Pitchfork

Original Liz Phair photo by Kirstie Shanley

Liz Phair has made this point so many times in so many ways over the years: She may have recorded one of the greatest indie rock LPs of all time, but she is not indie rock people. She is not going to front like she's too cool for anything. Writing music for the lame-ass revived "90210"? Recording with Minnie Driver? Incurring Pitchfork's wrath by making an album with Avril Lavigne's song-doctors? Whatever. Bring it on. She's good for it.

And she's still proving just how not-indie she is. As Billboard reports, this spring and summer, she'll become one of the faces of a Banana Republic ad campaign. (Eddie Bauer, apparently, was too cool.)

The theme of the campaign is "City Stories", whatever that might possibly mean. Phair will join such avatars of awesome as onetime YouTube sensations OK Go and "Love Song" chick Sara Bareilles, appearing in print ads, window displays, and billboards. And from February 17-26, Banana Republic customers will get free iTunes gift cards, redeemable for a compilation featuring songs from the participating artists.

But wait, there's more! In May, when the campaign's second leg kicks off, the participating artists will all release brand new tracks written specifically for the ad campaign. Banana Republic will offer all those songs for download on its website, along with videos and interviews. I, for one, can't wait to hear Liz Phair's song about pleated earth-tone khakis.

Banana Republic chief marketing officer Peter DeLuca explains the campaign to Billboard thusly: "We're really trying to establish the brand's vision of the city as an anchor point. Music is a key piece of the puzzle." Yeah, me neither.