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Pepsi x Starship releases ‘Summer Taste’ by Rain, Monsta X, Brave Girls and Ateez

Pepsi x Starship drops 'Summer Taste', a dance-trap track with a fun music video starring Rain and members of Monsta X, Brave Girls and Ateez

It was announced earlier that Starship Entertainment and Pepsi were collaborating once again for Pepsi’s ‘For the Love of It’ global campaign. They released a star-studded lineup which included legendary K-pop star Rain, members of Monsta X, Ateez and Brave Girls. Many wondered what the 2021 version ‘2021 Pepsi Taste of Korea Campaign’ would entail.

Since 2019, several artists have been collaborating together to release special singles for the Pepsi x Starship campaign. Iconic songs have been produced from this project - ‘Refresh’ by Zico and Kang Daniel and ‘Beginning’ by Rain and Soyou. This led to all kinds of predictions as to which artists would collab together after the lineup for the 2021 version was announced.

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Pepsi x Starship releases 'Summer Taste'

Well, no one could have guessed it, but all four K-pop acts got together to release the single ‘Summer Taste’. Starship released the single and the music video for ‘Summer Taste’ which featured Rain, Ateez’s Hongjoong and Yunho, Monsta X’s Shownu, Hyungwon and I.M and Brave Girls’ Yujeong and Yuna.

Summer Taste is a dance-trap song that has a strong bassline that one would usually hear at a club. Full of synth samplers and autotune, it is a song that tries to make the listeners forget their worries and use music as an escape mechanism to just enjoy and be happy. Featuring rappers I.M and Hongjoong, their verses stand out as they fill the peppy song with a sense of swagger.

Yujeong and Yuna’s soft voices are a respite from the otherwise intense track as they harmonize with the backing vocals and instruments. With Hyungwon’s DJ persona, DJ H.ONE, making an appearance in the music video, we wonder whether he took part in the production of the song. It's also worth noting that Rain has been an inspiration for Yujeong and Shownu which must have made this collaboration special for them.

The catchy hook where the artists sing ‘What’s up’ on repeat before the second half of the song is a hilarious earworm that gets stuck in your head even after the song ends. The music video suits the song with a blend of vibrant beach settings, full of strobe lights, confetti and party vibes. The collab also has some great main dancers evident from Yunho beginning the dance to Rain and Shownu freestyling during the bridge.

‘Best collab song’

A fan tweeted, “ATEEZ BRAVE GIRLS MONSTAX RAIN COLLAB IS WHAT I NEEDED TO SAVE MY 2021!! BEST COLLAB SONG OF 2021.” Another fan tweeted, “The collab we never knew we needed IT'S SUCH A FUN VID.”

A Rain fan tweeted, “Rain being a whole mood in the mv.” An Ateez fan tweeted, “My man hongjoong looking ready for a fresh summer comeback.” Another fan tweeted, “YUNHO STARTING THE SONG OFF AAAAA.”

A Monsta X fan tweeted, “Willing to give my all to this transition part from changkyun's rapping to hyungwon's sweet vocals.” Looks like even Pepsi knows about Shownu’s love for food since one fan noticed, “Putting shownu with burgers, they sure did it right.”

A Brave Girls fan tweeted, “I was expecting a hell of a lot of cringe because usually these kinds of projects are.....but yujeong and yuna sounded ESPECIALLY good their parts were the highlights for sure.” Another fan tweeted, “Lets discuss yujeong and yuna for a min.”

Watch the music video below.