Who sings Monday Night Football song? Here's what we think of the new theme song
I’ll admit, my initial reaction to the news that Snoop Dogg and Chris Stapleton had teamed up on a theme song for Monday Night Football was “Now, that’s the kind of thinking that goes on in boardrooms.”
It’s like when the Grammy Awards take two artists you’d never imagine performing together in nature and throws them together on stage for a star-studded mashup that’s supposed to make us feel like we've just witnessed something special.
Cue announcer saying, “Stapleton and Snoop Dogg! Together at last! On the hip-hop/country anthem they were born to play!”
Except instead of coming up with something bad but interesting, they dusted off an old Phil Collins classic, “In the Air Tonight,” that football fans already know and more than likely love with Cindy Blackman Santana re-creating one of Collins’ most iconic parts on drums.
It’s not bad — suitably dramatic in a way that makes it feel like you’re about to witness one hell of a game, from Stapleton’s brooding delivery of the first line, “I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord” — to Santana kicking into high gear with the drum fill as Stapleton switches it up from merely brooding to intense.
Then, Snoop Dogg makes his entrance, rapping “Rivals, us verse them/Survival, we must win/It’s tribal, my team like kin/ By any means necessary/ When head-to-head, we’re adversaries. Nothing is given, so we gotta take it/ It’s 4th and Inches, so we gotta make it.”
He ends the rap with “Can you feel it?” as the spotlight shifts to Stapleton squeezing out sparks on electric guitar before bringing it home with one last chorus.
This was all intercut with footage of the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers in action and announcers shouting things like “What a catch!” and “Unbelievable!” during Stapleton’s guitar lead when the new theme was unveiled on Monday Night Football on Sept. 18.
If you were to ask me what "all things to all people" sounds like? I would call this up on YouTube and hit "play."
One can safely assume they’ll be swapping in whatever teams are playing each week while one of Collins’ most enduring singles gets another lease on life and Stapleton and Snoop continue their relationship with NFL fans.
Stapleton did turn in one of the greatest Super Bowl national anthems in NFL history this year at Super Bowl 2023 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. And Snoop Dogg was part of the wildly popular halftime show in 2022 with Dr. Dre, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent, Mary J. Blige. and Anderson .Paak.
This new theme song isn’t operating on that level. And it's clearly not their best work. But it gets the job done. With any luck, the game itself will be a whole lot more exciting.
Can you feel it?
Reach the reporter at [email protected] or 602-444-4495. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @EdMasley.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Who sings Monday Night Football? A review of the latest theme song
