DNA: A Korean-American Voice in the World's Song
By Dr. Jeonghwan (Jerry) Choi · June 16, 2026
An Anthem That Belongs to No One Country
On June 11, the FIFA World Cup opened at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, and the sound that carried across the stadium was, by design, impossible to place in any one country. “DNA (More Than a Game)” brings together Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, French producer David Guetta, American rapper Megan Thee Stallion, and Korean-American singer-songwriter EJAE. Opera, EDM, hip-hop, and a Korean lyric, stitched into a single anthem. On paper it should not hold together. In the stadium, it did. Wikipedia
(Click the picture below to watch the video)
Andrea Bocelli, David Guetta and EJAE perform Official FIFA World Cup 2026 Anthem ‘DNA’
The Voice You Know Without the Name
For our community, the figure worth lingering on is EJAE. Many will already know her work without knowing her name: she is the voice and writing hand behind “Golden,” the breakout song from Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters. Here she becomes the first artist to bring a Korean lyric to a World Cup anthem, and she did not treat it as ornamentation. “I was able to write Korean lyrics in the song, representing South Korea on this stage,” she said, calling it an honor. Billboard
A Memory of Seoul, 2002
What gives the moment its weight is the memory underneath it. EJAE recalled being in Seoul during the 2002 World Cup as a child, watching the city unite, seeing strangers on the street hug and celebrate.
Photo from Korean Cultural Center (kccuk.org.uk)
That is the diasporic experience in miniature: a person formed by two homes, carrying a memory from one into a stage built by the other, and finding that the memory translates. The child who watched Seoul come together now writes the lines that ask the world to do the same. Billboard
What Real Inclusion Sounds Like
The song’s structure makes the argument better than any press release could. The track opens in Bocelli’s Italian, shifts into English, then moves into Korean as EJAE sings, while Megan Thee Stallion adds a rap verse and Guetta’s production threads it together. The languages do not compete. They hand off. The track moves through languages and genres the way the World Cup moves through continents. That is what real inclusion sounds like, not a single voice smoothed into neutrality, but distinct voices that keep their edges and still make one song. EDM.com
Belonging as Genetic Strand
The title carries the same idea. To call belonging “DNA” is to say it is not a costume you put on for a tournament but something woven into who people already are. FIFA framed the anthem as a celebration of football as more than a game, capturing identity, unity, and belonging. For Korean-Americans and the wider diaspora, that framing rings true in a particular way. Identity that lives across borders is not a dilution of either side. It is its own genetic strand. FIFA
The Case for Range
There is a quieter lesson here for those of us who work between cultures and institutions. EJAE did not earn her place by sounding like everyone else on the track. She earned it by bringing something no previous anthem had. The Korean line is not there to check a box; it is there because it makes the song larger. That is the case for diversity at its most persuasive, made not as an appeal to fairness but as a demonstration of range.
Watch the performance and listen for the handoff into Korean. It is brief. It is also, for many of us, the whole point: a homeland and a host country, finally singing the same line.
Lyrics: DNA (More Than a Game)
[Intro: Andrea Bocelli, EJAE]
And I say, “Hey, anche se cadiamo poi ci rialziamo
It’s more than just a game, it’s our DNA”
Yeah, 또 넘어져도, 난 또다시 일어나
This is more than just a game, it’s our DNA
[Verse 1: EJAE]
(Ooh) Tonight, we live our destiny
(Ooh) Only got one shot, and I know I believe (Believe)
That we’ll keep on fighting (Fighting) while the world is watching
(Ooh) I know everything is meant to be
[Pre-Chorus: EJAE]
We’ll stand together, we’ll stand the pressure
Wave your flags up in the sky, let fate decide
[Chorus: Andrea Bocelli & EJAE, EJAE]
So we say, “Hey, we’re not gonna break, yeah, we’re standing here today
‘Cause it’s more than just a game, it’s our DNA”
Yeah, we’re shooting for the stars, got fire in our hearts
This is more than just a game, it’s our DNA
[Post-Chorus: EJAE]
(Woah-oh, woah-oh, woah-oh)
It’s our DNA
(Woah-oh, woah-oh, woah-oh)
It’s our DNA
[Verse 2: Megan Thee Stallion]
Yeah, bend, never break (Never break)
Everybody winning, come and kick it with the great (Kick it with the great)
Flowers at my feet, time to pull it out the vase (When?)<
Dripping down my face (Yeah), if I run a race, it’ll be a paper chase (Ayy, okay)
The hottie gotta win (Yeah)
Haters throwing stones turned to diamonds on the wrist (Diamonds on the wrist)
Give it all you got, taking shots, never miss (Yeah)
My squad all legit (Yeah), walking on the field, I’ll die before I quit, huh
[Pre-Chorus: EJAE & Megan Thee Stallion]
We’ll stand together, we’ll stand the pressure
Wave your flags up in the sky, let fate decide (Before I quit, huh)
[Chorus: Andrea Bocelli & EJAE, EJAE]
So we say, “Hey, we’re not gonna break, yeah, we’re standing here today
‘Cause it’s more than just a game, it’s our DNA”
Yeah, we’re shooting for the stars, got fire in our hearts
This is more than just a game, it’s our DNA
[Post-Chorus: EJAE]
(Woah-oh, woah-oh, woah-oh)
It’s our DNA
(Woah-oh, woah-oh, woah-oh)
It’s our DNA
[Outro: Andrea Bocelli, EJAE]
And I say, “Hey, anche se cadiamo poi ci rialziamo
It’s more than just a game, it’s our DNA” (Just a game)
또 넘어져도, 난 또다시 일어나
This is more than just a game, it’s our DNA
Lyric source: https://poplyrics.uta5.com/entry/2026/06/12/094658
Prof. Dr. Jeonghwan (Jerry) Choi (Managing Editor), University of Maine at Presque Isle
Jeonghwan (Jerry) Choi, PhD is an Associate Professor of Business at the University of Maine at Presque Isle and Editor-in-Coordination of K-GSP Forum (contact: jeonghwan.choi@gmail.com). With over 25 years of industry and consulting experience, he specializes in leadership development, human resource management, organizational behavior, and social entrepreneurship. His research focuses on workforce resilience, organizational health, and self-directed leadership — bridging rigorous scholarship with practical insight to cultivate leaders who create meaningful, sustainable, and humane organizations.
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Yes, it's a celebration of football as more than just a game. I was also mesmerized by the singing, yes, it was identity, unity, and belonging all merged into one. Thank you for such a timely write up.