Official World Cup music is never just background noise. It is part branding exercise, part mood-setter, part reminder that the tournament stretches far beyond the pitch.
In this case, the reported return of Shakira feels especially deliberate.
That matters for 2026, because this edition is already unusual in scale and geography. A shared host setup across three countries demands a broader promotional push than a standard single-nation World Cup.
The release also underlines where the World Cup sits in the football calendar: once the song, logo and host-city messaging take over, the event starts to feel close. That is valuable for organisers and broadcasters, but it also shapes fan expectation.
The commercial side and the football side tend to move together. The louder the pre-tournament build, the sharper the focus on contenders, stars and storylines.
Amid the off-field noise, one football fact still frames the tournament: Argentina are set to arrive as defending champions. That gives the competition an immediate sporting hook. Every major contender will measure itself against the team holding the crown, and every narrative around 2026 will eventually return to the same question - who can knock them off their perch?
For now, the soundtrack is making the headlines. Next, attention will shift to squads, host-city atmospheres and whether Argentina can turn title defence into the defining story of the tournament.