It is fair to say the tournament’s official song, We Are One, has not proved as popular as Shakira’s 2010 hit Waka Waka, but it has not flopped as badly as many expected when it was first released.
Much of the credit must go to Leitte, who is the only Brazilian involved in the song and whose verse in Portuguese tends to get the locals singing – for the entire 16 seconds it lasts.
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On the north-east coast, Psirico’s Lepo Lepo is attracting fresh, foreign fans. Released in March, the song has little to do with football, but is catchy and, although having grown overexposed in some parts of the country, is new to the ears of visitors. As a result, locals of Recife last week took great delight in singing it while banging on their drums on the beach.
There is one song, however, that seems to have been overplayed in all 32 qualified countries and more. Pharrell Williams’s latest ditty has been the prelude to every 45 minutes of football played this summer and never fails to produce a few groans. Most people are only Happy when the song ends.