On May 25, Puerto Rican reggaetón artist and Latin GRAMMY winner Nicky Jam released the official song of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, "Live It Up" featuring Will Smith and Kosovar singer Era Istrefi with production by Diplo.
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This collaboration is backed by some serious GRAMMY- and Latin GRAMMY-winning power. Jam earned a Latin GRAMMY win for Best Urban Performance for 2015's "El Perdón" with Enrique Iglesias. It came in third among the longest-running Hot Latin Songs on Billboard's charts.
Jam released his album Fénix in 2017 and received Latin GRAMMY nominations, including Album Of The Year and both Best Urban Song and Best Urban/Fusion Performance for its track "El Amante." The album reached No. 1 on Billboard's Top Latin Albums, breaking into the Billboard 200 at No. 28.
For the chart week ending May 26, 2018, Nicky Jam is in the Hot 100's Top 50 for the first time, twice, thanks to "X" with Latin GRAMMY winner J Balvin and "Te Bote" with Bad Bunny, Darell, Nio Garcia, Casper Magico, and Ozuna.
With four GRAMMY wins, Smith has had careers in music, movies and television that shaped the arc of hip-hop and distinguish major periods in people's lives. In 2017 his buddy-cop, sci-fi Netflix film Bright reminded audiences why they consistently look forward to what he does next.
Albanian Istrefi is an electronica and rap singer whose 2015 single "Bon Bon" brought her to international awareness. Multiple GRAMMY winner Diplo is a producer, DJ and artist who continues to explore the sonic worlds of electronica in new ways, to the delight of millions.
"Live It Up" is definitely going to pump up world audiences for 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, as Diplo filters reggaetón into a Latin fusion bounce that almost brings thoughts of summer, but first it's pumping up the appetite for World Cup soccer, coming in just a few weeks. Fútbol!
