Tinashe Talks New 'Sound Drop' Collaboration with Pepsi: Exclusive

The company’s emerging artist platform will also be part of an upcoming ‘Empire’ storyline.

Pepsi has tapped Tinashe as the next artist to join its music platform, The Sound Drop. Conducted in partnership with iHeartMedia, Shazam and Viacom, the Pepsi campaign is dedicated to supporting emerging artists by providing tools to help heighten their visibility, produce content and build a deeper connection with fans. The multi-faceted initiative initially launched in August 2016 with Lukas Graham, later adding Alessia Cara and Jidenna to its roster that year.

Coming off a No. 1 single on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart via her guest role on Britney Spears’ “Slumber Party,” Tinashe is currently finalizing the tracks for her long-anticipated sophomore album Joyride.

Although the album is due later this year, the singer promises that fans will get to hear “a bit of new material that’s very high-energy with feel-good vibes” as part of her Sound Drop campaign, which kicks off today (March 16) with visual content featured on Pepsi’s YouTube channel. In fact, upon the launch of her partnership with Pepsi, Tinashe released a hot new single, "Flame."

“I’m excited for people to see and hear the music that’s part of this campaign," Tinashe tells Billboard. "I love having the opportunity to show more about my story and let people into my creative process. I’ll also be doing some things with a couple of other artists; they’re going to be able to put their spin on some of my songs.”

The Sound Drop will also play a role in Pepsi’s ongoing multi-platform partnership with Fox for the season three return of Empire on March 22. Tinashe will be seen working with character Jamal Lyon as he creates a musical tribute to his parents. The musical tribute will be unveiled during a May episode.

From there, fans will be directed to Shazam during that episode to stream the entire visual representation of the tribute, titled When Cookie Met Lucious and featuring Jamal, through their mobile devices. Both the visual and musical tribute will feature mini-can artwork and songs by Jamal that were heard during season two and three. This will kick off a new social series from Pepsi called EMERGE that will also feature fellow Sound Drop artist Jidenna and Empire cast members Gabourey Sibide (Becky Williams) and Ta’Rhonda Jones (Porsha).

Tinashe is the second artist after Bebe Rexha to be spotlighted this year on The Sound Drop. Additional artists will be announced throughout the year.