Features
JLo Won’t Perform In World Cup Opener In Brazil
Jennifer Lopez won’t perform the World Cup’s official song alongside fellow artists Pitbull and Claudia Leitte during the tournament’s opening ceremony in Brazil, FIFA officials said Sunday.
Photo: John Shearer / Invision / AP
American Music Awards, Nokia Theatre L.A. Live, Los Angeles, Calif.
Soccer’s governing body said Lopez cannot perform at Thursday’s event as earlier planned because of unspecified “production issues.”
The singer’s representatives didn’t explain the reason why Lopez wouldn’t be joining the act. They only confirmed the announcement in an emailed response, saying “regretfully Jennifer Lopez will not be attending this year’s World Cup opening ceremonies.”
FIFA said in a news release that Cuban-American rapper Pitbull and Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte will sing the official tune “We Are One” before Brazil takes on Croatia at Thursday’s opening game in Sao Paulo.
The song has let down many Brazilians who complain that it sounds too generic for the nation’s Bossa Nova-crazed audiences and that it features foreign musicians singing mostly in English and Spanish. Leitte sings only a few seconds at the end of the song in her native Portuguese.