A YEAR after its successful season, Coca-Cola Philippines comes back with the second season of Coke Studio — the musical program which makes Filipino music artists collaborate to further the Original Pilipino Music (OPM) genre.
“[Coke Studio] about collaboration, it’s about music and it’s about great output and OPM. This is what’s at the core of Coke Studio — it’s about evolving the concept [of Coke Studio], we can’t stay the same,” Stephan Czypionka, VP for marketing at Coca-Cola Philippines, told reporters shortly after the show’s media launch on Sept. 1 at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.
The launch was followed by a free concert featuring the artists in the second season of the show. The concert was attended by an estimated 3,000 people.
In August last year, Coca-Cola brought to the Philippines its international music franchise which currently has editions in Africa and other Asian countries such as Pakistan and India. The program, which aired on TV5, featured bands and artists such as Sandwich, Noel Cabangon, Curtismith, Urbandub, Gracenote, Autotelic, The Ransom Collective Abra, Reese Lansangan, Ebe Dancel, Moonstar88, and Franco converging and collaborating to create new sounds.
The show managed to produce songs such as “Caution to the Wind,” sung and written by The Ransom Collective, Gabby Alipe and John Dinopol; and “Stargazer” by Gracenote and Abra, among many others.
This time, while the program will still feature 14 artists, Coca-Cola Philippines is focusing on creating more “emotional and personal” songs upon consulting with the show’s audience.
“They want to know more about the artists and their story,” said Mr. Czypionka before adding, “That’s why ‘Homecoming’ was the theme [of Season 2]… it’s a very relevant topic in the Philippines, we have used this in our marketing a lot, but we didn’t want to be lazy and just think about geographic homecoming.”
He explained that when the artists were asked what “homecoming” means to them, it was also about going back to a certain memory or a certain event.
“I don’t know if the songs will be better, but I know they will be different,” Mr. Czypionka said.
The artists included in this season of Coke Studio are: Quest, who sang the 2012 Gilas Pilipinas (Philippine National Basketball team) song, “Sige Lang”; IV of Spades, which is known for songs such as “Mundo” and “Hey Barbara”; Ben&Ben which sang “Kathang Isip” and, most recently, “SUNRISE”; December Avenue, which sang “Sa Ngalan ng Pag-ibig” among other hits; Moira dela Torre, who is known for singing “Tagpuan” and “Malaya”;
Kristine “KZ” Tandingan, who is known for singing “Mahal Ko o Mahal Ako” and singing a cover of Air Supply’s “Two Less Lonely People in the World” for the 2017 film Kita Kita; Sam Concepcion, who is known for singing “Dati”; Khalil Ramos, who sang “Kung Ako Ba Siya”; rapper Shanti Dope (real name: Sean Patrick Ramos) who sang “Nadarang”; AJ Rafael who self-produced his debut album and sang “We Could Happen”; spoken word artist Juan Miguel Severo whose performances include “Parating Palayo”; Patti Tiu, who is known for remixing tracks at music festivals in the Philippines; and Kriesha Tiu, a Filipino-born American singer who is now a K-Pop singer.
Aside from the 13 artists mentioned, Coke Studio will have a surprise 14th artist will be revealed as the show goes on. The show will also be having a holiday-themed episode.
Coke Studio Philippines Season 2 will premiere on Sept. 16, 11:15 a.m., on ABS-CBN. It will have eight episodes. Episodes can also be viewed at the official YouTube page: Coke Studio Philippines. — Zsarlene B. Chua

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