Tyla became a star in 2023 with her hit single “Water,” and since then, she hasn’t found herself in any sort of real public trouble. She’s doing her best to avoid any misconceptions about her favorite pastimes, too.
During a red-carpet interview at the MTV EMAs (as seen in this video), Tyla was asked for her guilty pleasure, and she responded, “Ooh! My guilty pleasure… Coke.” Then, quickly realizing that her pick could be misinterpreted as drugs instead of soda, she clarified, “Not ‘coke’ coke! Coca-Cola!”
At the EMAs, Tyla won the awards for Best Afrobeats, Best R&B, and Best African Act, and was also nominated for Best New.
On Thursday, July 25, Anderson .Paak and Stefani released “Hello World (Song of The Olympics)” with a video posted to the Olympics’ official YouTube channel.
“The Olympics and The Coca-Cola Company teamed up with Ryan Tedder, Gwen Stefani, and Anderson .Paak to create a song that celebrates the magic that happens when the world comes together at the Olympic Games,” the YouTube description reads.
Tedder co-produced and co-wrote the feel-good anthem. In the video, .Paak sets the tone by singing, “Hello, world, where ya been? / I’ve been waiting for you and your friends / One love begins / Tip-top, we’re starting at ten / If you believe that we can make some magic happen, say yeah.”
.Paak’s performance is spliced with footage of Olympic athletes being generally awesome, and eventually, we’re joined by a glittery Stefani. “I was mindin’ my business, taking care of business,” she sings. “Doin’ my thing / Woke up in the middle of the night like, ‘Ooh’ / Heard the telephone ring / I don’t need to tell you, I don’t need to explain / It’s ‘Hello World,’ we showin’ up, we changing the game.”
The 2024 Paris Olympics will run from July 26 to August 11, and you can expect to hear this song umpteen times in between.
As a hardcore fan of Coca-Cola, I have to admit that I’m loving the Coca-Cola Creations line. For the uninitiated, Coca-Cola Creations is a fairly new subsection of the brand that brings a steady stream of brand-new flavors and celebrity collaborations to the soda space. Now, I’m not one to be charmed by celebrity endorsements, I could care less what a celebrity likes, but a new flavor of soda? Bring it on.
So far Coca-Cola Creations has given us a collaboration with DJ and electronic producer Marshmello, which ironically wasn’t a marshmallow-flavored soda but a mix of strawberry and watermelon. Next came a flavor called Starlight, which came across as a mint cola. Another was called Dreamworld, which is a “Dream Flavored” soda that was inspired by M.C. Escher and Salvador Dali (unfortunately, it did not get you high). And yet another was called Byte and was a flavor inspired by pixels. Yes, pixels.
Now Coca-Cola has teamed up with multi-Grammy award-winning artist Rosalía for Coca-Cola Move, a flavor inspired by transformation.
What does “transformation” taste like? Does it taste like a “dream”? Will it ironically taste like marshmallows? We found out by grabbing both Coca-Cola Move and Coca-Cola Move Zero to give you the full rundown on this new flavor.
Coca-Cola Move/Move Zero
Dane Rivera
The Concept:
Before we dive into the flavor, let’s talk about the concept. From the outside, Coca-Cola Move sounds pretty f*cking random. If you’re a Rosalía fan (she was my most listened-to artist of 2022), it all ties in perfectly with her excellent 2022 album Motomami. Motomami is largely an album about transformation, both lyrically and visually with mariposa (butterfly) imagery. Sonically, Rosalía takes the familiar sounds of Latin music and deconstructs it via Virgil Abloh style, thereby transforming it into something that sounds radically brand new.
So as basic as “Move” sounds as a flavor, it’s meant to evoke the same sort of sensation you get from listening to Motomami. This is dope because instead of it being a random and empty celebrity team-up (what the hell does Marshmello have to do with strawberry and watermelon flavored soda?), it seems like Rosalía actually put some thought into the concept around Move. From a flavor perspective, it sort of works.
Dane Rivera
Tasting Notes:
Move has a shifting and evolving flavor. It hits the palate with sweetened coconut notes before transitioning into cotton candy flavors and a hint of freaking marshmallows. As the name suggests, this flavor is always moving across the palate, offering up something new with each taste. There’s a certain spring vibe to this flavor, which ties into the butterfly imagery used on Motomami, but it still has that distinct chocolate and cinnamon flavor you’d associate with Coca-Cola.
The soda has a nice strong fizz but lacks that characteristic bite that Coca-Cola is known for. It’s a lot softer on the throat and the flavor lingers on the tongue like Cherry Coke.
The Zero version of the flavor tastes very similar, but it has even darker notes and comes across as a bit sweeter despite having no sugar. I prefer the full sugar version easily. But if you’re a Coke Zero drinker, the sugarless version is likely more up your alley.
The Bottom Line:
Unfortunately, as cool as I think this soda is from a conceptual standpoint, I don’t know that I need a coconut, cotton candy, marshmallow-flavored soda. Coca-Cola Move is interesting, and as a soda drinker, I appreciate that it’s a unique flavor that doesn’t exist anywhere else. For that reason alone, it’s worth seeking out. But at the end of the day, I rather just have a classic Coke.
From conscious hip-hop to environmental consciousness, Madlib has dropped a new album featuring samples of sounds from the Coca-Cola recycling plant. Having teamed up with Mark Ronson, the two superproducers introduced Recycled Records in a new video narrated by rap veteran MC Lyte.
“It sounds very crazy and overstated to say it, but anything can become a sample, right? Ronson said in the video. “Like any sound, you can somehow manipulate in to a drum. The sounds and the rhythms and the pulses of sounds from everyday life can also be incredibly inspiring.”
In the video, we see both Madlib and Ronson in their studios, mixing, looping, and distorting sounds from the recycling plant — like the sound of crushing trash, and warping and reshaping bottles — into hip-hop-influenced instrumentals.
“It’s not everyday you get the opportunity to create music using objects found in everyday life to emulate new forms of sound,” Madlib said in a statement on the Coca-Cola website. “Recycled Records is an EP of original tracks made from the sounds of the closed loop recycling process.”
The album consists of seven unnamed tracks, five of which are Madlib beats, and the other two, Mark Ronson beats.
You can check out a trailer for the Recycled Records project above.
Chelsey Wilkins does everything with style and grace. The New Jersey native epitomizes fearlessness in order to achieve fulfillment. A maven, in the digital marketing median of entertainment culture, Wilkins has held distinguished positions at MTV, Pernod Ricard, Columbia Records and now Coca-Cola.
Her journey began as a Fashion editorial intern at ESSENCE, while attending Boston University. At the time, Wilkins viewed the lifestyle publication as her “dream internship.”
“ESSENCE was important to me because I grew up in a predominantly white area. I was always the only Black girl in my classes, and I really wanted to be uplifted by women who looked like me.”
While grateful for the experience, she quickly decided that it was not a long-term stay.
“Just because you love fashion doesn’t mean that you’ll like working in it,” she says.
After a few more internships while completing her bachelor’s program at Boston University, she took her style and work ethic to the house that Quincy Jones built, Vibe Magazine as a freelance writer.
Wilkin’s editorial experience would land her a role at Viacom’s (now ViacomCBS), MTV Networks. From flagship award shows to overseeing digital production, her tenure at the network proved her savviness for digital production and marketing.
In 2016, she transitioned from MTV to assume the role as Digital Content Manager at Columbia Records after attending an event where the label’s Digital Marketing head was a speaker. While many attendees asked questions pertaining to artists, Wilkins stood apart from the pack by asking questions pertaining to the role of digital marketing.
One of her proudest moments stemmed from her contribution to Solange’s career defining project, A Seat at The Table. The project was released within a three-week period. Wilkins details her experience of working with Solange.
“Hearing the music and working with her team, I noticed how dedicated she was to complete her vision. It showed me that when you’re truly passionate about something you are going to push through. It was really a powerful moment in my career.”
The album’s lead single, “Cranes in the Sky,” earned Solange her first Grammy win and nomination. In 2020, the album was listed in Rolling Stone’s 500 greatest albums of all-time.
She later rose to the occasion once again when Pernod Ricard sought out someone with music industry experience to assure their brand would appear in the culture’s most relevant spaces.
“I felt very confident with my experience in that world. There were so many synergies….. artists have partnerships with spirit brands, liquor brands are typically festival sponsors as well.”
Wilkin’s expertise would help Pernod Ricard grow their digital footprint in social media due to her content creation experience for artists at Columbia. Each previous experience was preparation for the next.
“I always seek environments where I can feel free to create,” she says.
At The Cocoa Cola Company, North America, where she leads Influencer and Music partnerships, Wilkins wants to assure that Black content creators not only have a seat at the table but are aware of their value once the seat is taken. Although she works to carry out the objective on a daily basis, she is more intentional about balance now more than ever.
“For a long time, I chased a title, more money and I thought success was working more. Now I’m intentional about defining my purpose and what makes me happy,” she says.
She prides herself on an audacious demeanor to trust her instinct when making the next move. Wilkins not only credits her instinct, but her core circle, which includes a combination of close friends and family.
Success for her now means, “family, friends and good health.”
As far as recipes for success, the Harlem based executive keeps it short and sweet: “work extremely hard and enjoy the transitional process from where you are now to where you want to be.”
For Chelsey Wilkins, she carries out her recipe with a dash of chic style.
Tyler The Creator’s has been quiet since he took home a Grammy award for Best Rap Album last year. It’s not clear when he’ll release new music, though the rapper did land a pretty sweet gig with Coca-Cola recently. The beverage company shared an ad on Sunday that featured music by Tyler himself, in which a number of people are shown cracking open a bottle of Coca-Cola to drink. The first sip from the bottle causes them to dance uncontrollably and flaunt their moves in various locations, including a corner store and a soccer game.
Tyler took to Twitter to share the news. “Drums are f*cking hard the low end is shaking,” he wrote. He added, “Thats me playing the flute at the beginning,” revealing that his talents span multiple instruments. In addition to the production, Tyler’s vocals can also be heard in the ad. While the commercial is certainly a great moment for Tyler, he wasn’t all for it at first.
mannnn thanks coca cola for reallll big love for the opportunity i was like ehh idk but then i fucking ran with it. commercials need sounds like this, thanksssss
“Mannnn thanks coca cola for reallll big love for the opportunity,” he wrote. “I was like ehh idk but then i f*cking ran with it. commercials need sounds like this, thanksssss.”
)” with a video posted to the Olympics’ official YouTube channel. 
