Blxckie collaborates with Grammy-nominated producers ‘Take a Daytrip’ to drop new music for Sprite Limelight season three in South Africa

Sprite Limelight™ is back in 2024 with fresh new music and storytelling from its biggest-yet roster of international artists.

Blxckie, Fireboy DML, XAMÃ, Lay Zhang, Doechii and Mahalia step into the ‘Limelight’ with original new tracks inspired by overcoming moments of ‘heat’ in their lives

Johannesburg, October 17, 2024 – Sprite Limelight Season Three returns, featuring a dynamic lineup of internationally acclaimed artists and inspirational stories about staying cool under everyday pressures. This season includes South Africa's Blxckie, Puerto Rico’s Young Miko, Nigeria’s Fireboy DML, Brazil’s XAMÃ, China’s Lay Zhang, America's Doechii, and Britain’s Mahalia. These artists will connect with their fans by sharing their personal stories of overcoming heat through their music, serving up that much needed cool-down for when the tension rises.

“Sprite Limelight connects artists and audiences by sharing relatable stories of heat,” says Franscoe Bouwer, Senior Marketing Director for South Africa at Coca‑Cola Africa. “By going behind the scenes, we uncover what challenges put artists under pressure. We feature artists like well-known South African rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer Blxckie, demonstrating how they handle life's heat through their music.”

The third season of Sprite Limelight promises to deliver new music and heartfelt, relatable storytelling that resonates with a global audience. The original tracks for Sprite Limelight are built around a central “hook” created by Take A Daytrip, the musical creative directors for this season.  Each artist has the freedom to reinterpret the hook in their unique artistic vision—through sampling, re-singing, or altering lyrics and melodies—to infuse it with their personal stories of heat and resilience. The resulting tracks showcase a blend of genres, featuring Nigeria’s Afrobeat rhythms, British R&B's soulful melodies, and rap sounds from America, China, Brazil, and South Africa.

“Making music is a privilege and one that I work hard to enjoy and craft every day, so having dope opportunities to be in this space with other artists and producers who bring different cultures, ideas and creative points of view is so inspiring – thank you for bringing me into Sprite Limelight Season 3, being part of this is really exciting,” adds Blxckie.

Sprite Limelight Season 3 will be supported and amplified through a multi-channel marketing campaign in South Africa. This includes the release of Blxckie's new hit single, “South,” along with exclusive social-first artist video and music content, engaging competitions, and limited-edition Sprite packaging featuring Blxckie. Fans are encouraged to turn their personal heat into creative beats using Sprite’s new music remix tool, ‘Soundlabs,’ powered by AI. This tool allows users to select a hook, generate a base track, and transform their frustration into inspiration by creating and remixing shareable tracks.

To access ‘Soundlabs’ and additional Limelight content and merchandise, fans can visit the Sprite Limelight online hub or scan the limited-edition Sprite packaging featuring Blxckie, designed by Zimbabwean artist Sindiso Nyoni (aka R!OT). Share your tracks on social media and join the global conversation using the hashtag #HeatHappens to connect with a community overcoming life’s pressure.

Blxckie and other artists' new music tracks and videos will be dropped on their YouTube and Spotify channels along with Sprite's global channel. Visit YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsNm0-AKC3I and Sprite Limelight’s online hub at https://www.coca-cola.com/za/en/offerings/sprite-limelight-2024.

About The Coca‑Cola Company

The Coca‑Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is a total beverage company with products sold in more than 200 countries and territories. Our company’s purpose is to refresh the world and make a difference. We sell multiple billion-dollar brands across several beverage categories worldwide. Our portfolio of sparkling soft drink brands includes Coca‑Cola, Sprite and Fanta. Our water, sports, coffee and tea brands include Dasani, smartwater, vitaminwater, Topo Chico, BODYARMOR, Powerade, Costa, Georgia, Gold Peak and Ayataka. Our juice, value-added dairy and plant-based beverage brands include Minute Maid, Simply, innocent, Del Valle, fairlife and AdeS. We’re constantly transforming our portfolio, from reducing sugar in our drinks to bringing innovative new products to market. We seek to positively impact people’s lives, communities and the planet through water replenishment, packaging recycling, sustainable sourcing practices and carbon emissions reductions across our value chain. Together with our bottling partners, we employ more than 700,000 people, helping bring economic opportunity to local communities worldwide. Learn more at www.coca-colacompany.com and follow us on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.

About Universal Music Group For Brands

Leveraging the power of music and culture to accelerate business, UMG For Brands offers a unique global approach to making brands culturally relevant and brand marketing, with teams in 74 countries. Whether a brand is looking to shift perception, reach a new generation, boost sales or build loyalty; UMG For Brands helps define a brand’s authentic voice in culture. Recent CLIO and Cannes Lions wins are a testament of the true synergy that can be achieved between culturally relevant artists and brands. 

Learn more at www.umgb.com

Universal Music Group For Brands has partnered with The Coca‑Cola Company for Season 3 of Sprite Limelight, connecting seven diverse and talented global artists across North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and China.

About Blxckie

Blxckie is a multi-award winning South African rapper, singer, songwriter and producer. He disrupted the music industry with his debut album B4NOW, which later won Best Hip Hop Album at the South African Music Awards.  Recently signed to Def Jam, Blxckie continues to reach new heights as an international artist who’s bagged 2 nominations at BET Hip Hop Awards for Best International Flow. Reaching multi-platinum, platinum and gold certification for his hit songs, projects and features across the global – Blxckie remains a leader of new wave artists.