FIFA World Cup 2018 official song: Can Nicky's 'Live It Up' beat Shakira's 'Waka Waka'?

 Russian Football Championship - FC Rostov vs FC Ural - Rostov Arena, Rostov-on-Don, Russia - May 13, 2018 Fans pose with the official mascot for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Zabivaka outside the stadium before the match.
Russian Football Championship - FC Rostov vs FC Ural - Rostov Arena, Rostov-on-Don, Russia - May 13, 2018 Fans pose with the official mascot for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Zabivaka outside the stadium before the match. Reuters

A FIFA World Cup won't be complete without a theme song. Football fans around the world grooved in to Ricky Martin's The Cup of Life, which was released ahead of the 1998 World Cup, before Shakira's Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) became a phenomenon in 2010. Now, the official song of 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia has been released and it is titled Live It Up.

The theme song was released on Friday, May 25 just three weeks before the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia kicks off. Live It Up by Latin Grammy Awards winner Nicky Jam, featuring Will Smith and Era Isterefi is produced by DJ and songwriter Diplo.

"One life, live it up, 'cause we've got one life

One life, live it up, 'cause we've got one life

One life, live it up, 'cause you don't get it twice

One life, live it up, 'cause you don't get it twice," read the lyrics of the song.

However, football fans can only listen to the audio of the song for now as the official music video is scheduled for release on June 7, a week ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which will start on June 14 and conclude on July 15.

YouTube

It is an upbeat song with right dose of tempo that football fans will love to groove in to but the big question is whether it will be able to beat Shakira's Waka Waka (This Time for Africa), which was released ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Shakira's Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) went on to become the most viewed FIFA World Cup theme song so far with more than 1.8 billion views on YouTube. We Are One (Ole Ola), the 2014 FIFA World Cup official song by Pitbull featuring Jennifer Lopez and Claudia Leitte has got more than 632 million views but it remained way behind Shakira's chartbuster.

YouTube

Shakira's 2014 FIFA World Cup song La La La (Brazil 2014) ft. Carlinhos Brown got more traction than the official song on YouTube with more than 967 million views, thanks to Waka Waka's popularity.

Live It Up is a catchy song that will ring in the minds of the football fans around the world long after the 2018 FIFA World Cup is over. It has received 937,450 views on YouTube (audio music) in less than 12 hours and is expected to become more popular when its music video is released but the big question as ever remains - Will it beat Shakira's Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)?

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