Pepsi's World Cup 2014 Beats Tie

Pepsi just dropped this week Pepsi Beats of The Beautiful Game, a music compilation for World Cup 2014. I was impressed by the list of artists featured on this multicultural compilation like Timbaland, Janelle Monae, R3hab, Don Omar, Kelly Rowland and Rita Ora to name a few artists. At a quick glance, you’d think this would definitely be on everyone’s ‘must-hear’ list for the summer.

I was psyched to find all of the tracks on SoundCloud and really wanted to like this compilation. Unfortunately, that was not the case when I started listening to the tracks. I guess my first clue that this compilation would be subpar should had been the album title. I mean come on Pepsi, “Pepsi Beats of The Beautiful Game?” The title seems so pre-fabricated to fit into some magical music box that represents what it feels like to watch or play in the World Cup. I guess if I took some time to think I could come up with a cheesier title, but why try after Pepsi’s marketing team clearly did such a great job?

So is there any reason for checking out this compilation? Yes, as with any sport, there are winners and losers.

Losers

“The Game” by Kelly Rowland feels like someone hashtag the heck out of the song thinking the more sports clichés they added would equate to a musical hit. Poor Kelly, but then we move on to one of my favorites, Janelle Monae. Normally I have nothing bad to say about Janelle as she’s beyond amazing. However, I hate to say it but her rendition of “Heros” fell flat and was underwhelming. And then we have Timbaland’s track, “Whoever We Are (feat. Rachel Assil).” I honestly don’t know where to begin with where this song went wrong. Let’s just say I’d rather a Justin Bieber music marathon than to listen to this song again.

Winners

The saving grace of this compilation is Santigold who is holding it down for the whole team and striking hard with “Kicking Down Doors.” It’s been awhile since we had new music from Santigold and I’m hoping this is a tease for an upcoming album soon. There are also a few other songs that are worth listening to like “Guerreira” by the teenage Brazilian rappers, Pearls Negras. If you don’t know this teen trio who rap in Portuguese, you are missing out on one of the bigger up and coming acts out of Brazil. Another notable track is “Ahlam Men Gedid” by Middle Eastern music producer Hassan El Shafei featuring Hossam Habib. No clue what they are saying, but it has a good dance beat and is worth a listen.

Ties

“Pura Vida” – Don Omar
“Unstoppable (feat. Eva Simons)” – R3hab
“I Will Never Let You Down (Switch Remix)” – Rita Ora

Whether this World Cup compilation moves you to be pumped for watching the games or to turn it off and focus on rooting for you favorite team, World Cup 2014 is bound to spark some kind of emotion out of us. Go Italia!!!

Check-out the Pepsi Beats Of The Beautiful Games playlist for yourself:

http://bit.ly/1oVD6EN