Things We Saw Today: Dolly Parton Joins Doja Cat in Making Music for Taco Bell’s Mexican Pizza

Earlier today, and simultaneously with Dolly Parton, Taco Bell announced that it was releasing a live TikTok musical to celebrate the return of the Mexican Pizza. Though this is the first time I’m hearing of it, Parton made it clear she was Team Bring it Back in a January interview with Insider. Written by Hannah Friedman, Abigail Barlow, and Emily Bear, the musical’s screenplay title page reads “based on the true story of the Internet losing its mind.”

In early March, fellow singer-songwriter Doja Cat teased a Taco Bell Mexican Pizza rap (not a jingle), before confirming the beloved menu item was coming back during her Coachella performance. The initial buzz inspired many TikTok and other video creatives to use the sound, the most viral of which (other than Doja herself) was London content creator Victor Kunda. They shared the song under a scenario where they led an imagined rehearsal for Mexican Pizza: The Musical by Doja Cat. Little did Kunda know the project would come to fruition, but instead be called Victor Kunda’s Mexican Pizza: The Musical. No news on how to get a hold of one of those Playbills.

This is not the first time (or even second time) a site-specific, major musical will be taking place on the app. As the idea went viral as a meme, composer Daniel Merzlufft helped organize 2021’s Ratatouille: The Musical. This meme manifested into a ticketed event to raise money for Broadway artists out of work due to COVID-19.

While the Mexican Pizza is set to return May 19, you’ll have to wait until May 26 at 8pm EST to watch Mexican Pizza: The Musical on TikTok.

(Image: Netflix, via NBC News)

Here are some other bits of news we saw today:

• Texas woman finds bust for $34.99 at Goodwill, but it turns out to a roughly two thousand years old.(via HyperAllergic)
• Jessie Gender discusses how Dave Chappelle’s attack at the Rose Bowl vilifies the Transgender community. (via YouTube)
• Has method acting gone too far? Succession actor Brian Cox acts like character Logan Roy by defending transphobia and calling so-called cancel culture “a virus” in a Piers Morgan interview. (via Yahoo! News)

https://twitter.com/JamesGunn/status/1523709432634347523?s=20&t=eO1tCOL0fnsHtROctLTBnQ

• Three women accuse director Cary Fukunaga (No Time to Die, Beasts of No Nation director) of predatory behavior. (via DailyDot.)
• Corridor Crew (a VFX production studio best known for their offensive bowling alley animations) created rated-R version of 2008 Spider-Man scenes. (via Yahoo!Life)
• Apex Legends reveals abilities of newest legend Newcastle (via YouTube)

What did you see out there today? Let us know in the comments below!

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Alyssa Shotwell

(she/her) Award-winning artist and writer with professional experience and education in graphic design, art history, and museum studies. She began her career in journalism in October 2017 when she joined her student newspaper as the Online Editor. This resident of the yeeHaw land spends most of her time drawing, reading and playing the same handful of video games—even as the playtime on Steam reaches the quadruple digits. Currently playing: Baldur's Gate 3 & Oxygen Not Included.

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