Shakira Returns to the World Cup Stage With “Dai Dai,” a Global Anthem Built for Football’s Biggest Moment
Shakira has long occupied a rare space in global pop culture: a Colombian superstar whose music crosses languages, continents and generations with unusual ease. Now, with the release of “Dai Dai,” her new collaboration with Nigerian Afrobeats icon Burna Boy, she is once again stepping into one of the most powerful intersections of entertainment and sport: the FIFA World Cup.
- A Song Designed for a Multilingual World Cup
- From “Waka Waka” to “Dai Dai”: Shakira’s World Cup Legacy
- The Video Turns Football Into a Global Cast
- The First World Cup Final Halftime Show Raises the Stakes
- Burna Boy’s Role Signals Afrobeats’ Global Power
- The Business of World Cup Anthems Is Getting Bigger
- Early Chart Movement Shows Room to Grow
- Shakira’s 2026 Momentum Extends Beyond the Anthem
- Why “Dai Dai” Matters
The track has been released as the official song for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, bringing together Latin rhythms, Afrobeats, multilingual hooks and the emotional language of football. The tournament runs through June and July, culminating in a final at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on July 19. That final will also feature the tournament’s first-ever halftime show, with Shakira set to co-headline alongside Madonna and K-pop group BTS.
“Dai Dai” is more than another tournament song. It marks Shakira’s return to the World Cup anthem tradition after “Waka Waka (This Time For Africa),” the official song of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, became one of the most recognizable football songs of the modern era.
A Song Designed for a Multilingual World Cup
The title “Dai Dai” itself carries the energy of encouragement. It is described as an Italian expression meaning “come on” or “go, go,” fitting the urgency of football and the atmosphere of a global crowd. The song’s chorus — “Dai dai, Ikó, dale, allez, let’s go!” — reflects the multilingual spirit that defines the World Cup.
Musically, the collaboration draws from both artists’ strengths. Shakira brings the Latin-pop movement, melodic brightness and global familiarity that have made her a fixture on international stages. Burna Boy adds the Afrobeats pulse and pan-African sound that have helped make him one of the most influential African artists of his generation.
The result is described as “a mesh of their musical landscapes: Afrobeats and Latin rhythms, an undeniably global, multilingual pop track.” In one verse, Shakira calls out football nations competing in the tournament: “Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Colombia,” followed by “Mexico, Japan, Korea, Netherlands.” The structure allows Shakira and Burna Boy to move back and forth through individual verses before joining together in duet form.
That global design is deliberate. FIFA described the track as bringing together “the global sounds and energy of Shakira and Burna Boy in a vibrant celebration of football, culture and unity.”
From “Waka Waka” to “Dai Dai”: Shakira’s World Cup Legacy
Shakira’s connection to World Cup music is already historic. “Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)” was the official song of the 2010 World Cup, and it remains widely regarded as one of the strongest and most enduring songs ever attached to the tournament.
That legacy creates both opportunity and pressure. Few artists are so closely associated with the sound of the World Cup, and fewer still have a previous anthem that continues to define fan memories years later. With “Dai Dai,” Shakira is not entering unfamiliar territory; she is returning to a stage she helped shape.
Her teaser for the song leaned directly into that sense of spectacle. She shared a minute-long clip of herself dancing in the center of the field at Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, one of football’s most iconic venues. The teaser included the opening verse: “Here in this place / You belong,” followed by “What broke you once / Made you strong.” The male harmony in the clip is now identifiable as Burna Boy.
Those lines fit a broader Shakira narrative of resilience, reinvention and public transformation — themes that have defined much of her recent music and career.
The Video Turns Football Into a Global Cast
The “Dai Dai” video expands the song into a visual celebration of football culture. Shot in Miami and directed by Hannah Lux Davis, the clip features an all-star compilation of football figures including Lionel Messi, Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappé, Rodrigo Hernández, Vinícius Júnior, Takefusa Kubo, Santiago Giménez, Erling Haaland, Luis Díaz, Alphonso Davies, Jamal Musiala and Christian Pulisic.
The video also includes Ghetto Kids Uganda, an organization dedicated to supporting orphaned, street and vulnerable children through music, dance and drama. Their inclusion reinforces the project’s broader philanthropic dimension, connecting performance and visibility with education, shelter, healthcare, food and opportunity.
Another major visual moment places Shakira atop Mexico City’s Angel de la Independencia, one of the country’s most iconic landmarks on Reforma Avenue. The scene serves as a tribute to Mexico, a country that has played an important role throughout her career.
The First World Cup Final Halftime Show Raises the Stakes
The 2026 World Cup final will include a halftime show for the first time in FIFA World Cup history. Shakira, Madonna and BTS are set to co-headline the July 19 event at MetLife Stadium, just outside New York City. The lineup was curated by Coldplay’s Chris Martin.
For Shakira, the performance will bring “Dai Dai” from streaming platforms and video screens to one of the most watched sporting events in the world. For FIFA, the show reflects a broader effort to position the World Cup final not only as a sporting event, but as a global cultural spectacle.
The performance will support the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, which is raising $100 million to help children access education and soccer. “Dai Dai” is also linked to that cause: royalties from the song will support the fund, and the broader campaign aims to raise $100 million by the World Cup final.
According to the provided information, Shakira’s royalties from “Dai Dai” are being donated to the Education Fund, Sony Music will match the first $250,000 raised with a donation, and Shakira is also donating $1 from every ticket sold to her upcoming “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran” tour to the fund.
Burna Boy’s Role Signals Afrobeats’ Global Power
Burna Boy’s presence on “Dai Dai” is significant beyond the song itself. His career has increasingly symbolized the global rise of African music, especially Afrobeats, into arenas, stadiums and major international cultural events.
The collaboration places him at the center of a tournament that will be watched across continents, aligning his sound with football’s universal reach. It also reflects how global pop has shifted: major anthems no longer rely on a single regional sound, but often combine multiple musical languages to speak to wider audiences.
For Burna Boy, “Dai Dai” adds another defining global moment to a career built on connecting music, sport and culture. For Shakira, it gives the song a rhythmic and cultural breadth that makes it feel designed for a World Cup shared across languages and borders.
The Business of World Cup Anthems Is Getting Bigger
“Dai Dai” arrives in a crowded musical ecosystem around the 2026 tournament. It is not unusual for World Cup sponsors to release their own songs, and Coca-Cola has already shared its own official anthem for the tournament: a reimagining of Van Halen’s “Jump” featuring J Balvin, Travis Barker, Amber Mark and Steve Vai.
That track also leans multilingual and cross-genre. J Balvin wrote a new Spanish verse and brought Brazilian funk and hip-hop into the classic rock song. “‘Jump’ is not a fútbol song,” he said, using the Spanish word for soccer. “So that’s why I had to put the Latin love and passion for fútbol (in the lyrics).”
The contrast is revealing. The modern World Cup is not only a tournament; it is a global media platform. Songs, videos, brand partnerships, halftime performances and philanthropic campaigns all compete to define the sound and image of the event.
In that environment, Shakira’s advantage is clear. She already has a proven World Cup legacy, a massive international fan base and a catalog that naturally bridges pop, Latin music, dance and global rhythm.
Early Chart Movement Shows Room to Grow
The early commercial performance of “Dai Dai” appears to be building gradually in some markets. In Spain, the song entered the singles chart at number 93, while Quevedo continued to dominate the top 75 with 14 songs from “El baifo.” The strongest new entry of the week was “Dime baby” by Clarent at number 28, while “Toty” by La Pantera entered at number 42.
That means “Dai Dai” will need a significant rise to consolidate itself as a major summer hit in Spain. However, the provided information notes that its recent Spotify Spain movement has been positive, with the song appearing at position 70 over the weekend, while internationally it is “perceived emerging on radio stations.”
World Cup songs often behave differently from ordinary singles. Their cultural peak can arrive not at release, but when the tournament begins, when broadcast repetition, fan videos, stadium use and social media challenges give them new life.
Shakira’s 2026 Momentum Extends Beyond the Anthem
“Dai Dai” also lands during a major period in Shakira’s live career. She is scheduled for a limited run of U.S. dates on her “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran” World Tour, and the supplied information describes the tour as record-breaking. It also notes that Billboard crowned her this year as having the “highest-grossing Hispanic tour of all time,” with gross revenue of $421.6 million from 82 stadium shows across the U.S. and Latin America and more than 3.3 million people in attendance.
Her recent live profile has been equally striking. In early May, she performed for more than two million fans at Copacabana Beach during the Todo Mundo No Rio concert. The performance included career-spanning hits such as “Hips Don’t Lie,” “La Tortura” and “La Bicicleta,” as well as special guests including Anitta, Caetano Veloso, Maria Bethânia, Unidos da Tijuca, Mare Dance and Ivete Sangalo.
That context matters because “Dai Dai” is not arriving as an isolated release. It is part of a larger Shakira moment — one built around touring, reinvention, global visibility and a renewed connection with mass audiences.
Why “Dai Dai” Matters
The importance of “Dai Dai” lies in what it represents. It is a World Cup anthem, a Shakira comeback to football’s biggest musical platform, a Burna Boy global crossover moment, a multilingual pop experiment and a philanthropic campaign tied to education and sport.
Its success will not be measured only by chart positions. It will be measured by whether it becomes part of the emotional memory of the 2026 World Cup: the sound of goals, fan celebrations, stadium montages, viral dances and the final night in New Jersey.
Shakira has already shown that a World Cup song can travel far beyond the tournament that launched it. With “Dai Dai,” she is trying to do it again — this time with Burna Boy, a first-ever World Cup final halftime show, and a global audience ready for a song built around one simple command: “Let’s go!”
