So not everyone is a fan of "We Are One (Ole Ola)," the official song for this year's World Cup. If American fans showed ambivalence it would be no big deal, but the citizenry of this year's host nation, Brazil, have taken issue with the single, which is headlined by Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull.
Naturally there's a degree of politics involved. Lopez is Bronx-born and of Puerto Rican ancestry, while Pitbull is of Cuban descent. Claudia Leitte, a Brazilian pop star, does get a role in the track but hardly the kind of attention that screams "Brazil's the host, not the U.S." More bothersome to the population of the second largest country in the Americas is that English and Spanish dominate the single instead of Portuguese, Brazil's official language.
The complaints brought about many comparisons to "Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)," the 2010 official song delivered by Shakira. Again, Shakira is clearly not African but she made sure to incorporate the continent of host South Africa into the mix. That and people just like her song better. The hashtag #VoltaWakaWaka (rough translation: "go back to Waka Waka").
"What I don't like about the music is that it's a poor, dull, generic pop theme," said Gaia Passarelli, a prominent Brazilian music journalist. "It's a shame considering Brazil's rich musical tradition, which is admired all over the world...in the end, we lost a chance to do something rich, inspiring and cool. I'm feeling 'saudades' (longing) for Shakira."
As Passarelli suggests with the "generic pop theme" comment, organizers missed an opportunity to involve Brazil's diverse music history. Samba (of course) and bossa nova are but two of many popular genres based out of the country.
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