Despite fears earlier this week that Lopez had pulled out of the opening ceremony due to unspecified “production issues”, she is back in business and expected on-stage at the Arena De Sao Paulo on Thursday.
“We Are One” is the lead single on Sony’s World Cup album and follows Shakira’s massive 2010 hit “Waka Waka”. To date, the Colombian singer’s track has sold 1.7 million digital downloads since the last World Cup four years ago.
The 2014 song, however, is said to have disappointed many Brazilians who think it sounds too generic for the country’s Bossa Nova fans and features foreign musicians singing primarily in English and Spanish.
Lopez has spoken about her own childhood growing up in a house that loved football while rapper Pitbull, who wrote and co-produced “We Are One”, added: “I truly believe that this great game and the power of music will help unify us, because we are best when we are one.”
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During an official announcement at Rio de Janeiro’s Macarena Stadium in January, FIFA’s general secretary Jerome Valcke honoured the inclusion of Leitte, a judge on The Voice Brasil.
“In my many visits to this country I’ve seen and heard a lot about the great Brazilian music tradition and it gives me great pleasure to see a Brazilian artist at the heart of the song,” he said.
However, Leitte sings in her native Portuguese for only a few seconds at the end of the song.
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