When Doja Cat released her (obligatory) jingle about Mexican Pizza, it garnered a massive response from her fans. One such fan, TikTok influencer Victor Kunda, went so far as to use Doja Cat’s jingle to create his own video from the perspective of someone “walking into the dance rehearsals for Taco Bell’s Mexican Pizza: The Musical.” When Doja Cat organically reposted Victor’s content, we saw an opportunity to connect some dots and create the official Taco Bell Mexican Pizza: The Musical.
Following the success of TikTok musicals like Ratatouille and For You, Page, we decided to take the musical to TikTok, but needed amazing songwriters to pull it off. Enter Barlow & Bear. When we saw the duo shock the Grammys by winning Best Musical Theater Album for their TikTok album The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical, we knew they were the perfect fit.
The musical aimed to celebrate the connection between the menu item and all the consumers who lobbied for its return. After all, Taco Bell had been inundated with demands to bring back the Mexican Pizza ever since its removal. Fans created viral petitions, made protest songs, and even held funerals. We knew their journeys had to be immortalized within the musical. So we featured real fans within the musical performance itself, including not only everyday people and influencers, but superstars like Dolly Parton (she’s a real Mexican Pizza fan)—and the musical depicted moments from Doja Cat’s epic crusade to get the product back.
Ultimately, we created a 10-minute TikTok musical with songs written by Barlow & Bear. It was just the right amount of absurd and beautiful to commemorate the absurdity of the lengths people were willing to go to get the Mexican Pizza back on the Taco Bell menu.