NEW YORK (AP) — In need of a global superstar for a sports anthem? Colombian singer J Balvin is the right man for the job.
“Our biggest moments in history, of happiness, surround sports,” he says of Colombia. “Of course music, but sport has this power (to) unite a whole country and vibe in a really positive way. So that’s part of my DNA.”
Balvin is one-fourth of Coca-Cola’s official anthem for the FIFA World Cup 2026, a reimagination of Van Halen’s “Jump” that also features drummer Travis Barker, pop/R&B singer Amber Mark and guitarist Steve Vai.
Last year, Joshua Burke, head of global music and culture marketing at The Coca-Cola Company, approached Balvin with the idea. The singer initially felt trepidation.
“I’m really precautious when it comes to songs like this one,” Balvin said. “It’s like touching the Mona Lisa.”
“I have so much respect for anthems like that,” he said. So, he had to take “a totally different approach” to make it work; he wanted to avoid straightforward comparisons to the original recording.
“It was like a puzzle,” he says.
Mark’s rich, crystalline voice is the first heard on the track; she sings the song’s original English lyrics. Vai transforms its iconic guitar; Barker amplifies its percussion.
The greatest difference is found in Balvin’s contributions. He wrote a new verse — in Spanish — atop production courtesy his collaborator L.E.X.V.Z, a sound he describes as “Brazilian funk with hard strings, kind of like hip-hop.”
“‘Jump’ is not a fútbol song,” he said of the original, using the Spanish word for soccer. “So that’s why I had to put the Latin love and passion for fútbol (in the lyrics).”
“El fútbol es nuestro idioma / Aquí todos somos mi gente,” he raps. In English: “Football is our language / Here, we’re all my people.”
“Fútbol is about bringing everyone together,” he says. It’s a particularly resonant message as sports fans and organizers alike are considering the ways in which President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown may impact the tournament.
“I wish this administration open their mind and see, like, this is a world event. This is for all of us,” he said. “Let the people really have fun and enjoy and show that the United States can definitely pull off a World Cup.”
The new “Jump,” out Friday, was released through Coca-Cola’s newly minted in-house label Real Thing Records, in partnership with Capitol Records. The “Jump” video, art directed and designed by McFlyy, is illustrated in the style of anime — amplifying its aim to reflect global cultural interest.
Coca-Cola has been an official sponsor for the FIFA World Cup since 1978 and has produced a number of its own anthems for the event, including Jason Derulo’s “Colors” in 2018 and a reimagining of Queen’s “A Kind of Magic” in 2022 featuring Mexican singer Danna Paola, Egyptian rapper Felukah and Saudi Arabian singer TamTam.
“Reimagining a song as iconic as Van Halen’s ‘Jump’ came with a real sense of responsibility,” Burke wrote to The Associated Press in an exclusive statement. “All four artists leaned into the process as if this was their own single. Our goal was to create an anthem that celebrates the full spectrum of emotions of the tournament and feels just as powerful in a stadium as it does blasting from a car with your friends. We were able to do exactly that.”
As for Balvin? He hopes that people respond to the energy of the song, and truly view it as “a fútbol song, you know? And that people vibe with it.”
And that is fútbol — not soccer. Don’t get it twisted.
“I don’t even know what soccer is,” he joked. “It’s always been fútbol.”
