Many terrible things happened in 2020, and when we talk about it, one thing (for a good reason) gets left off. Of course, I’m talking about the removal of Taco Bell’s iconic “Mexican pizza.” Following the announcement, just one of the many Change.org petitions begging for a course reversal racked up 170,000+ supporters. Fast-forward to the last 72 hours, and Doja Cat is complaining that she has to make a jingle/not-a-jingle about the Mexican Pizza. She’s warning us that this rap will be iffy because “it’s contractual.”
I kept flip-flopping whether or not this was a joke. Doja just worked with Taco Bell for their SuperBowl ad (The Grande Escape), and the brand also took up fellow best-selling artist and TikTok troll Lil Nas X, but still, I couldn’t get my hopes up. Then, Ms. “Say So” herself returned to TikTok the next day to share the song she warned us about. Doja came with lyrics and a beat (of course, we hear that mission bell ringing).
She also went on Instagram Live at some point, for I’m not sure how long, and shared it there. An unreviewed annotation on the lyrics page on Genius (yes, it’s already there) notes that “she produced the beat, wrote the lyrics, recorded the song, and filmed a selfie video [for TikTok] in one night on Instagram live.”
Is it still a joke? I don’t know, and I don’t think we will until this plays out. She never put #ad, but did when teasing the Super Bowl feature. If this is actually happening, maybe the #ad was not there because we are seeing the creative process and not the final product that Taco Bell approved? In which case, no NDA? Maybe that’s why the first video was captioned “somebody getting cussed out?”
Others already remixing the beat
Because Doja shared the song on TikTok, it immediately began to be remixed and shared.
Victor Kunda shared how cool it was that Doja posted his video on her Instagram feed. Beyond his video, she’s not addressed her song on any platform she’s active on except on live streams and TikToks.
Additionally, with the renewed focus on this beloved dish comes the posting and reposting of how to make the Mexican Pizza at home. I respect the sharing, but I’ll never do this. I’ve had a food texture thing most of my life and don’t like beans except in very specific circumstances. Once, I lied to a theme park food service worker by saying I was allergic to avoid accidentally getting them on my food when I said “no beans.” Not my proudest moment, but I just need you all to understand. I survive on rice.
However, with Taco Bell, something about this menu item is so unique that it ascends most uses of beans to such a degree that I didn’t even know beans were in it until I was older than I’ll ever admit. Maybe it’s the cheap quality—I don’t know. All this to say, I appreciate the gesture, but I’d rather not have Mexica Pizza anywhere but Taco Bell.
So … when is the Mexican Pizza coming back!?
Back when TacoBell announced plans to discontinue the Mexican Pizza, they actually gave a good reason. (Part of the reason I’ve grumbled to myself about this, and not online, until now.) The company stated that this is part of its continued effort to reduce its carbon footprint. According to Taco Bell, the menu item accounted for seven million pounds of paper cardboard material. They’ve been slowly working on this for years. The last big change came in 2021, when the company announced a partnership with Terracycle to reduce sauce packets ending up in landfills.
If Taco Bell is going to stick to its values, the only way it would come back is if they found a way to make it more sustainable. I hope it happens in a way that doesn’t rely on recycling, considering how you are supposed to reduce and reuse before recycling and how many issues recycling poses (more so with plastic, but still). There have been rumors that the pizza is coming back since it left. However, the anticipation has increased in the last 4–5 months. The months April or May 2022 are floating around as potential timeframes, too. However, Doja’s song just throws us completely off.
If this song is really going to be used by Taco Bell, then does this mean that it’s right around the corner? Let us know your thoughts, because I’m really invested in getting to the bottom of this.
(via TikTok, image: RCA Records, Taco Bell, and Alyssa Shotwell)
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
