The singer, whose new album comes out June 17, tells how she ended up the track
+ READ ARTICLEIn this week’s issue of TIME, mega-entertainer Jennifer Lopez discusses first loves and her new album, A.K.A., dropping June 17. She also dished on how she got involved with this year’s official World Cup song, “We Are One (Ole Ola),” which she performed with Pitbull and Claudia Leitte at the June 12 opening ceremony.
Turns out, a deep love of soccer wasn’t part of the equation:
TIME: How did “We Are One” come about?
Lopez: It’s really Pitbull’s song. It was his brainchild, his idea. He had a track and he was like, ‘I’m going to submit this to the World Cup song. Listen to it; if you like it I want you to do it with me.’ I was like, ‘O.K.!’ We’ve worked together so much.
So it’s like a contest? You didn’t know it would be the official song when you recorded it?
I think so. He was the one who did all of it. I kind of just did my verse and was like, ‘Do you like it?’ He was like, ‘Yeah, O.K., cool.’ We got Claudia Leitte on it as well. Months later he called me and was like, ‘Hey, we got the official World Cup song!’ I can’t take credit for any of it.
Are you a soccer fan?
I know soccer and I have cousins who are fanatics for Real Madrid, so I’ve met the guys from the team and the whole thing, for them. But I don’t follow it as religiously as they do.
Well, it’s pretty hard to match the enthusiasm of a real soccer fan.
It’s intense. I’ve been to matches and it’s crazy.
To which there’s only one thing to say: Ole!