Sprite and Ryan Tedder Spotlight Fearless Artists From Around the World in Sprite Limelight Season 2

Sprite is inviting fans to step back into the “Limelight” in 2023 for an encore presentation of its groundbreaking global music program. Sprite Limelight Season 2 brings together another genre-spanning collective of international artists to create original songs inspired by a chorus crafted by Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic.

Four diverse, hand-picked artists from around the world – Feid (Colombia), Cassper Nyovest (South Africa), Lexa (Brazil) and Lay Zhang (China) – used Tedder’s dancehall reggae- and baile funk-inspired hook as a musical starting point to create a track reflecting their respective styles, cultures and creative points of view.

Each exclusive track will subsequently drop on Spotify in the coming months, along with music videos, immersive “Heat Confessionals” and documentary-style studio footage to give fans an inspiring, never-before-seen look into their artistic journeys and creative processes. The content will shine a light on the artists’ stories of overcoming moments of heat through their music.

Sprite Limelight debuted in 2022 as a music-focused extension of the brand’s global platform, “Heat Happens”, which invites fans to keep cool in the face of everyday heated moments. American rapper Coi Leray, African singer-songwriter Omah Lay and Chinese pop/rock singer Hua Chenyu created tracks using a hook created by Grammy-winning producer James Blake. The brand has longstanding ties to music, especially in the United States where the brand has been synonymous with hip-hop culture for more than three decades.

“When we created the Sprite Limelight program, we hoped it would have a powerful impact on both music fans and Sprite fans – but the response exceeded all expectations,” said Joshua Burke, Global Head of Music and Culture Marketing, The Coca‑Cola Company. “Our aim was to do something completely different and to break the mold of the traditional music and brand partnership with a new type of program that places real artists and real stories at the center of everything. For our audience, music is where they go to switch off, clear their heads, shift moods, validate feelings and, ultimately, cool down.”

When Tedder got the call to serve as the lead artist for Season 2 of Sprite Limelight, he was in the middle of the desert in Saudi Arabia. “Which is ironic, given the campaign theme of staying cool in the face of heat,” the Grammy-winning writer, producer and singer said with a laugh. “I started it in Abu Dhabi and finished in South Africa, so it was very much a global experience for me.”

The concept of co-creating with artists from around the world came naturally to Tedder, who frequently collaborates with peers while touring the world with One Republic.

“For me, the goal was to write something that, even if this campaign didn't exist, the lyric and melody would still make you feel something and want to hear it,” Tedder said. “I said to Josh from the beginning that it needed to be authentic for fans to connect with… and I think we achieved that. I honestly had no clue how these incredible artists would use (the hook), but I knew I wanted to create a melodic and lyrical theme they could manipulate and make their own. Each took it to their own universe, dropped a pin on where they’re from and delivered a great song.”