I wanted to like Katy Perry’s new song for the Rio games. I listened to it and my chest barely puffed up. It’s only half inflated. I waited until the official music video. It’s three minutes and seventeen seconds of Katy dragging around a pinkish parachute, a metaphor for I don’t know how many cliches. It surprised me I disliked it considering how many kitschy things I do like. The video featured too much Perry and not enough of the athletes whose feats she’s trying to motivate or move product it’s not clear now theses days.
I looked at some past ones they had this majestic motivation in common. Put on their tunes and your workout, your walk to work, everything takes on a go-for-the-gold hue to the day. Maybe Taylor Swift should have got the assignment. She can transfer her writing about guys skills to writing about the gold medal as this cool guy she can’t help but like, but really really, really wants. (Sidenote: Whatever these two are up to with their little argument, I wish they would stop the passive/aggressive back and forth on Twitter. End sidenote.)
Let’s take a look back at the songs not only bringing back memories of the games but found on someone’s workout mix.
Reach by Gloria Estefan (Altanta 1996 Summer Games)
One Moment in Time by Whitney Huston (Seoul 1998 Summer Games)
Forget the Starks, ‘Winter is Coming’ belongs to Canadians. No anthem list would feel complete without this track sung by Nikki Yanofsky and her Quebecoise counterpart Annie Villeneuve. Yes, I had to include Vancouver 2010 and add Brian Williams, a mainstay in many Canadian Olympic broadcasts, for his introduction to the montage. It’s also a great excuse to relive the two hockey gold medal moments in the middle of August.
Unpaused Life 