Why Every World Cup Team Wants a Hit Song

**Tim Elliott** (0:00)
It's the Morning Drive, we're into the round of 32 in the World Cup now, so it is knockout time, and it's often measured in goals and points. That's how football works. But this year, it's being won on an entirely different field, the chart, and I'm talking music charts. Shakira's new anthem with Burnaby, Dai Dai has captured some global attention.
And Mina Nations are using music to energize fans, to build national identity, and hopefully expand their influence far beyond football. So joining us to discuss the power of music in the Modern World Cup, and also sonic strategy, that phrase again, is Julie Hanse, who is director of partnerships at MassiveMusic. Nice to see you.

**Julie Hanse** (0:48)
Nice to see you.

**Tim Elliott** (0:49)
Welcome back. So, Die Die is the song of the World Cup. I can't be honest with you, I haven't heard this as much as Shakira's other song, which was what, South Africa? Was it?

**Julie Hanse** (0:59)
Waka Waka? Waka Waka? I don't know where else it...

**Tim Elliott** (1:03)
No, but I do think that when you have World Cup songs, very often they become kind of a specific kind of cultural movement, don't they? If they really catch on, and if they don't, then it's kind of a corporate play, in many ways, and the influence extends beyond the pitch. Is that how it works, or am I thinking about it too much, Julie?

**Julie Hanse** (1:25)
You know, I think it's a bit of a mystery, but I have been doing a little bit of research.
I'm not a football girl myself, so this was, yeah, a research project. I think there's... What I noticed in music and football is like, there's kind of different stages of it and kind of like different cycles. There's like the music that comes before, the during and the after.
And so what I noticed was that the music that comes before is usually tied to like a brand campaign of some sort, where brands and companies are kind of like jumping on the trend of everyone's getting hyped for the World Cup. Let's do a campaign with a song that has to do with our national team. And then, you know, sometimes that sets the tone for how the supporters are going to behave during the matches or what they're going to sing.

**Tim Elliott** (2:15)
Okay.

**Julie Hanse** (2:15)
Yeah. Then there's the during, which happens a lot with the MENA teams, actually, where like, they'll be making up chants during the game, like in the stadium. It'll kind of like catch on, like someone will say something, and then they're all starting to chant the same thing. And then that sometimes turns into like the unofficial anthem of the team.
And then there's what happens after, where like maybe a song, like the Shakira song we were talking about, maybe isn't really catching on during, but afterwards, it'll be like a symbol for the 2026 World Cup.

**Tim Elliott** (2:51)
Do you know what? No, I can see that, because it's like a slow burn thing. I feel as though Shakira, so good that they named her twice, because it's always Shakira, Shakira as far as it should be.
But it feels as though the Wackawacka song took off in a different way. This one, I think you're right, it's like a slow burn. It's going to be in the consciousness in a week's time, or two weeks' time, or at the end of the World Cup.

**Julie Hanse** (3:17)
I mean, you know, I was looking into Shakira and her lore with the World Cup anthems. She's done four.
She's done four.

**Tim Elliott** (3:26)
It's not bad, is it?

**Julie Hanse** (3:28)
Which is crazy, and I guess she's known for that. Now, she's like the World Cup musician.

**Tim Elliott** (3:35)
The World Cup muse.

**Julie Hanse** (3:36)
The World Cup muse.

**Tim Elliott** (3:37)
She was engaged to a guy from Barcelona for a long time.

**Julie Hanse** (3:40)
That's right.

**Tim Elliott** (3:40)
She's Colombian, which, and I guess, football's massive in Colombia.

**Julie Hanse** (3:43)
Yes, it is.

**Tim Elliott** (3:44)
South America, of course. So that makes some sense. I mean, music and football have always been linked. And as you say, fans in the terraces making up chants, some of the chants extremely funny, and learned at a speed that is just beyond like speed. Some of them, we can't mention here, they're not safe for work. But the scale to me feels different now.
From a brand perspective, and this is your kind of area of expertise, really, why is an original anthem or song that maybe becomes an anthem a more powerful asset for a nation rather than like a traditional campaign, like an ad campaign? What is it about the song?