Shakira and Burna Boy’s 2026 FIFA World Cup song 'Dai Dai' is being compared to 'Waka Waka' as fans debate which track better represents the global football spirit.
Image: X/@trackchartt
It’s that time again where people suddenly remember football exists and act like they’ve supported the same team since birth.
Yes, the Fifa World Cup 2026 season is creeping in and, as expected, there is a new anthem by Shakira featuring Burna Boy has officially landed.
The release of the “Dai Dai” music video was meant to build excitement ahead of the global sporting event and featured some of football’s biggest names including Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior, Erling Haaland and Alexia Putellas, alongside appearances from international stars and fans from different parts of the world.
Shakira and Burna Boy aimed to capture the global spirit of football through high-energy visuals, dance sequences and multicultural stadium-style scenes. But instead of uniting the internet, the video quickly sparked debate online, with many viewers comparing it to the legacy of "Waka Waka" and questioning whether the new anthem managed to recreate the same magic.
And judging by social media reactions, people are not impressed.
Before people even got into the song itself, the visuals already had viewers side-eyeing their screens. The music video looked overly polished and artificial. Instead of giving World Cup fever. it was giving green screen overload. Which is risky when you are the same artist behind “Waka Waka”, a song that still refuses to leave the group chat 16 years later.
Which is risky when you are the same artist behind , a song that still refuses to leave the group chat 16 years later.
Hellur! That song was in Mzansi. It carried the spirit of South Africa during the 2010 FIFA World Cup and somehow became a global cultural reset. Whether you loved football or not, you knew every lyric.
Even today people still scream “Tsamina mina eh eh” like they are back at a viewing party with a vuvuzela in one hand and a boerie roll in the other.
Now the problem is that every World Cup song released after that keeps getting compared to Waka Waka and unfortunately “Dai Dai” walked straight into that pressure.
The song leans heavily into the idea that football connects cultures, languages and generations through one shared obsession: football.
“Dai Dai” itself is an Italian cheer meaning “come on” or “let’s go” and the chorus mixes multiple languages to create a stadium chant feel. Cute idea. But according to social media users, the vibes are simply off this year.
One user on X wrote: “Waka waka will always be the official World Cup Song. Here is the all-time masterpiece. Not this Dai Dai nonsense.”
Looks like people are refusing to let go of 2010 and who can blame them?
Another user criticised the visuals saying: “It’s 2026 and Europe is still portraying Africa like it’s an uninhabitable piece of shit land.”
The criticism around African imagery became one of the biggest talking points online. Many viewers felt the video relied too heavily on outdated stereotypes despite the 2026 World Cup taking place in North America.
“You’ve been trying to recreate waka waka for 16 years now. Stop. It’s now embarrassing, the World Cup is in America but you showing Africans,” another user wrote.
Meanwhile another comment summed up what many people seemed to agree on: “No matter how many World Cup songs we get, this one will always be iconic,” while posting the Waka Waka music video.
It seems 'Waka Waka' is no longer just a football anthem but a cultural timestamp tied to South Africa’s moment on the global stage and people are clearly not ready to move on.