"We Are One (Ole Ola)" is a song recorded by Cuban-American rapper

Pitbull Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was f ...

for ''

One Love, One Rhythm – The 2014 FIFA World Cup Official Album ''One Love, One Rhythm – The 2014 FIFA World Cup Official Album'' is a compilation album that was released on May 8, 2014 by Sony Music Entertainment. This album is the official music album of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. It features song ...

'' (2014). It is the official song of the 2014 FIFA World Cup held in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and features guest vocals from American singer Jennifer Lopez and Brazilian singer

Claudia Leitte Cláudia Cristina Leite Inácio (; born 10 July 1980) is a Brazilian singer and television personality. She rose to fame in late 2002 as the lead vocalist of the Axé music group Babado Novo. The group achieved a string of consecutive diamond- ...

. The artists co-wrote the song with

Sia Sia Kate Isobelle Furler ( ; born 18 December 1975) is an Australian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Adelaide, she started her career as a singer in the acid jazz band Crisp in the mid-1990s. In 1997, when Crisp disbanded, she rel ...

, RedOne, Danny Mercer,

Dr. Luke Lukasz Sebastian Gottwald (born September 26, 1973), known professionally as Dr. Luke, Tyson Trax, and Made in China, is an American record producer and songwriter. His professional music career began in the late-night television sketch comedy ...

Cirkut Henry Russell Walter (born April 23, 1986), known professionally as Cirkut, is a Canadian record producer and songwriter. He has co-produced and co-written for Dr. Luke, Katy Perry, Becky G, Ava Max, Nicki Minaj, R. City, The Weeknd, Kesha, C ...

, and

Thomas Troelsen Thomas Troelsen (born 6 October 1981) is a Danish singer, songwriter, and producer from Skive. Troelsen has written and produced songs for Pitbull, Flo Rida, Justin Bieber, David Guetta, Lil Wayne, Drengene fra Angora, Nile Rodgers, Jason Deru ...

; the latter three are also the producers. While receiving positive reviews from critics, initially the song received some negative reactions from Brazilians over its lack of Brazilian feeling. To change that, another version was also released and the music changed slightly to fit Afro Brazilian group

Olodum Olodum is a ''bloco-afro'' from Salvador's carnival, in Bahia, Brazil. It was founded by the percussionist Neguinho do Samba. Banda Olodum (Olodum's Band) Olodum is widely credited with developing the music style known as samba reggae and for ...

's style of drumming – that version being the one that was used in the music video for the song. "We Are One" has experienced commercial success, reaching the top 20 in countries including Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and World Cup's host country, Brazil. The song peaked at number one in three countries.

Background and release

According to one of the co-writers of "We Are One (Ole Ola),

, he pitched a demo version "that had a sort of whistle thing in it" to Pitbull. On January 22, 2014, FIFA and

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainmen ...

announced that "We Are One (Ole Ola)" would serve as the official song of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. At the occasion, Pitbull said, "I'm honored to join Jennifer Lopez and Claudia Leitte at the FIFA World Cup to bring the world together. I truly believe that this great game and the power of music will help unify us because we are best when we are one." Lopez said Pitbull asked her to join the song: "I can't take credit for this. This was one of Pitbull's call-ins. He had this record, and he's like, 'I think this record could be great for the World Cup. He's like, 'Will you do it with me?' And I go, 'Yeah, of course.'" A solo version of the song featuring only Pitbull leaked online on February 2. On April 8, Pitbull tweeted an

iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

link to the track, debuting the song.

Critical response

The song received generally lukewarm reviews. Carl Williott of

Idolator An idolator is a practitioner of idolatry. Idolater or Idolator may also refer to: Books *''Os Idólatras'', 1968 Portuguese novel by Maria Judite de Carvalho Music * Idolator (website), an American music blog * ''Idolator'' (album), third album ...

opined that there is too much of Pitbull in the song, and not enough Lopez or Leitte. He, however, stated that the song is an upgrade from

Shakira Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977), professionally known by the mononym Shakira, is a Colombian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Barranquilla, she has been referred to as the " Queen of Latin Music" and is n ...

's "

Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)", also known as "Waka Waka (Esto es África)" in Spanish, is a song by Colombian singer Shakira, featuring the South African band Freshlyground. Written, composed, and produced by Shakira and John Hill, it was ...

", the official song of the

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wrote that, similarly to "Waka Waka", the song "blends the feel of the tournament's hosting country with an accessible, exciting pop sound that has instant repeat appeal". Judy Cantor-Navas of '' Billboard'' described the song as "surprisingly breezy", with '' Spin'' noting it to contain the "rah-rah international unity you'd expect for a Cup song". Luís Antônio Giron of '' Época'' criticized the album saying "maybe I'm wrong and Brazil only crave to be the same as what FIFA wants it to be. Brazil is ''fifalized''". And praised music produced in Miami, "bomb on any track." The song received some criticism from Brazilian and football fans over its tone and lyrics, particularly with the lyrics and video being labeled as a "big pile of clichés" and its failure to pay homage to Brazil's own rich musical heritage. Such criticism has pointed out the small amount of actual Portuguese lyrics involved, and critics stating their confusion to why "were Cuban-American rapper Pitbull and Bronx-born Puerto Rican singer Jennifer Lopez were chosen for the song, when there are so many other great musicians in the land of bossa nova", as well as its "reinforcement of stereotypes with smiling, barefoot children and semi-naked, samba-dancing women".World Cup anthems: Shakira vs Pitbull and J-Lo in Brazil row , World Cup 2014 News , The Week UK
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Music video

In February 2014, Pitbull, Leitte and Lopez shot the music video for "We Are One (Ole Ola)" with

Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

, Florida, United States. Its concept was to simulate Carnival in its home country Brazil with the Olodum mix of the song being used as the soundtrack. It was released on May 16, 2014. As of October 2022, the video has received over 848 million views.

Live performances

The opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup 2014 13

Pitbull, Lopez and Leitte performed "We Are One (Ole Ola)" at the

2014 Billboard Music Awards The 2014 ''Billboard'' Music Awards ceremony was held on May 18, 2014, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. It aired live on ABC at 8:00/7:00 PM Central. The show was hosted by Ludacris. Justin Timberlake won 7 out of his 11 ...

on May 18, 2014. They also performed the song at the

2014 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony The 2014 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony took place on Thursday, 12 June 2014, at the Arena de São Paulo in São Paulo, Brazil at 15:15 Time in Brazil#Brasília official time - BRT (UTC-03), Brasília official time (UTC−03:00, UTC−3), about ...

on June 12 in

Arena Corinthians Neo Química Arena, previously known as Arena Corinthians, is a sports stadium located in São Paulo, Brazil, owned, operated and used by Corinthians. It has a seating capacity of , making it the fifth-largest stadium used by teams in the t ...

, São Paulo, prior to the Brazil v. Croatia match, preceded by Leitte's solo rendition of

Ary Barroso Ary de Resende Barroso (1903–1964), better known as Ary Barroso, was a Brazilian composer, pianist, soccer commentator, and talent-show host on radio and TV. He was one of Brazil's most successful songwriters in the first half of the 20th centur ...

's classic " Aquarela do Brasil". However, due to the amount of noise made by dancers and poor quality stadium acoustics, some spectators had difficulty hearing the vocals.

Track listing

*;German CD Single # "We Are One (Ole Ola)" (featuring Jennifer Lopez and

) – 3:42 # "We Are One (Ole Ola)" (featuring Jennifer Lopez and

) (

mix) – 3:56 *;Digital download #"We Are One (Ole Ola)" (featuring Jennifer Lopez and

) – 3:42 *;Digital download – remix #"We Are One (Ole Ola)" (featuring Jennifer Lopez and Claudia Leitte) (

mix) – 3:56 *;Digital download – opening ceremony version #"We Are One (Ole Ola)" (featuring Jennifer Lopez and Claudia Leitte) (Opening Ceremony Version) – 5:21

Credits and personnel

;Recording *Engineered at Al Burna's Extreme Mobile Recording Studio; eightysevenfourteen Studios, Los Angeles, California; Luke's in the Boo,

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; es, Malibú; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Malib ...

; Miami Lights Studio, Miami, Florida; and Delta Lab Studios,

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, Denmark *Pitbull vocals recorded at Al Burna's Extreme Mobile Recording Studio,

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, Dominican Republic *Mixed at MixStar Studios,

Virginia Beach, Virginia Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...

*Mastered at Sterling Sound, New York City ;Personnel * Armando C. Perez – songwriter, vocals *

– songwriter, producer, instruments, programming, additional background vocals, whistle * Jennifer Lopez – songwriter, vocals *

– songwriter, vocals * Daniel Murcia – songwriter *

Sia Furler Sia Kate Isobelle Furler ( ; born 18 December 1975) is an Australian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Adelaide, she started her career as a singer in the acid jazz band Crisp in the mid-1990s. In 1997, when Crisp disbanded, she re ...

– songwriter * Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald – songwriter, producer, instruments, programming, additional background vocals * Henry "Cirkut" Walter – songwriter, producer, instruments, programming, additional background vocals *

Nadir Khayat Nadir Khayat ( ar, نادر الخياط; born 9 April 1972), better known by his stage name RedOne, is a Moroccan singer, songwriter, record producer and record executive. As a record producer and songwriter, he has worked with many high-profi ...

– songwriter *Al Burna – engineer, Pitbull vocal recording *Rachael Findlen – engineer *Clint Gibbs – engineer *Cameron Montgomery – assistant engineer *Serban Ghenea – mixer *John Hanes – engineer for mix *Chris Gehringer – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

Brazilian star Claudia Leitte to perform with Pitbull and Jennifer Lopez on the official song for the 2014 FIFA World Cup
at FIFA.com
Official Music Video
on YouTube

{{Authority control 2014 songs 2014 singles RCA Records singles Pitbull (rapper) songs Claudia Leitte songs Jennifer Lopez songs Macaronic songs Song recordings produced by Dr. Luke Songs written by Pitbull (rapper) Songs written by Jennifer Lopez Songs written by Sia (musician) Songs written by Dr. Luke Songs written by Thomas Troelsen Songs written by Danny Mercer Songs written by Cirkut (record producer) Songs written by RedOne Ultratop 50 Singles (Wallonia) number-one singles 2014 FIFA World Cup FIFA World Cup official songs and anthems