All the football fans across the globe have got a carefree reason to be delighted. Even you know why. It is time for the FIFA world cup! Everyone is having the 2018 FIFA fixtures file in their smartphones!
For fans across the globe, FIFA is not just Fédération Internationale de Football Association (as in French) or International Federation of Association Football. There is a nation hosting it, there are footballers oscillating on the ground, there are fans cheering up their favorite teams, and there is a FIFA official song on loop in the mind.
It’s more than that. It’s an emotion. It's a festival. It's a religion.
It is sad that India couldn’t make it, but still, we Indians, look forward to FIFA 2018 with full excitement. It’s a chance for all of us to support another country, 'humari dusri' country
FIFA World Cup is a complete package.
It is considered as a healthy sports war among the nations, wherein the federations compete with one another for the best person to win. One thing which levels up the excitement in the fandoms is the FIFA official so.
FIFA official songs become the song on the tip of everyone’s tongue in no time.
Yeah, the FIFA official songs are trendy enough to catch everyone’s attention. These are prepared officially to boost up the excitement of the game. The song is originally penned in English and the official language of the hosting country, however, it even has various covers in other languages too.
Let us have a look at a few of the past years’ songs that became popular with the FIFA World Cup.
2018 FIFA Anthem - Live It Up
Live it up is the song sung by Nicky Jam, featuring the American rapper Will Smith and singer Era Istrefi. It is a part of The Official Album of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The song was released on June 8, 2018 and features its singers with the ex-Brazilian footballer, Ronaldinho. It also includes stills from previous FIFA tournaments. It is directed by Yasha Malekzad and was shot entirely in Budapest.
To be honest, this year fans were a little bit disappointed with the song. This song just marks the return of the American singer-rapper Will Smith. Talking about the lyrics, it quietly lays emphasis on you’ve got only one life so “Live it up”.
To be honest, this year fans were a little bit disappointed with the song. This song just marks the return of the American singer-rapper Will Smith. Talking about the lyrics, it quietly lays emphasis on you’ve got only one life so “Live it up”.
I’m sure they must have been another Christopher Columbus who got confused between America and Russia. But whatever it is, we’re still be used to this song as it is going to be there non stop for the next one month.
2014 FIFA Anthem - We Are One
This song was taped by the world famous rapper Pitbull, for the FIFA Official World Cup 2014, along with Jennifer Lopez and Claudia Leitte. This song earned a lot of praises from the fans.
Carl Williott of Idolator, marks his words as,“The song blends the feel of the tournament's hosting country with an accessible, exciting pop sound that has instant repeat appeal".
However Brazilian fans felt that the song doesn’t signify Brazilian Culture. We Are One was a huge success and attained a position in top 20 of various charts in many countries. Not only this, it also went on to the top position in a few countries.
2010 FIFA Anthem - Waka Waka
Waka Waka was sung by Colombian singer, Shakira for the FIFA 2010 World Cup. The song features Freshlyground, a South African Afro-fusion band from South Africa. This song was a pop one and became a huge hit.
The song motivates and encourages one to be like a soldier. One should aim like a soldier for his goals on the football field. ‘You’re a good soldier, Choosing your battles, Pick yourself up and dust yourself off and back in the saddle.’, goes the song.
Almost everybody was singing this song. And it came as no shock that the FIFA Anthem for 2101, Waka Waka topped the records of various countries. It was trending simultaneously in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Switzerland.
Fans all over world got their new song and were happy with this one. Although South Africans thought that instead of Shakira some African could have done justice to this song, being the host country.
Yet, this is the best of any of the official song FIFA ever had.
2006 FIFA Anthem - The Time Of Our Lives
The multinational pop quartet, II Divo along with Toni Braxton, were brought together as a team to serve as the singers of the FIFA official song for the year 2006.
The song was originally prepared in two languages viz English and Spanish, but was dubbed in many other international languages as well. The song gained huge popularity on the same day of its release, and acquired great position on the chartbusters of various countries.
It was marked as top 10 in Switzerland, top 20 in Norway as well as in its hosting country Germany. The time of our lives was also in top 30 in Italy and Austria. The song went trending in whole Europe.
2002 FIFA Anthem - Boom
Boom was recorded by an American singer, Anastacia, as the official song for FIFA World Cup 2002. As the song starts, Anastacia is seen performing it on a small stage in front of a crowd.
This song starts as “Complicated… Understanding what you can achieve… Under-rated…… The one to win ….. One who believes”, which explains the complication of the game in winning.
Also, several players are shown in the video, along with other characters. This song was declared as the country’s favourite World Cup song by MTV Italy in the year 2014.
1998 FIFA Anthem - The Cup of Lives
Ricky Martin recorded this song for FIFA World Cup 1998. This song was recorded in two languages - English and Spanish. The Spanish version of the song was called “La Copa de la Vida”.
The music video for the song shows it’s singer kicking the soccer ball. In some scenes, audiences are shown singing and dancing with joy and some snaps of previously known footballers during FIFA World Cup.
This song helped Martin in his career as the song was marked as one of his all time hits. The song topped the charts for weeks in many countries. It was also given many certifications and honours in various nations.
1994 FIFA Anthem - We Are the Champions
This song was recorded by the British band Queen and was released for the first time in the year 1977. The song was a great hit all over the world and it also reached on position two in the UK Singles Chart at that time.
This official FIFA song was the song that was chosen to introduce the current president of USA, Donald Trump to the first session of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July 2016. This gesture seemed quiet offensive to the band as they stated that the use of the song was not authorised.
FIFA 1990 Anthem - Un'estate italiana
As the FIFA World Cup 1990 was hosted by Italy, the song was recorded in its national language Italian as well as English. The Italian version was sung by Italian artists Edoardo Bennato and Gianna Nannini, who also served as the lyricist.
The English version was named as “To be Number one” and was performed by Giorgio Moroder. This was the first song that was recorded containing a single instrumental version. The song was very popular in Italy and was considered as the best selling single of 1990 and topped many charts in Europe.
FIFA 1986 Anthem - A Special Kind Of Hero
A Special Kind of Hero is a song by Stephanie Lawrence. It was chosen as the official theme song for 1986 FIFA World Cup, which was held in Mexico.
Originally, the World Cup Hits that contains all the FIFA songs does not contained this particular one. However, it was somewhat that there was a mixup in the Official FIFA Anthem with this song.
The mix up was labelled as “Special Kind Of Hero”, but later on this became the official song.
FIFA Anthem 1982 - Mundial ‘82
Plácido Domingo, a Spanish born tenor, sang the Official World Cup song for 1982. The theme song for 1982 was called Mundial’ 82. This song was composed in Spanish.
As those were the early years of the theme song, this song wasn’t a great hit. Yet, the starting ones have their own value. It was one of those Official Songs that FIFA World Cup and history of football will never forget.
This was a list of a few great songs that FIFA gave us.
Each of the FIFA official songs proved to be the best in their own ways. The football fans wait for full four years to taste the fruit that takes four years to ripe. And once the fruit ripes, they consume it constantly for a whole month.
So it’s now the time to have this season’s fruit - “Live It Up” along with its seller—“World Cup”. Consume it while watching the FIFA match today.
And as it is said by our elders and ancestors, “Beta season ki cheez to zaroor khaani chahiye”, grab the fruit and do support your ‘Dusri country’ in the FIFA World Cup 2018.