of web and social phenomena, addressing light topics such as advertising, trends, fashion, and general themes. He is the main author of Auralcrave and personally manages its social media, editorial line, book publication, resource management, and business expansion. A former engineer, life coach, husband, and father, he believes that every area of knowledge has interesting stories that deserve to be told and is convinced that doing so makes the world a better place.