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Will.i.am’s new single premiering on Mars

Will.i.am's tune is out of this world.
(Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
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It’s official: The Black-Eyed Peas’ ever industrious rapper-producer-songwriter and all-around marketing genius will.i.am has officially exhausted every promotional opportunity on Earth. So he’s arranged to premiere his new single, “Reach for the Stars,” today at 1 p.m. Pacific time from Mars.

Yes, Mars -- the red planet.

Will.i.am is a self-professed science, tech and space travel geek and has taken numerous opportunities to hang out at NASA facilities, including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, where students will gather for a news conference to hear the song when it comes booming out of the speakers of NASA’s Mars Curiosity robot.

“I will be apart [sic] of the first song ever to be sent from another planet -- mars to earth tomorrow,” he tweeted Monday evening. Many of his high profile peers -- Britney Spears, Katy Perry and Paris Hilton among them -- have been retweeting the news to help him spread the word.

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The news conference at JPL is part of a collaboration between NASA and will.i.am’s i.am.angel foundation, which aims to provide learning opportunities for children in need.

“Reach for the Stars” won’t, however, be the first terrestrial music to sound on Mars. The Curiosity robot is awakened each morning by one of several songs sent along for the trip by scientists. The Mars playlist includes the Beatles’ “Good Morning, Good Morning,” Anthrax’s “Got the Time,” the Doors’ “Break on Through (To the Other Side),” Frank Sinatra’s “Come Fly With Me,” the main theme from “Star Wars,” Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” and the “Mission: Impossible” theme.

What -- no “Life on Mars” or “Space Oddity” from David Bowie? “Venus and Mars” by Paul McCartney? Kelis’ “Mars”?

Surely the NASA and JPL brain trust will soon figure out a way to hook Curiosity’s robot up with a Spotify account.

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