Celebration Mix
| "Wavin' Flag (Coca-Cola Celebration Mix)" |
||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by K'naan | ||||||||||
| from the album Troubadour: Champion Edition | ||||||||||
| Released | April 30, 2010 | |||||||||
| Format | Digital download | |||||||||
| Genre | World music, Reggae fusion | |||||||||
| Length | 3:38 | |||||||||
| Label | Universal Music Group | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | K'naan, Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence, Jean Daval | |||||||||
| Producer | The Smeezingtons | |||||||||
| K'naan singles chronology | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
In 2010, a remix of the song, entitled the "Celebration Mix", was recorded for use as Coca-Cola's promotional anthem for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, hosted by South Africa. This version reached number one in Germany, Switzerland and Austria and number two in Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.
Coca-Cola described the remix as "inspired by the joyous dance celebrations familiar to Africa." Coca-Cola integrated its jingle, well known from previous Coca-Cola commercials, into the mix, generating a direct association between the remixed song and the brand. The song was used throughout the entire tournament, and was featured on all worldwide versions of the Coca-Cola campaign. The song was also played at events for the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour, where K'naan performed this version live for the first time, and featured on the online digital platform for the World Cup. The music video for the remix includes a guest appearance by Malhar Chitnis. The remix video was recorded in Estadio Centenario in Montevideo, the site of the first 1930 FIFA World Cup Final. The remix version appears on the Champion Edition of Troubadour.
Although the remix features many elements of the original song, it includes most notably a new pre-chorus that sets the uplifting, unified tone of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, turning the song into one that is more open, more inviting and more celebratory. "I'm so proud of this version," K'naan told Billboard.Biz. The new version also removes many of the darker lyrics of the original song. According to Billboard, Coca Cola "loved the song but noted that lyrical references to 'a violent prone, poor people zone' and people 'struggling, fighting to eat' didn't fit the campaign's themes".
| “ | "We took something like 50 drums and did this crazy mix for it. It's about the one time that we all get together and the world forgets its conflict and its problems and we focus on this unity and celebration. That moment is connected now to 'Wavin' Flag.'" | ” |
Read more about this topic: Wavin' Flag
Famous quotes containing the words celebration and/or mix:
“What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: A day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham.”
—Frederick Douglass (c.1817–1895)
“There is nothing in the world that I loathe more than group activity, that communal bath where the hairy and slippery mix in a multiplication of mediocrity.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)