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The song was recorded in fourteen and a half hours by over eighty artists on February 1, and was released on February 12, 2010, during the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics. "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" was released as a CD single and a music download. It was produced by Quincy Jones, and executively produced by Lionel Richie, and Haitian-American musician Wyclef Jean. A music video directed by Paul Haggis was released to accompany and promote the song. The song was also recorded in Spanish by a Latin supergroup and was named Somos el Mundo. The song was directed by Emilio Estefan and his wife, Gloria Estefan. "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" is musically structured similar to "We Are the World", but includes Auto-Tune and a rap verse, which was written by some of the song's hip hop artists. Michael Jackson died months before the song's release, but his material from the 1985 recording sessions was incorporated into the song and music video, as per the request of his mother, Katherine. His sister Janet duets with him on the song, and his nephews Taj, TJ and Taryll-collectively known as 3T-feature on the track's chorus. "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" received generally negative reviews by contemporary music critics, with criticism focused on the song's new musical additions, as well as the choice of artists who appear on the track. The song was commercially successful worldwide, charting within the top 20 in multiple countries. |