World Cup songs have a patchy history. Some capture all the pent-up, quadrennial energy of the tournament, while others, like Shakira’s contribution in 2010, never really meet the challenge. Now we have a new entry to judge: featuring Pitbull, Jennifer Lopez, and Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte, “We Are One (Olé Ola)” was released today as the official song of the 2014 World Cup.
The track mostly sounds like a Pitbull cut, but there’s some head-bopping rhythms from host country Brazil thrown in, and it’s Leitte who really shines in her third-act verse. All in all, it meets the basic requirements of a soccer anthem: The tune’s catchy and comes ready-made with enough “Hey!”s and “Olé!”s to be chanted by thousands of rabid fans as their teams take the pitch. If it’s not your thing, fear not—FIFA usually ends up releasing one or two more “official” songs before the start of the Cup, and some tracks, like K’naan’s “Wavin’ Flag” in 2010, aren’t at all FIFA-approved but become the de facto anthem of the tournament. We’ll see as we get closer to the summer; kick-off for the Cup is June 12.
