Ranking 5 worst World Cup anthem songs

The ODI World Cup 2023 is just a few days away as India will host the cricketing extravaganza from October 5 onwards. The tournament will feature 48 matches across 10 venues with the final to be played on November 19. And to build excitement for the tournament, the official theme song for the 2023 World Cup was recently launched. Before the first game even starts, the world is always ready to unite for cricket's biggest tournament. World Cup songs have become an integral part of the build-up to the tournament as well. We have heard theme songs for multiple ODI World Cups and T20 World Cups over the years. There have been some gems like 'De Ghuma Ke' (for the 2011 ODI World Cup) and 'It's time for us' (for the 2015 ODI World Cup). These two theme songs have become iconic in their own right. These are often cited as examples of how a song uplifts the mood and excitement levels of the fans. But over the years, there have been some songs that were made for the Cricket World Cup tournament, which failed to connect with the audience and fans. Fans couldn’t relate to the song at times. And some have been below par in quality and effort. On that note, here are the 5 worst World Cup anthem songs ranked from bad to worst: 5. "Char Chokka Hoi Hoi" - Dilshad Nahar Kona, Elita Karim- 2014 T20 World Cup theme song Bangladesh hosted the T20I World Cup in 2014, their second biggest ICC event as a solo host after hosting the 1998 Knockout Trophy, which later became the Champions Trophy. It was a big occasion for the whole country with big anticipation the anthem song was released, which was mostly in Bengali language. It also features sprinkles of English phrases as well. The track is composed by famous Bangladeshi composer and artist Fuad al Muqtadir and has been sung by an ensemble of young vocalists, Dilshad Nahar Kona, Elita Karim, Pantha Kanai, Johan Alamgir, and Sanvir Huda amongst others. The fans' reactions to the theme song were conflicting. It got a lot of criticism since, in the eyes of many, the song's lyrics and the music video that followed failed to accurately represent Bangladeshi culture and heritage. But the catchy tune provided some traction to the song as it was liked by youth in Bangladesh. 4. "All over the World" - Dave Stewart - ODI World Cup 1999 The 1999 World Cup was the fourth time England was hosting the ODI event. Much to the chagrin of the fans at that time, the England board failed to seize the moment by launching the song before the tournament began. It was instead released after the group stages and couldn’t secure a live performance of the song as part of the opening ceremony. "All Over The World" is written and performed by Dave Stewart, the northeastern pop musician. However, he didn’t have the game of cricket in mind or the tournament when he wrote the song. The song was just picked by the organisers because it had a reference to carnivals. Needless to say, the song failed to connect with the cricket fans and just fizzled out. The song is infamous for selling dreadfully as it failed to soar up in the music charts. 3. "Stand By" - LORYN ft. Rudimental - ODI World Cup 2019 After hosting the 1999 World Cup, England’s next turn to host the ICC ODI event came in 2019. While England celebrated the occasion by winning their maiden ODI World Cup tournament in the most dramatic ending. England defeated New Zealand in the final on boundary count as both the match and the super over had ended in a tie. Before the tournament began, ICC launched the theme song - "Stand By" - sung by LORYN. The track also featured the British band Rudimental. The song celebrated the cultural diversity of the United Kingdom, and the video of the song was decently received by the fans. However, the song as a whole didn’t appeal much to the broader audience and failed to garner much traction. 2. "Welcome to our Home" - Busi Mhlongo, Nokwazi Dlamini, and P.J. Powers - ODI World Cup 2003 The 2003 World Cup was the only time to date the tournament was played in the African continent with South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya jointly hosting the event. The World Cup was won by Australia who defeated India in the final in a dominating fashion. This also made Australia only the second team after West Indies to win the tournament twice in a row. The theme song of the 2023 World Cup was "Welcome to Our Home". The anthem was composed by Sello Twhala and was sung by Busi Mhlongo, Nokwazi Dlamini, and P.J. Powers. The track was performed at the opening ceremony of the World Cup in South Africa. And was sung in multiple languages, including the traditional language of South Africa and English. But the track failed to gain acceptance from the cricket fans and couldn’t create much hype for the tournament going forward. It is considered to be one of the worst World Cup anthems. 1. "Dil Jashn Bole" - Pritam - ODI World Cup 2023 The latest entrant on the list is the theme song for the upcoming ICC World Cup 2023 to be played in India. The ICC unveiled the theme song a few days ago and it received universal ridicule and rejection from all quarters. The video attempted to capture the anticipation and hype generated by India's exclusive hosting of the tournament. The song titled “Dil Jashn Bole” features Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh. It is composed by Pritam. The lyrics are written by Shloke Lal and Saaveri Verma and a rap is written and performed by Charan. The song is sung by Pritam, Nakash Aziz, Sreerama Chandra, Amit Mishra, Jonita Gandhi, AKASA, and Charan. As soon as the anthem was released by the ICC, the fans let know of their feeling and it received unfavourable reviews from everywhere. While many called the song a decent one, the video accompanying the song was criticized for being more a Bollywood music video rather than a cricket-based song. The whole song sees Ranveer Singh being the main character with no cricketers involved in it. Undoubtedly, it has been termed as the worst World Cup theme song ever. More so because the expectations from the song were really high and it has failed to meet those expectations spectacularly.

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Ranking 5 worst World Cup anthem songs

Sometimes World Cup theme songs fail to live up to the hype and fail to excite fans. This is a list of five of those anthems.

3. "Stand By" - LORYN ft. Rudimental - ODI World Cup 2019

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