A cup full of music—FIFA World Cup has been the cradle for many a memorable song

Varun Das

When it comes to the FIFA World Cup, it is not just the wildly entertaining sport that provides the viewers an escape from the drudgery of the everyday life. Every four years, as the world cup arrives, we get fresh music to groove to for the month-long affair.

Hits & misses

This year, however, many performers seemed loath to step foot in the Gulf petrostate which has been ensnared in a row over human rights. But Jungkook of South Korean septet BTS saved the day at the opening ceremony, performing his FIFA song, Dreamers. As the ghutra-wearing world cup mascot, La’eeb, whirled out of thin air onto the stage, Jungkook and a phalanx of back-up dancers seized the moment. Besides, Bollywood actress Nora Fatehi has been part of one of the many FIFA 2022 songs, titled Light The Sky, in collaboration with Manal, Rahma Riad, and Balqees. Anaconda hit-maker Nicki Minaj, the ever-smirking Latin music prince, Maluma, and Lebanese singer Myriam Fares have also added a bit of Arabic pop and reggaeton to the tournament with their FIFA Fan Festival anthem, Tukoh Taka, which has, however, failed to pass muster with fans. The artistes have been excoriated by fans and critics alike for making a dog’s breakfast of what was meant to be a football-themed song, with its sexually explicit lyrics. Much of the video shows Fares and a group of women dancing in the middle of a desert, as she croons the vexatiously catchy chorus. Is this song just a bad cocktail with a bitter aftertaste, or an underappreciated fusion of different genres and cultures?

The official video for Hayya Hayya (Better Together), a feel-good world cup song, came out earlier this year. In line with the tradition of world cup songs, this song is also a bit of a melting pot, bringing together voices of US singer Trinidad Cardona, Nigerian-American musician Davido and Qatari artiste Aisha.

Blast from the past

Talking about world cup songs, who can ever forget the time when global pop sensation Shakira and Freshlyground added a dash of colours and Cameroonian chants to the 2010 South Africa World Cup with their timeless gem, Waka Waka. The fact that it continues to trend to this day is a testament to the undying love for the upbeat music and the uplifting lyrics of the song.

Rapper Pitbull (aka Mr Worldwide) famously joined forces with Bronx-born triple-threat Jennifer Lopez and Brazilian bombshell Claudia Leitte for the official 2014 song, We Are One (Ole Ola). But it was Shakira and Brazilian percussionist Carlinhos Brown who filled the Maracana Stadium with the chants of La La La as they performed their foot-tapping, samba-heavy unofficial 2014 World Cup song, La La La (Brazil 2014), before the final between Germany and Argentina.

Somali-Canadian musician K’naan’s Waving Flag blew up after Coca Cola picked it as the promotional anthem for the 2010 World Cup. The song was originally not about football but about the people of his war-ravaged country, Somalia. But perhaps it was the celebratory music, or maybe just the deep yet simple lyrics about freedom that propelled its rise to world cup glory, amid a tournament which was being held in the land of Nelson Mandela.

Ricky Martin struck gold with his song for the 1998 FIFA world cup, La Copa de la Vida (The Cup of Life). The song managed to cling on to the No. 1 spot in France for six weeks. While Brazil failed to take home the cup that year, Martin did manage to make the world samba to the beats and cheers of the song as he exhorts the audience repeatedly in the song, “Do you really want it?”

The Time of Our Lives is not the kind of song which would have you get up on your feet and break into a jig. But this slow and sombre ballad for the 2006 World Cup could have been played in the background as a devastated Ronaldo recently slouched off the pitch and broke down in tears after Morocco knocked his team out of the world cup.

Living it down

Nicky Jam, Era Istrefi and Will Smith’s 2018 song, Live It Up, has been ranked as the ninth worst world cup song by ShortList. But it might be the right choice for you, if you are big on reggaeton, and don’t mind the hackneyed lyrics and the artistes’ failure to represent the culture of the host country.

From 1962 to 2022, from Gloryland to Waka Waka, music has become an indispensable element of the biggest football tournament on earth. World cups fleet by swiftly, but they leave behind cups full of memories… and music.

I think an anthem is essentially about the spirit of the game and what it means to the fans. It depends on who is watching. I have also produced anthems for teams. I see ‘anthem’ as a genre in itself. People have been making anthems left, right and centre. They are not dependent on a particular genre of music. There have been ballads, orchestra, electronic and hip-hop… anything can be an anthem. Dub Sharma, music producer & sound artiste

I was introduced to World Cup music through Ricky Martin’s The Cup of Life when I was in school. Years later, Waka Waka and Waving Flag came out. By that time, I was into DJing, and Waka Waka was one football song that got played in almost every club. I used to play that track a lot, too. I don’t think I have ever played any other football track that many times. I think that is one of the reasons why it became so popular that it became a vibe. Sameer Singh Sandhu, DJ & music composer