Megan Thee Stallion Teams With RM For “Neva Play,” Travis Kelce For Queen-Sampling Gladiator II Pepsi Commercial
You would think that Megan Thee Stallion’s hands are full. Her album Megan is just two months old, and she’s got two songs on this week’s Billboard Hot 100. Next week, she’s hosting and performing at the VMAs. And yet Megan is still seemingly saying yes to every promotional opportunity that comes along, whether that means recording with a BTS member or appearing in one of the worst commercials I have ever seen in my life.
Today, Megan Thee Stallion released her new single “Neva Play,” which is apparently intended for a future deluxe edition of Megan. It’s a collaboration with South Korean pop star RM, whose name used to be Rap Monster. RM, who’s previously collaborated with people like Erykah Badu and Moses Sumney, is one of the rapping members of BTS, and he’s the only member of the group who’s always been comfortable speaking English. “Neva Play” is a standard Megan Thee Stallion snarl-bounce, and it’s got RM rapping capably in English. In the bright, flashy video, RM only appears in animated form. Check it out below.
Megan Thee Stallion also has a new song, if you can call it that, in a Pepsi commercial. It’s not just a Pepsi commercial, though. This this is intended to promote Pepsi, the NFL, the movie Gladiator II, and I guess also Megan Thee Stallion herself. It’s an eye-wrecking CGI-fest about a football stadium turning into the Colosseum through the magic of Pepsi, or something.
In the ad, Megan raps over a sample of Queen’s “We Will Rock You,” and she stars alongside Travis Kelce, Josh Allen, Derrick Henry, Justin Jefferson, Lamorne Morris, and Jake Lacy. The clip is directed by Jake Scott, son of Gladiator auteur Ridley. You can’t accuse Jake of being a nepo baby, since he is 59 years old. Wikipedia tells me that he directed the videos for “Everybody Hurts” and “Disarm” and “Fake Plastic Trees.” Huh. This ad doesn’t look anything like those videos. Instead, it’s just a bunch of brands pigpiling on top of each other, and I hate it so much. Watch it below.