Meg Thee Stallion’s A Groovy Bird, Charlie Puth’s A Beatboxing Fox… Behind Frito-Lay’s Flamin’ Hot Super Bowl Ad

It’s a jungle out there, and Charlie Puth is in. Frito-Lay’s first-ever Super Bowl commercial for its Flamin’ Hot brand is an animated romp featuring Megan Thee Stallion as a chic woodland bird who sings a different kind of tune and Charlie Puth as a beatboxing fox. 

The spot features both the Doritos and Cheetos brands, and brings Puth to the party laying down beats along with Meg’s vocal to the classic Salt-N-Pepa tune Push It. The concept is that after a bird-watcher accidentally drops her bags of snacks, an assortment of woodland creatures go in for a taste and instantly morph into musical ingénues. 

The “One Call Away,” “We Don’t Talk Anymore” and “Attention” singer spoke with Forbes about his entry on the Super Bowl field, a position he says he couldn’t have dared to imagine 10 years ago. “They had the concept and they said Super Bowl commercial—so I was automatically like, ‘Yes,’ ” he says.

“The idea is after [the animals] had the Flamin’ Hot snacks they would become musically invincible, which is what happens to me I real life so it was super easy,” he deadpans.

Puth is equally excited about the company he’s keeping in the ad. “I’ve never met Megan Thee Stallion. I’m a huge fan of hers and it’s super-impressive she’s able to graduate from college and be a pop superstar at the same time,” he says of the artist’s recent graduation from Texas Southern University in Houston.

“And I’ve never seen her animated before and never seen me animated before. I think we did a pretty good job.”

While Puth was new to voice-over work, he says the concept of supplying beats, which the producers then layered the animation and other sounds around, was a natural, particularly after he’s been making music mostly on his own during the pandemic.

“The way I produce a record, the way I made Light Switch, I did all of the layers myself this time,” he says of his current single, the creation of which he shared liberally on TikTok along with other music-making videos that have received tens of millions of views.

“I learned through the pandemic madness to be the most vulnerable I’ve ever been. I don’t need to be the cool artist and go away for two years and hide my music from people,” he says. I want to be the antithesis of that. I want to overshare, which is why I gave people the name of my album, which is Charlie, and I let them in on 70 percent of what it sounds like already. Light Switch is a song I was teasing for five months and I wanted to involve my fans on a songwriting level.  I wanted them to feel like they wrote the song with me.”

He says his social media sharing has brought him even closer with his fans. “And a lot of opportunities are popping up. I’ve never been offered a Super Bowl commercial before,” he says. “It’s made me realize I just have to be me, which is why it was so easy to join forces with Frito-Lay for this commercial. Because they just wanted me to be me.”

And while Puth is counting the days until February 13, don’t expect him to be decked out in either team’s jersey in front of the TV.  Asked who he’s rooting for, he jokingly fumbles the name of the Cincinnati Bengals then adds, “I just found out the Rams are playing.”

“I have Super Bowl commercial,” Puth declares. “And I can’t wait to see the halftime show.”