‘The show has to appeal to Gen-Z, don’t worry about the millennials and the ones that came before them. And yeah, try to not make it exactly like Nescafe Basement’, the brief said.
‘Opex budgets have been increased for set design, that means budgets for everything else are reduced’.
What would you do if you had this situation? Get skilled people who aren’t seasoned enough to make do for the monetary constraints to execute the project.
By eliminating most of the previous teams, gone is the overall experience that Coke Studio was able to carry with the key house band members.
Coke Studio Season 14 Website
As of writing this post, which is 2 weeks into the official release of Coke studio 14, the website still remains empty.
The artist line-up lists artists for only released songs so far, and descriptions for those artists isn’t yet uploaded. The backing vocals, house bad and even the producer sections are self-quarantining from the website.
This lack of consideration shows up in different elements of the overall show as well.
Video Quality:
Despite having so much potential with set options, the videos uploaded onto Youtube are still 1080p resolution, yes, forget the devices which the catered for audience, GEN-Z, have access to. While the world thinks immersive, and Metaverse, Cokestudio which stayed pretty much with the curve, has been left far behind.
Performance Videos vs. Music Videos
By making the song videos look like a music video rather than a studio setting, the whole element of the visible representation and foreplanning required for executing a one-take recording, seems to be thrown out of the window. I don’t know anymore if the recordings (audio/video) are the same one-take set-up as they’ve always been. I don’t get an impression that they are.
Sound Quality:
Now, I don’t have a musical ear and hence no knowledge of scales, beats or even tuning, but to my untrained ear, the sound design also isn’t as intricate as it has been over the years. It isn’t a major issue of course but sometimes, it’s those little details that make something excel.
Instagram @coke_studio:
There is a lack of a brand voice on the channel due to the constant reposts appearing from one particular account @ghazitaimoor, so it is appearing a bit of a promotion campaign for Ghazi as it is not just the reposts but in-addtion he keeps passing up on the Coke_studio account as he is also the host of the Coke Studio Season 14 artist interviews.
Coke Studio Season 14 -Release schedule:
Coke studio always used to follow a schedule of releasing teasers, BTS and the songs, which created anticipation and we knew that come Sunday, we’d have fresh content to watch. This time around, being edgy (as in not trying to do the same things as previous seasons) doesn’t seem to be following any structure with releases being odd days. This makes me think, is this even Coke Studio 14 or is this the pre-season releases, similar to when they released Coke Studio Explorer in 2018.
Coke Studio 14 -Overall Verdict:
Don’t take it as a critiquing Xulfi or any of the people involved but Coke Studio 14 gives an overall feeling of rawness, which is quite unusual for a show that’s 14 seasons in. Sure it’s been re-invented, and I do like the songs so far but what I miss is the finesse that I’ve come to expect out of Coke Studio. The songs released have a virality to them but don’t have the calming spiritual wholesomeness.
Or maybe 2022 is finally the year that I lost touch with what’s current and now belong to a generation that’s no longer relevant.
Life Manual 