2022 Winners & Shortlists

Write a short summary of what happens in the radio or audio execution or campaign.

This audio execution is the debut track for a brand-new music genre Chevrolet Groove created, ME-Pop. ME-Pop, short for Middle Eastern Pop, is designed to give greater representation to Arab millennials, who are under-represented in the Middle Eastern music scene, despite being its biggest consumers. To achieve this representation, ME-Pop launched with an album of 6 songs, with each track combining modern elements of Arab music from different artists, genres and origins. This debut track features Flipperachi, an up-and-coming Bahraini hip-hop artist, paired with Carmen Soliman, a young Egyptian pop singer. Catchy and full of life, the song tells a classic tale of boy meets girl. Flipperachi switches seamlessly between clever Arabic and English lyrics, while Carmen hits every note with her dulcet tones. The lyrics include the word Groove, as a way to seamlessly integrate our new car launch, the Chevrolet Groove, into the song.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

Khaleeji music, literally translating as ‘Gulf music’, is often characterized by heavy use of the oud (a short-necked stringed instrument, like a lute). Sheilat music is characterized by an artist elaborately vocalizing poetry to a melody. They are innately Middle Eastern, but are much older, more traditional styles of music. What makes ME-Pop different is that it brings together modern elements from across the region – artists, genres, instruments, languages, nationalities and musical styles. This makes it simultaneously diverse and representative of the region today. Each track on our ME-Pop album combines two or more artists, to create something unique. What’s more, Arabic from different countries has very different styles and dialects. Artists from Morocco, Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Libya and Kuwait all have different characteristics, which makes the pairings we created (which also blended genres) even more out of the ordinary.

Script. Provide the full to radio/audio script in English.

<Flipperachi> Daamn, look at that girl in the Chevy. Daaamn, what did I like about her? What attracted me to her? God knows. Is it her beauty? God knows. Her features? God knows. Her bank account? You drive me crazy. Why are you doing this to me? If I’m the ball, you’re Maldini I would give my life, my years to you…but ahem Can I ask, if you’re sugar or honey? Cause sometimes you’re my honey, other times my sugar. <Carmen> Look, you can keep saying this for years And keep popping up wherever I go I’ll still be a star way high in the sky I’ll always be out of your reach If you come close, you’ll suffer…so forget about me. There’s a fence all around me and you can’t reach me. If you come close, you’ll suffer…so forget about me. I warned you before and you didn’t agree, so it’s not on me. I don’t know what happened to me. <Flipperachi> I think I like you girl. Your style is on fire. I think I like you girl I’m jealous of your clothes. I think I like you girl. You got me so confused. I think I like you girl. Yalla Groove, yalla Groove Without no rules, show them your Groove Show them your moves Get low, get low You got the Groove Show them your moves

Please tell us about the social behaviour and / or cultural insights that inspired your work

Over half of millennials listen to 3 hours or more of music each day – more than any other demographic. And yet, in the Middle East, the prevailing genres are still western favorites like pop and rap, or traditional Arab styles like khaleeji and sheilat. This has led to millennials in the region craving greater representation and crying out for more diverse content. Korea has K-Pop, Japan has J-Pop. We wanted to give Arab millennials this representation with music and artists they could truly relate to. So we created ME-Pop, a new genre of music that combines modern elements of Arab music from different artists, genres and origins, to capture the heart of the Middle East. Chevrolet worked closely with diverse regional artists to define ME-Pop’s signature sound, ensuring we maintain authenticity, reflect regional tastes and still offer Arab millennials something new.