A Look Back at 2015 on PaulMcCartney.com

What a blast we’ve had in 2015, and how quickly the year has passed!

In advance of the Christmas holidays, we were talking with Paul and our discussion turned to all the exciting things we’ve worked on together over the last 12 months.

So to remind you of everything that’s been going on, we thought we’d take a look back at some of our 2015 favourite highlights…!

What have been your highlights of 2015? Let us know in the comments below!

JANUARY:
The New Year went off with a bang as Paul and Kanye West hit the headlines following the surprise announcement of ‘Only One’ on News Year’s Eve!

More exciting news quickly followed with the announcement of another Kanye release later in the month, this time featuring Rihanna on vocals and Paul on acoustic guitar. The result was the track 'FourFiveSeconds' which has been nominated for a 2016 AMA Award and found its way into Paul’s ‘Out There’ set on a number of occasions over the summer!

January also saw Paul's single 'Hope For The Future' have a special release on 12" vinyl.

FEBRUARY:
Paul enjoyed a jam-packed GRAMMY weekend in February, performing at the Awards ceremony with Rihanna and Kanye. The trio delivered the world debut performance of 'FourFiveSeconds' and received a big thumbs up from fans and critics alike. Watch the music video for the song below:

Valentine's Day is one of our favourite times of year – how can you not be a fan of a day that celebrates love! In February Paul shared the love with the snowy city of New York, playing a very special intimate concert at Irving Plaza. We also helped spread the love here on PaulMcCartney.com with the ‘My Valentine’ feature allowing you to send the song plus your personalised message to the special ones in your life. (It’ll be back in 2016 too!)

Paul also began announcing more dates to his incredibly successful 'Out There' world tour.

MARCH:
Paul launched a brand new art feature for PaulMcCartney.com titled ‘Paintings on the Wall’ (a lyric taken from the song ‘Picasso’s Last Words (Drink To Me)’ from the Band on the Run album). Each installment discusses the work of some of Paul’s favourite artists. Working together with journalist Adam Jacques, Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte and Pablo Picasso have so far been profiled (Paul told us how Picasso’s painting 'The Old Guitarist' wound up influencing the writing of 'All Day' with Kanye West!). The next article will be published in early 2016, so remember to keep checking back.

Read the Magritte article by clicking HERE! Read the article about Picasso by clicking HERE!

Paul also became one of the first recording artists to embrace 3D printing! As soon as we found out he was scanned for the ‘Hope For The Future’ music video we got hold of the file and turned him into a 3D printable file! If you’d like to print off your very own Paul, learn more by clicking HERE!

APRIL:
Paul inducted long time friend Ringo Starr into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with a heartfelt speech at the ceremony in Cleveland. Straight after the event Paul flew straight to Osaka to start the Japan leg of his ‘Out There’ tour.

To coincide with Paul’s arrival a brand new set of sound stickers were launched on the LINE platform, and a new range of GACHA items were released on LINE PLAY. Paul also took part in a special LINE Q&A (over 250,000 people participated!) Read the Q&A by clicking HERE!

Marking the end of a very exciting month, Paul performed a very special concert at the Budokan in Tokyo, having last appeared there in 1966 with The Beatles.

PaulMcCartney.com joined Paul on tour in Japan and you can read our tour blog HERE!

MAY:
Tying in with the McCartney’s Meat Free Monday campaign, the month of May saw Paul collaborating with Jamie Oliver and Ed Sheeran (along with a host of other celebrities) on a new song for ‘Food Revolution Day’.

Paul went back on the road in the UK and celebrated his 50th London solo performance at a sell-out show at The O2 where he also received a special PRS Award commemorating the 50th anniversary of his song ‘Yesterday’!

The ‘Out There’ tour brought Paul home to Liverpool for the first time in three years where fans unable to be at the gig were given the chance to watch live broadcasts of two songs from his special homecoming performance at the Echo Arena via the Meerkat app.

JUNE:
We went birthday crazy in June! Meat Free Monday – the McCartney family's campaign promoting the reduction of meat consumption for health and environmental benefits - turned six years old this year.

Paul also celebrated his birthday, partying in style by headlining the Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Delaware. Watch an exclusive behind-the-scenes clip from the festival by clicking HERE!

JULY:
Paul was back in Liverpool to attend the annual LIPA graduation ceremony in July. He also made his inaugural appearance at the Lollapalooza music festival, hailed by critics and fans alike as the biggest and best in the festival’s 25 year history.

Paul was joined on stage by Alabama Shakes’ singer Brittany Howard and – to the delight of all those present – performed a duet of The Beatles’ classic ‘Get Back’, which you can watch below.

AUGUST:
Paul featured on the cover of August’s issue of Uncut magazine, sitting down to discuss the writing and recording process of the latest reissues in the GRAMMY-winning Paul McCartney Archive Collection; Tug of War and Pipes of Peace.

SEPTEMBER:
In September Paul and other internationally renowned artists recorded a new track, ‘Love Song to the Earth’ to raise awareness about climate change.

Paul launched a brand new GIPHY channel using video footage from classic ‘80s albums Tug of War and Pipes of Peace.

To tie-in with the reissues a new microsite featuring photos, interactive content and competitions was launched and fans were also able to download exclusive music from Paul’s website. The Guardian newspaper also published a set of four mini-documentaries, which contained archive footage of Paul discussing Tug of War and Pipes of Peace. Check out the microsite by clicking HERE! and watch the documentaries below:

Manic Street Preachers frontman, James Dean Bradfield also popped into Paul’s London office to have a conversation about Pipes of Peace for DIY magazine. Watch them discussing writing 'Say Say Say' by clicking HERE!

OCTOBER:
October got off to a busy and exciting start as Paul took his ‘Out There’ tour back on the road performing five dates in North America.

Whilst Paul and the band were delighting audiences in Columbus, State College, Toronto, Detroit and Buffalo, the 2015 reissues of Tug of War and Pipes of Peace were released.

The stunning Ryan Heffington video for a new 2015 remix of 'Say Say Say'-  featuring previously unheard vocals - was premiered exclusively on Paul’s Facebook page. Watch the dance-orientated video below:

Paul also joined forces with Children in Need and some of the most famous names in music, sport and show business to contribute to recently published children’s charity book 'The Curious Tale of Fi-Rex’.

NOVEMBER:
Paul was nominated in this year’s AMAs for collaboration of the year with Rihanna and Kanye and in the 2016 People's Choice Awards for ‘Favourite Music Icon’.

Paul celebrated the release of the new Beatles 1+ release and was just as excited as us to see their old music videos!

Paul also signed a special one-off rocking horse for charity to be auctioned off for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital Auction.

It was announced that Paul would also be the headline act at the 10th annual Dine and Disco for Children in Need 2016 – 80 auction winners bought tickets to the forthcoming show, raising a staggering £2 million.

‘Hey Jude’ was voted the UK’s favourite Beatles number 1 song so we sent out a special congratulations message to Paul on his Twitter account ☺

Paul, Mary and Stella McCartney wrote an open letter to Prime Minister David Cameron calling for him to raise the subject of meat reduction at the COP21 conference in Paris.

We went behind-the-scenes of the new 'Say Say Say [2015 Remix]' video with a short film taking a look at the making of the clip, along with photos from the shoot.

And Paul attended the opening of a new Linda and Mary McCartney joint photo exhibition titled 'Mother Daughter' at the Gagosian Gallery in New York. To celebrate the event, a new Linda McCartney account was opened on Instagram. Find Linda McCartney on Instagram by clicking HERE!

DECEMBER:
We went behind-the-scenes at the Linda and Mary McCartney joint photo exhibition 'Mother Daughter' with a set of exclusive photographs from the Gagosian Gallery 'hanging'.

Kanye West’s collaborative track ‘All Day’ featuring Paul was nominated for best 'Rap Performance' and 'Rap Song' at the 58th Annual GRAMMY Awards.

Paul sent a special message during the COP21 conference in Paris encouraging people to take part in a global Meat Free Monday movement: Less Meat = Less Heat.

Ten years ago, Paul caused chaos at the Waterstones bookshop in Piccadilly during his book signing for 'High in the Clouds'. After chatting to Paul about the day we also caught a little teaser for the forthcoming film!

It's not everyday you communicate with an astronaut - this month that's exactly what Paul did as he and British ESA astronaut Tim Peake shared their conversation with us via PaulMcCartney.com. Paul's single 'Hope For The Future' was also added to Tim's Spotify playlist.

Phew! Not a bad 12 months, we’re sure you’ll agree! We’ve also been publishing a whole host of fun stuff we'll be sharing with you over the Christmas holidays, so don’t forget to keep checking back!

Watch some of Paul's best moments from 2015 below...

Video directed by Charlie Lightening