The world is Aloe Blacc’s… At least when it comes to the upcoming 2014 World Cup.
The 35-year-old Panamanian American singer-songwriter is adding a little soul to a new version of Coca-Cola’s World Cup anthem, a mash-up between the Coke campaign theme “The World is Ours” featuring David Correy and an original song by Blacc.
Following his second appearance at Coachella this Friday (April 18), Blacc will join Correy in a performance of the song at L.A. Live on Saturday when the FIFA World Cup trophy tour makes its final stop in Los Angeles.
“A World Cup song in any capacity is a fantastic opportunity to share music with the entire world,” Blacc tells Billboard. “It’s a blessing for me, especially because it’s the kind of music I want to make, uplifting and inspirational. It just fit right, it made sense to get involved.”
Blacc, who appears on Avicii‘s “Wake Me Up” and has earned a current Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 single “The Man,” brings his vocal muscle, melody and some new lyrics to Coke’s Brazilian-rooted, club-friendly soccer song.
More than twenty versions of the anthem have already been recorded by Correy, Brazilian percussionists Monoblanco and a team of international artists.
“The World is Ours by David Correy X Aloe Blacc,” available on Spotify and iTunes as a single, will be included on the official World Cup album, On Rhythm, One Love, due out May 12.
“The way I wanted to do it was to write my own song,” Blacc says of his contribution to the Coke anthem. “Something that felt a little bit more like me, that wasn’t too much of a dance song.”
Blacc’s album Lift Your Spirit, debuted and peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart, and rose to No. 1 on the R&B Albums chart. One track on Blacc’s album was produced by Rock Mafia, who produced “The World is Ours,” and provided Coke’s connection to Blacc.
“It was great to do a mash up between my song [“Hello World“] and David Correy’s song,” Blacc adds. “The message that I wanted to convey was oneness. I’ve been lucky enough to have my music accepted in countries all over the world. And everywhere I go I recognize music, sports entertainment being something that brings us all together. Football, soccer is something that makes us all one; its like a religion in a lot of places.”
Growing up in Orange County, where he was raised by his Panamanian parents, Blacc played soccer, in addition to learning the trumpet, and later, getting involved with hip hop.
“Almost all of the guys I went to school with played soccer in some form or fashion so it doesn’t escape anybody,” he says, adding that in his case, playing the sport was inevitable. “My Dad was the coach, I had to.”