Zack Tabudlo is honored to become the first Filipino artist to join the roster of international acts for the season 2 of Coke Studio global platform together with Blue Jean, Sam Smith, and more (Image by Jessica Pag-iwayan).
With his talent and passion for music, Zack Tabudlo, at his young age, is already carving his name in the music industry, not just in the local scene but also in the international market.
In 2022, he emerged as Spotify’s most-streamed local artist in the Philippines, next to Taylor Swift and BTS. On top of this, he recently became the first Filipino male solo artist to achieve one billion Spotify streams, with multiple songs charting #1 on Spotify’s Global Viral chart.
With these achievements under his belt, he became one of the obvious talents nominated to become part of Coke Studio’s global platform. The Coke Studio platform allows global borderless creation and collaboration amongst emerging and established music artists. It is curated in partnership with Universal Music Group, offering rare opportunities for artists worldwide to collaborate creatively, experiment with sounds from different cultures, and fuse genres to create new music and reach global audiences.
In an interview with the Manila Bulletin Lifestyle, Teejae Sonza, Coca-Cola Trademark Group marketing director, ASEAN & South Pacific, said that 21-year-old Zack passed all parameters needed to be part of this global stage, and he’s the right person to represent original Pilipino music (OPM) in this generation.
“We got really excited at the end of last year when they said that we could pitch in some names from all over the world for season 2 of the Coke Studio,” she says. “There’s a few parameters, we want to identify artists that really are breaking-through in different parts of the world and then second, what kind of artist do we bring because Coke Studio is really about a collision of different types of music, different languages, and different instruments. In our case, we didn’t hesitate to put in the name of Zack.”
And he made it. For this season, the “Paano” singer is paired-up with Gen Z hip-hop artist from South Africa, Nasty C. The duo created a melodic, upbeat, heart-touching song titled “Fallin.” This wonderful song, according to Zack, was born through online collaboration.
“Fallin was originally made with me and Nasty C. Everything happened online,” Zack says at the Coke Studio PH season 7 launched last Saturday, July 8, 2023. “Nasty C is pretty cool. And I’m just really humbled to be the first Filipino artist to make it to Coke Studio’s global stage. Pretty crazy. It’s such a humbling and prideful moment for me to really raise the OPM music as much as I can.”
The multi-award-winning, platinum-selling South African Nasty C originates from Durban in the KwaZulu-Natal Province. His escalating success led to his 2020 signing to the esteemed Def Jam Records in the USA, and the release of his third album Zulu Man With Some Power, which saw him making global waves.
“Exchanging vibes with Zack on this record was special. Collaborating with him was an organic process; we connected creatively and found a perfect balance between our unique styles,” Nasty C says in a press statement. “I enjoy collaborations that highlight the magic that can happen when artists from different backgrounds come together to create music. I can’t wait for the world to hear what we’ve cooked up!”
More than 16 of the biggest breakthrough music artists of the moment have been brought together from the US, UK, Canada, South Africa, Colombia, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, China, Korea, and the Philippines for Coke Studio 2023, including NewJeans (Korea), Imagine Dragons (US), and Sam Smith (UK).
Content from the said studio is available for fans to access here.