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Justin Bibis' World Cup anthem destroys celeb original

Justin Bibis' World Cup anthem destroys celeb original

"It's a home-grown talent, both sisters are extremely in tune," says video's director Adnan Malik of the Justin Bibis
11 Sep, 2015

When a video of two girls who we've come to know as Justin Bibis went viral no one could have guessed that they were going to become stars in such a short span of time.

The Justin Bibi's claim to fame is their rendition of Justin Bieber's hit song 'Baby.'

Read also: Move over Justin Bieber, you've got competition!

The viral video:

With cricket fever in the air, it makes sense that the duo was roped in to sing a version of this year's anthem, 'Phir Se Game Uthadein', inspired by Matt Slogett and Kasey Carlone's famed 1992 hit 'Who Rules The World'.

In fact, the new video's director, Adnan Malik, says: "When I first saw the video of the girls on Facebook, I knew instantly that I wanted to find them."

The Justin Bibis were in competition with the original World Cup anthem released recently, which featured a star-studded lineup. However, that song, which featured the likes of Atif Aslam, Faisal Kapadia, Asrar and Jimmy Khan on the vocals, and includes celebrities like Aamina Sheikh, Adnan Siddiqui and Adnan Malik among others, fell kind of flat.

Read also: 'Phir Se Game Utha Dain': Yay or nay for new World Cup song?

No matter though, our Justin Bibis came to the rescue.

This new version featuring the Justin Bibis has the punch the first version was missing and is more close to home.

Where the first video was glamourised, this version is more relatable. The video begins with the girls singing 'Baby' and then transitions into 'Who Rules The World'. The track features the girls in the limelight, followed by a qawalli inspired rendition of "khail ka hai sama, josh mein hai jahan" for an interesting fusion that resonates well with the Pakistani audience.

The video's director, Adnan Malik shares how the concept for the video materialised: "You have to love social media because when I put out a call to action on Facebook, I managed to track them down. When Zoe [Viccaji] and I met them, we couldn't tell who was more starstruck — us or them! Zoe and Adnan Saeed, who produced the audio, mentioned that we should incorporate qawalli into the new anthem and so we decided to merge the two."

He adds, "Working with them was a great experience. It's a home-grown talent, which their mother has nurtured very well. Without any formal training, both sisters are extremely in tune."

Talking about the aesthetics of the video, Malik divulges: "The point was to connect with the audience and showcase the old, ethnic city of Lahore in all its glory."

—Screen grab from the video
—Screen grab from the video

The one minute 18 seconds long video features shots of the Badshahi Mosque, dancing horses and Lahore's pehelwaans, among other things to showcase the best of what Lahore has to offer.