WASHINGTON — “Monday Night Football” is amping up the entertainment with a new anthem and show open on Monday.
Phil Collins’ nostalgic “In the Air Tonight” has been reimagined by Grammy-award winner Chris Stapleton, Snoop Dogg and drummer Cindy Blackman Santana.
The new rendition of the song will debut on Monday night during the “Two Games, One Night” special and is set to lead into the rest of the “Monday Night Football” games.
Stapleton maintains the song’s original lyrics while Snoop Dogg is set to add “football-centric verses” to the cover. Blackman Santana, a renowned drummer, will add her own style and accents to the song’s drum break.
The new song adds to the star-studded music lineup contributing to “Monday Night Football” this year. ESPN previously announced that music from singer Justin Timberlake and music producer Timbaland will be featured in promotional spots, live telecasts and pre-game shows this season.
“It was fascinating to me to see how one song could get you in that mode to go kick some tail,” two-time Super Bowl champion and Steelers legend Hines Ward said in an ESPN feature about the song.
A new show open is set to include appearances from NFL stars, game highlights and “dramatic moments intercut with dramatic performances from all three artists.”
What’s happening to the old Monday Night Football theme?
Despite the musical revamp, “Monday Night Football” fans should remain at ease since the iconic “Heavy Action” theme music will remain a key part of the broadcast’s presentation
Who wrote ‘In the Air Tonight’?
English singer-songwriter and drummer Phil Collins released “In the Air Tonight” in 1981.
Known for its drum solo and its eerie vocals, “In the Air Tonight” was Collins’ first-ever solo single after he left the rock band Genesis.
In a Rolling Stones interview in 2016, the singer-songwriter said he wrote song after he and his first wife Andrea Bertorelli separated.
“This song has become a stone around my neck, though I do love it. I wrote the lyrics spontaneously. I’m not quite sure what the song is about, but there’s a lot of anger, a lot of despair and a lot of frustration,” Collins said at the time. “Nobody knows what the song is about, and I kind of like the mystery.”