BY AWATT JOYCE IDARAESIT
Today Coca-Cola has released the first original song to kick off the second season of its COKE STUDIO™ global music platform, which brings the most exciting emerging and breakthrough artists from all corners of the world together to create ‘Real Magic’.
The new track, titled “Be Who You Are (Real Magic)” – is written and performed by Grammy-award-winning American songwriter and musician, Jon Batiste, and features artists NewJeans, J.I.D, Camilo and Cat Burns.
Coca-Cola’s ‘Real Magic’ brand philosophy celebrates the magic of human connection and the belief that our differences make the world a richer and more interesting place. It is a celebration of the real-life moments and the magic, that happens when people come together. First launched in Pakistan in 2008 and re-launched globally in May 2022, COKE STUDIO™ returns bigger and bolder this year with new artist collision song releases and a program of festival sponsorships, live performances, AR and digital content and on pack experiences, allowing audiences to discover new music wherever they are in the world, running from May – September 2023.
As a platform that celebrates borderless collaboration, COKE STUDIO™ has brought together Verve Records/Interscope/UMG signed artist Jon Batiste and 16+ of the biggest breakthrough music artists of the moment from South Africa, Egypt, US, UK, Canada, Colombia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, China, Korea and the Philippines. These artists have created 9 brand new multi-artist collision songs and exclusive COKE STUDIO™ sessions from each artist, which will be released to global music fans on all music platforms in June and July.
The “Be Who You Are (Real Magic)” anthem and music video, being released today, is a celebration of the power of staying true to yourself. It reflects on the idea that it is when people are their authentic selves and accept each other’s differences, the ‘Real Magic’ happens. Penned by Jon Batiste, the song finds him collaborating with the global breakout group NewJeans, pushing the boundaries of K-Pop; Latin Grammy-Award winning pop artist from Colombia, Camilo; British, BRIT Award & Ivor Novello-nominated, chart-topping singer songwriter Cat Burns and Atlanta-born eclectic rapper J.I.D.
Jon Batiste said “I am proud to partner with Coke to share a message of encouragement and humanity with the world through my music. The Coke Studio platform does great at harnessing their global reach to bring artists of different cultures together in celebration of our cultural differences and the ultimate oneness of us all. This is such a non-traditional, innovative approach we’ve taken, and it felt very organic for me to just do my World Music Radio thing. When I wrote “Be Who You Are (Real Magic)” I was inspired to create an anthem that captures the Real Magic that happens when we come together as our authentic selves. The anthem features new friends of mine from all around the world, these phenomenally special artists NewJeans, Camilo, J.I.D and Cat Burns. We really had a lot of fun and I hope people everywhere feel the vibe.”
In addition to the music, Coca-Cola will launch its first COKE STUDIO™ augmented reality record store on the COKE STUDIO™ Digital Hub – https://apo-opa.info/3MPjZ22 – which will feature an immersive album and mobile digital experience inspired by the “Be Who You Are (Real Magic)” music video. In this virtual world, fans will be able to go into the world of the video, which will feature an avatar of Jon Batiste who will guide users to listen to the artist songs, play games and access artist and backstage content and exclusive prizes.
Coca-Cola is bringing music closer to fans in the real world by sponsoring the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival last month and Lollapalooza Chicago in August. The brand has also partnered with Tomorrowland Belgium, to host a COKE STUDIO™ live stream from the festival, enabling audiences globally to tune into live performances via the COKE STUDIO™ digital hub.
Pratik Thakar, Head of Global Strategy & Creative, Coca-Cola™ says “ ‘Real Magic’ is all about celebrating what happens when different people come together as their authentic selves. The COKE STUDIO™ platform is the true representation of that, with the amazing artists we have brought together to deliver a program that is bigger and bolder than before.”
“True collaboration between artists from different cultures, genres and backgrounds, what we are calling creative ‘Collisions’, are at the heart of our COKE STUDIO™ platform.” Our goal for this program is to always be music-driven and fan-first by bringing unique music and music experiences to the forefront. This year, we’ve worked with a diverse mix of amazingly talented artists from all over the world, bringing them together to create original music that we hope will transcend boarders and excite music fans with something new.” adds Joshua Burke, Global Head of Music & Culture Marketing, Coca-Cola™.
The COKE STUDIO™ platform is a space for true borderless creation and collaboration amongst emerging and established music artists globally. Curated in collaboration with Universal Music Group, the world leader in music-based entertainment, it offers the rare opportunity for artists from all over the world to collaborate creatively and experiment with sounds from different cultures, fuse genres to create new music and reach global audiences – whether bringing Punjabi music to the US or South African beats to India.
Today Coca-Cola announces that the collision artists for COKE STUDIO™ 2023 will be:
- Nasty C (South Africa)
- Afroto (Egypt)
- Camilo (Colombia)
- NewJeans (Korea)
- J.I.D (US)
- Cat Burns (UK)
- Imagine Dragons (US)
- Sam Smith (UK)
- Diljit Dosanjh (India)
- Evdeki Saat (Turkey)
- Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (US)
- Jessie Reyez (US)
- Shae Gill (Pakistan)
- Shreya Ghoshal (India)
- XIN LIU (China)
- Zack Tabudlo (Philippines)
