Word Cup 2014 song: Shakira vs. Pitbull and JLo

The official World Cup 2014 song is "We Are One (Ole Ola) by Pitbull, Jennifer Lopez, and Claudia Leitte. But Shakira's "LaLaLa (Brazil 2014)" is proving more popular.

|
YouTube screengrab
Pitbull performs "We Are One (Ole Ola)," the official song of the World Cup 2014.

The battle for the best World Cup 2014 song may in fact be no contest.

The official FIFA World Cup 2014 song is  "We Are One (Ole Ola)"  by Cuban Pitbull, New York Puerto Rican Jennifer Lopez, and Brazilan Claudia Leitte.

But Brazilians – and many others - are reportedly not impressed. The lyrics and video are described as a "big pile of cliches" and the music fails to pay proper homage to Brazil’s own rich musical heritage.

The music video, as of May 24, 2014, had more than 30 million views, but 60,000 dislikes on YouTube, and almost 200,000 likes. Certainly no a flop but not a great hit.

The Los Angeles Times shared a few of the tweets about the official song:

“The song is terrible. If the World Cup is in Brazil, why two foreign singers and almost the entire song in English?” read one comment. @LorenEdelstein asked “We Are One has a Caribbean beat, not a Brazilian beat. Did they mix up where the World Cup is happening?”

But the cause of the most wincing across this country was the reproduction of the same visual stereotypes which have dominated Brazil's reputation for decades, which many had hoped the 2014 World Cup would help them move past.

“This World Cup theme song is a big pile of cliches,” tweeted Leka Peres, 27, a DJ and music journalist who previously worked as a program director at MTV Brazil.

Enter Shakira.

The Colombian songstress, who starred in the 2010 official FIFA World Cup song (Waka, Waka), wasn’t content to sit on the musical sidelines this time around – not when the world’s biggest sporting event is taking place right next door to her home country. Shakira’s World Cup 2014 song, “LaLaLa Brazil 2014,” is one of the 16 titles listed on the official “One Love, One Rhythm” FIFA World Cup album. Yes, there's an album.

While debuting after the official anthem, Shakira's tune is quickly usurping the Pitbull-JLo song as most popular on the 2014 album.

It doesn't hurt that her music video features some famous soccer players - Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas, Eric Abidal, Neymar, James Rodreguez, Sergio Aguero, Radamel Falcao –  all friends of Barcelona center-back Gerard Pique, who is also Shakira’s boyfriend and father of her 16-month-old son (who also has a cute cameo at the end of the video).

Shakira teamed up with Activia yoghurt for the video and is sharing a portion of the proceeds with the World Food Program (WFP). Shakira said: "With 'La La La (Brazil 2014)' we want to make a small contribution so that everybody knows about the outstanding work the World Food Program is doing to fight hunger."

"La la La (Brazil 2014), is actually a reworked version of "Dare," a Shakira single released in March 2014. The newer World Cup version features Brazilian musician Carlinhos Brown.

How is Shakira's video doing on YouTube? It had more than 18 million views after two days. 181,000 likes, 11,000 dislikes. A 16 to 1 ratio of Likes/Dislikes, compared with the official Pitbull/JLo song of just 3 to 1.

Of course, Shakira (and FIFA) should be familiar with the criticism directed at the official song. In 2010, she was the one taking the heat. When ‘Waka, Waka’ debuted, South Africans weren’t impressed either - and for similar reasons.

The official World Cup opening concert was to feature pop stars from around the world, but just a few from South Africa.

As The Christian Science Monitor reported in 2010:

How, they argued, can FIFA  bring hundreds of thousands of tourists and sports fans all the way to Africa's most developed country at the continent's southern tip and not put South African artists up on stage?

On May 4, FIFA corrected all that, adding South African acts Freshlyground (previously scheduled only as a backup band to Shakira), Hugh Masekela, the Soweto Gospel Choir, and Somali hip-hop star K’naan.

Such nationalistic battles over the best world cup theme music have been going on since 1962, when the Chilean rock band Los Ramblers sang "El Rock del Mundial," which debuted as the first official world cup song.

What have been the best world cup songs of the past 50 years? Check out the Billboard Top 10 list, where you can hear Los Ramblers, who sound like they're covering an Elvis Presley hit.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Word Cup 2014 song: Shakira vs. Pitbull and JLo
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2014/0524/Word-Cup-2014-song-Shakira-vs.-Pitbull-and-JLo
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe