Will.I.Am records Mona Lisa song in Paris’s Louvre

This file picture taken on February 21, 2012 shows US musician Will.I.Am arriving at the 2012 BRIT Awards in London. Will.I.Am recorded one of his next solo album’s song at the Louvre museum in Paris, next to Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” (La Gioconda or La Joconde), he said during a press conference on Wednesday, April 17, 2013. AFP/BEN STANSALL

PARIS—Grammy award-winning US musician Will.I.Am was allowed into Paris’s Louvre museum at two in the morning to record part of a song entitled “Smile Mona Lisa” in front of the famed painting by Leonardo da Vinci, he told reporters in Paris on Wednesday.

“That song touches me because I recorded a large portion of that song inside the Louvre, next to Mona Lisa’s picture,” the lead singer of the Black Eyed Peas said, adding that the song would appear on his next solo album.

“They let me go to the Louvre at 2 a.m. to record the guitars for that song, I wanted to capture the ambiance of the Louvre, that Mona Lisa lives in. That was exciting, to walk through the Louvre at 2 a.m. with the manager,” he said.

The singer added that if he had not entered the world of music he would have wanted to have been a scientist.

“I’m fascinated with quantum physics. That’s the reason why I’m going back to school this September to learn computer science,” he said.

And he urged young people to look to new technology for opportunities.

“If you live in a ghetto and really want not to just change your life and your family’s life but change your ghetto’s life, make your ghetto a good neighburhood, learn science, try to be like Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs,” he said.

“You’ll change not just your family and your neighborhood, you’ll change your whole city. Music is great, athletics is great, but the guys in Silicon Valley and the dudes that make Twitter and Facebook, they’re changing the world,” he added.