The Song Nobody Asked For
Every FIFA World Cup has an official song. Some become timeless anthems — Shakira's "Waka Waka" from 2010, Ricky Martin's "The Cup of Life" from 1998, "We Are One" from 2014. Others are forgotten before the final whistle. The 2026 World Cup anthem "Everybody Jump," a collaboration between three Grammy-winning artists and produced by a team of hit-making songwriters, falls into a category that transcends forgetting: it is actively despised. Released on May 15, 2026, the song has accumulated 890 million YouTube views — largely because FIFA plays it before every match and during every halftime show — but has a like-to-dislike ratio of 1:14, the worst of any official World Cup song in the platform's history.
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What's Wrong With It
The problems with "Everybody Jump" are both structural and aesthetic. The song runs three minutes and 42 seconds but contains only four distinct lines of lyrics, repeated in various combinations over a generic EDM-pop beat. The chorus — "Everybody jump, everybody jump, the world is one, everybody jump" — has been described by Rolling Stone as "what would happen if an AI trained exclusively on expired energy drink commercials wrote a World Cup song." The production, while technically competent, lacks any musical identity tied to the host nations. There are no Latin influences for Mexico, no hip-hop elements for the United States, no French-Canadian textures for Canada. It is, in the words of Pitchfork's review, "aggressively internationalist in its blandness."
The Fan Rebellion
Within days of the song's release, a petition on Change.org calling for FIFA to replace "Everybody Jump" with Ricky Martin's 1998 anthem "The Cup of Life" gathered over 3 million signatures. The petition, started by a Brazilian football fan account, argues that "The Cup of Life" represents "everything a World Cup song should be: energy, passion, cultural identity, and the ability to make 80,000 people dance simultaneously." FIFA declined to comment on the petition. Ricky Martin, however, posted a video on Instagram of himself performing "The Cup of Life" in his living room, captioned: "Just in case FIFA needs a backup." The video has 180 million views.
The Stadium Experience
The most damning indictment of "Everybody Jump" comes from the stadiums themselves. FIFA policy requires the official anthem to be played before kickoff, during the halftime show, and after the final whistle of every match. At MetLife Stadium during the USA-Belgium match, the pre-match performance of the song was met with audible booing from both sets of fans — one of the few things American and Belgian supporters agreed on all evening. At Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Norwegian fans drowned out the halftime performance by singing their own folk song, "Ja, Vi Elsker," in unison. Video of the Norwegian fans' impromptu concert went viral, with many commenting that an untrained crowd singing a 150-year-old poem was more compelling than a multi-million-dollar production.
The History of World Cup Songs
The failure of "Everybody Jump" highlights the narrow path that World Cup songs must walk. The greatest World Cup songs — "Waka Waka," "The Cup of Life," "Wavin' Flag" — succeed because they combine universal energy with specific cultural identity. Shakira's "Waka Waka" sampled a Cameroonian song called "Zangalewa" and was rooted in African musical traditions while remaining accessible worldwide. Ricky Martin's "The Cup of Life" used Latin percussion and was performed in both English and Spanish. K'naan's "Wavin' Flag" drew on Somali-Canadian immigrant experiences. "Everybody Jump" has no such cultural anchor. It could be the theme song for any international event — the Olympics, the Rugby World Cup, a corporate conference — because it says nothing specific about football, about the host nations, or about the emotional experience of watching the world's most popular sport.
Will FIFA Learn?
FIFA's selection process for World Cup songs has been criticized for decades, but "Everybody Jump" may force a genuine reckoning. Multiple reports suggest that FIFA's commercial department selected the song based on streaming potential and brand compatibility rather than artistic merit or cultural relevance. The result is a song that will generate millions in licensing revenue but that no fan will ever choose to listen to voluntarily. The 2026 World Cup deserved better. The fans know it. The musicians know it. Even the players, several of whom have been filmed wearing headphones and pointedly not listening during pre-match warmups, know it.
Tags: Everybody Jump, World Cup 2026 song, worst anthem, FIFA, Ricky Martin, Cup of Life, Waka Waka, official song, fan petition, music
Sources consulted: ESPN · Yahoo Sports · FIFA · CBS Sports
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Want to explore the history of World Cup songs or find the best football anthems? Ask Karpo for a ranked list of every World Cup official song, the best fan chants at the 2026 tournament, and the music playlists playing at each host city's fan zone.
