ESPN debuts new “Monday Night Football” anthem that will lead into broadcasts, starting with Week 2’s double bill.
Chris Stapleton, Snoop Dogg and drummer Cindy Blackman Santana cover Phil Collins’ classic song “In The Air Tonight” in an abridged version that will take viewers inside the game with announcers Joe Buck and Troy Aikman.
Stapleton croons while Snoop inserts football-centric rap verses. Blackman Santana delivers the iconic drum solo that fuels the anticipation for this evening’s matches.
The artists and song were chosen in light of research conducted by ESPN’s creative content team which revealed that the “MNF” brand contains a level of nostalgia dating back to the days when announcer Howard Cosell called the games.
Finding a contemporary way to pump up millions of people – visually and aurally – from home was the challenge, according to video producer Rico Labbe.
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“We just wanted to make sure we heard everyone’s voices – whether it was fans, artists, whether it stayed true to the ‘Monday Night Football’ brand over the years,” Labbe said. to USA TODAY. Sports. “We just wanted to make sure it was all consistent. This could be a challenge. But we think we’ve hit the sweet spot. »
The creative content team debuted a new anthem for “MNF” in 2021, said Julie McGlone, ESPN’s vice president of creative content production. The “MNF” team loved the idea, but told them to take their time lining up the song’s release — designed to fill a similar lane as Carrie Underwood’s “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night” on NBC – with the start of new broadcast contracts this season, giving ESPN an expanded portfolio for the regular season and playoffs.
Stapleton first appeared on ESPN’s radar after Super Bowl 57 in February, when he sang the national anthem. The creative content unit attended his concerts and dissected his discography. But it was his appeal to multiple demographics that made him an ideal leader of the project.
“We really felt like it had this moving feeling that incorporated everyone,” Labbe said.
Snoop Dogg was an obvious addition because he fit the mold of someone with both modern influence and decades in the scene, McGlone said.
Then there was the drum solo. Blackman Santana, one of the most accomplished touring drummers of all time, cemented himself in McGlone’s mind with his performance in Lenny Kravitz’s 1993 music video “Are You Gonna Go My Way?” The spot’s producers wanted a strong female presence, McGlone said, and Blackman Santana represents that for them.
“It was important to see female representation that wasn’t a dancer or a backup singer,” she told USA TODAY Sports.
And Blackman Santana hits fiercely.
“We needed someone who could hit those notes,” Labbe said.
“She really hits that drum change and you’re like, ‘Damn,’” McGlone said.
“In The Air Tonight” wasn’t decided until March 2023. The ESPN team realized that many NFL players, as well as fans, associated the song with preparing for a game. And Collins gave the project his blessing once he was assured it wouldn’t replace the “MNF” theme song — “the four notes,” as members of the creative content team call it .
Instead, this new spot will lead into that theme.
“I think every football fan knows the four notes,” McGlone said of the theme song, officially titled “Heavy Action.” “I hope everyone knows it too now.”
From the beginning, Labbe said, Stapleton made clear his intention to honor Collins. One of the shots in the room zooms in on Stapleton’s face with red lighting, recreating the cover of Collins’ album “No Jacket Required.”
The recording process took approximately five months. Stapleton and Blackman Santana worked together to nail the drum sections, while Snoop was responsible for seven different rap sections that lasted about 17 seconds in total.
“Chris was very inspired,” Labbe said. “He wanted to do it right and make sure he represented the song in the right way.”
Since the song has to play in a 90-second window before cutting to Buck and Aikman — both of whom are Stapleton fans and supporters of the project — it’s not a strict cover. Stapleton music producer Dave Cobb, co-director Mike Sciallis and producer Amanda Paschal helped structure the music so that the package worked for a pre-game introduction rather than a slow burn that s it lasts forever.
This version features a natural construction when it comes to battery change, which happens much quicker than the original. The anthem will be played before every ESPN game except for the Week 4 matchup in London between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Atlanta Falcons (on ESPN+), as kickoff is at 9 a.m. 30 ET.
“I think it’s an amazing time in music to have different sounds — country western, hip-hop and rock — it’s like one big gumbo,” Labbe said. “I feel like it’s the United States.”
