14 DAY TRIAL // Everybody is talking about last night’s opening number for the World Cup 2014, the performance by Jennifer Lopez, Pitbull, and Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte singing “We Are One (Ole Ola)” at the Arena de Sao Paulo. Despite rigorous planning, the number was a technical mess.
As you can see in the video below from Yahoo!, the performance started off on the wrong foot the moment the platform that was carrying JLo and Pitbull up from under the stage stopped working halfway up.
At least Pitbull was a gentleman about it, helping JLo up when they both realized this was as far as it was going to go. Still, the expression on her face right before that is the very definition of priceless: it’s like she can’t believe the silly globe-stage would do this to her.
Then, Pitbull’s inability to lip-synch kicked into high gear, as he seemed to be struggling with the words to his own song. To his misfortune, he had the camera on him right then so the entire world got to see him fumble the lyrics. At least he covered quickly.
Usually with events of this magnitude, which take place on open arenas, performers aren’t exactly singing live, in that they rely on a backing track. Their vocals are still heard (i.e. they don’t have their microphones turned off), so this backing track is more like a safety net in case something goes wrong.
Again, as a rule, performers strive to keep up appearances of performing live, so they’re very careful about their timing, which is one of the things that could give them away. So perhaps Pitbull got a bit too enthusiastic and this is why he messed up.
Despite these mishaps, the performance was still a memorable one. Jennifer, who, by the way, was looking gorgeous in a tiny green number with sheer panels in all the right places, seemed to be having a blast so, in the end, she was probably not sorry for accepting to appear after all.
Pitbull has earned for himself a page in history for his silly white pants, which were definitely a couple of sizes too small and too short, and which have sparked some of the most hilarious comments online we’ve seen in a very long time. The fact that he combined them with a too-tight shirt and no socks added to the hilarity. That was not a good look!
In fact, this was perhaps the most amazing thing about the opening act:
All jokes aside, here are the technical mishaps that almost ruined the opening performance. A good quality video of the musical number isn’t available online just now, so we’ll have to make do with this one.