Shakira, Santana to Perform at 2014 FIFA World Cup Closing Ceremony
Soccer fans are finally getting what they asked for: a Shakira performance.
The 37-year-old Colombian singer will take the stage with Carlinhos Brown for the July 13 FIFA World Cup closing ceremony. The two will perform her song "La La La (Brazil 2014)," which is one of the official songs for the FIFA 2014 World Cup album, CBC News noted.
"I have an intricate relationship with football for obvious reasons and I truly understand what the World Cup means to so many people, myself included," she said in a statement. "The fans have shown the most incredible support for this song and I can't wait to perform it for them."
This will be the third consecutive World Cup closing ceremony for the singer, who also performed in Germany in 2006 and South Africa in 2010.
The closing ceremony will take place at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Other performers include rock legend Carlos Santana, Alexandre Pires, Ivete Sangalo and Wyclef Jean.
The song "Dar Um Jeito (We Will Find A Way)" features Wyclef Jean, Avicii and Santana. The video for the song dropped earlier this week.
In the meantime, Shakira and Gerard Pique have been vacationing in Mexico. The two left from Miami, and were seen in Mexico on Tuesday at a luxury hotel at the Riviera Maya, according to Global Post.
Jennifer Lopez, Pitbull and Claudia Leite were criticized for their opening ceremony performance. The song was picked apart before it was even performed.
At one point, soccer fans took to Twitter to ask that Shakira's song be named the official anthem for the World Cup. With the hashtag #VoltaWakaWaka, which asked for the return of "Waka Waka," Brazilians expressed their disappointment in the Pitbull and Lopez fronted song, according to The Associated Press.
Leonardo Martinelli, a music critic from Sao Paulo, said it's not just this World Cup, that it's not just this year's song that has been problematic.
"The music in other World Cups was also stripped of local color," he said. "Whether it's in South Africa, Germany or Japan-Korea, the regional musical element was used only as a very light seasoning, just enough to give it a discreet local color," he said. "In the case of this latest song, the seasoning has its right amount of cliches and stereotypes usual with commercial music."
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