The World Cup has kicked off, and here’s the soundtrack to help further stoke your fever pitch.
Various Artists/ One Love, One Rhythm: The 2014 FIFA World Cup Official Album
The World Cup has arrived, and here's the accompanying official album. This year’s offering, One Love, One Rhythm, features the usual suspects (Ricky Martin, Pitbull, Shakira) as well as a handful of international artists including those hailing from the host country of Brazil such as Sergio Mendes, Arlindo Cruz, Alexandre Pires and Bebel Gilberto. The compilation contains 15 new tracks (17 on the deluxe edition) — three of which are the tournament’s official song, anthem and mascot song.
The album opens with the event’s official theme song We Are One (Ole Ola) by Pitbull featuring Jennifer Lopez and Spanish songstress Claudia Leitte. As with previous World Cup songs, it rides on soul-stirring drums and percussion with predictable lyrics about uniting the world: “Put your flags up in the sky/And then wave ’em side to side/Show the world where you're from/Show the world we are one,” Mr Worldwide raps alongside the breezy whistling. Then, halfway through, Lopez and Leitte enter the picture, taking turns confirming the theme of international unity. It’s undeniably catchy if vastly cliched — not to mention a little disgraceful considering that none of the artists featured here is Brazilian.
Then we have the official anthem Dar um Jeito (We Will Find a Way) courtesy of Wyclef Jean featuring Carlos Santana, Avicii and Alexandre Pires. Again, the song doesn’t really venture far beyond the generic formula of World Cup music (Santana’s signature guitar fills are a nice touch, though). In fact, Ricky Martin’s Vida and Shakira’s La La La (Brazil 2014) suffer from the same predicament. There’s just not enough variety to be had here.
The second half of the album does offer some stylistic relief, however. Tracks such as Aloe Blacc and David Correy’s The World is Ours, Arlindo Cruz’s mascot song Tatu Bom De Bola and Psirico’s Lepo Lepo are the less obvious choice, but they manage to make an outstanding impression. The Isley Brothers’ soulful It’s Your Thing and Bebel Gilberto and Lang Lang’s cover of Tico Tico are our personal favourites simply because they both sound wonderfully out of place.
As a World Cup album, One Love, One Rhythm delivers what it promises — a rousing soundtrack to one of the world’s most anticipated sporting events. Football fans will be suitably amped by Shakira’s thrilling “la la la’s” and the crowd in the stadium will go absolutely wild, shouting “Ole Ola” in unison. But like all World Cup compilations before, this one will swiftly be forgotten once the tournament has concluded.
THE PLAYLIST
Sapapsupap/ Pieng Khae Rao
Hailing from Chiang Mai, up-and-coming rock quartet Sapapsupap is the latest act to have come out of local independent label Minimal Records. Their debut single, Pieng Khae Rao (If Only We), starts off with guitar chords that share the same DNA as those on the Beatles’ classic Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown). The rest of the track, however, morphs into something entirely different with hints of blues and psychedelia as well as grungy guitars and wistful lyrics about wanting someone there through thick and thin.
Manic Street Preachers/ Europa Geht Durch Mich
Following last year’s largely acoustic Rewind the Film, the Manics have returned with reinvigorated gusto with their new album Futurology. Here, the long-serving Welsh alt rockers pay tribute to Europe with Europa Geht Durch Mich, a rousing disco-punk number featuring verses from German actress Nina Hoss. The song is an unrelenting romp in which frontman James Dean Bradfield alludes to krautrock and sings of: “European skies, European desires, European dreams and European screams.”
Sia/ Eye of the Needle
We still haven’t quite managed to sing along successfully to the lung-busting chorus of Sia’s massive single Chandelier, and now the Australian singer-songwriter has gone and released another solid jam. Taken from her forthcoming sixth studio album, 1000 Forms of Fear, the chest-clutching ballad Eye of the Needle finds Sia deftly deploying her powerful vocals over a faint piano. “You’re locked inside my heart/Your melody’s an art/I won’t let the terror in, I’m stealing time/Through the eye of the needle,” she sings as the snare drum ricochets in on itself. The instrumentation here may be a lot simpler than on Chandelier, but it’s just as emotionally poignant.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers/ American Dream Plan B
On their latest single American Dream Plan B, rock legends Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers revisit their trademark old-school sound that essentially helped jump start their decades-spanning career. Here, the track provides the first taste of the band’s forthcoming 13th studio album Hypnotic Eye with deliciously gnarly guitar riffs and good old rock ‘n’ roll sensibilities. With hot-headed, youthful optimism, the 64-year-old frontman croons about the universal struggle of trying to make it in the world: “I’m gonna make my way through this world someday/I don’t care what nobody say/My success is anybody’s guess/But like a fool I’m betting on happiness.”
Jennifer Lopez/ First Love
I Luh Ya Papi, the first single from Lopez’s latest album AKA, may have been overkill, but its follow-up strikes that perfect balance between pop and R&B she’s famed for. With Swedish hit-maker Max Martin at the helm, First Love combines all the best bits from her past hits whether it’s the dynamic drum beat or infectious lyrics (in this case they’re about falling in love — if you haven’t already guessed). “I wish you were my first love/’Cause if you were first/ Baby there would have been no second, third or fourth love,” she sings, stating the obvious in the process.
