Video: Dolly Parton Drops 'We Are the Champions' Music Video to Celebrate One Year Before the Olympics

Dolly Parton, a global icon, is collaborating with NBCUniversal on the video for her new song “We Are The Champions/We Will Rock You,” which will be used to promote NBCU’s coverage of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 that begin one year from today.

“We Are The Champions/We Will Rock You” is Parton’s cover of the famous rock anthems by Queen and a new song from her upcoming album Rockstar, which was inspired by her 2022 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The album is set for global release on Nov. 17.

A huge fan of the Olympics and Team USA, Parton aligned with NBCU to produce an Olympic-themed video that celebrates the athletes and gets people excited about next year’s Games in Paris. Various lengths of the video are debuting today across NBCUniversal’s unprecedented array of platforms -- exactly one year before the Opening Ceremony in Paris.

“I love the Olympics! I do my best to plan my schedule to watch as much of it as I possibly can,” says Parton. “I tape it just in case I miss the live action on a certain day and watch it back as soon as possible. I laugh, I cry, I scream, there are no losers in the Olympics as they have all spent a lifetime preparing but I celebrate with the ones that go away with the gold, silver, and bronze medals.”

“Dolly Parton is an American Icon whose popularity and recognition across generations is unmatched,” said Jenny Storms, CMO, Entertainment and Sports, NBCUniversal. “She is also a close member of the NBCUniversal family, an Olympic super-fan, and has a new version of two of the greatest sports anthems of all time. So, she was the perfect choice to get America excited about Team USA and next summer’s Paris Olympics.”

The video begins with Parton singing in an empty stadium. As the tenor of the song builds, the video is infused with a spectacle of moving pictures that only the Olympics can provide – spectacular Opening and Closing Ceremonies from the past, iconic highlights known the world over, and athletes enduring adversity, demonstrating perseverance, and becoming champions.

Olympians and teams featured in the video include Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Noah Lyles, Katie Ledecky, the women’s soccer team, men’s and women’s basketball teams, and a host of international athletes. The video also features Parton performing in front of a sparkling Eiffel Tower and concludes with her surrounded by fans in a full stadium all singing “We Are The Champions” until it crescendos and transitions into “We Will Rock You.”

NBCU will have a one-year-out campaign on Aug. 28 to promote its coverage of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, with details to be released next month.

The 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics will be presented across the networks of NBCUniversal and Peacock in the summer of 2024. NBCUniversal owns the U.S. media rights to the Olympic Games through 2032, which are scheduled for Paris (2024), Milan Cortina (2026), Los Angeles (2028) and Brisbane (2032). The host city for the 2030 Winter Olympics has not been selected. NBCUniversal’s coverage of the Paris Paralympics runs Aug. 28 – Sept. 8, 2024.

Watch the new music video here:

ABOUT DOLLY PARTON

Dolly Parton is the most honored and revered female country singer-songwriter of all time and was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Achieving 27 RIAA-certified gold, platinum, and multi-platinum awards, she has had 26 songs reach #1 on the Billboard country charts, a record for a female artist. Parton is the first artist to have topped the Billboard's Adult Contemporary, Christian AC Songs, Hot Country Songs, Christian Airplay, Country Airplay and Dance/Mix Show Airplay radio charts. Parton became the first country artist honored as Grammy MusiCares Person of the Year given out by NARAS. She has 48 career Top 10 country albums, a record for any artist, and 110 career-charted singles over the past 50+ years.

In 2014 the RIAA recognized her impact on recorded music with a plaque commemorating more than 100 million units sold worldwide. She has garnered eleven Grammy Awards and 51 nominations, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, 10 Country Music Association Awards, including Entertainer of the Year; five Academy of Country Music Awards, also including a nod for Entertainer of the Year; four People's Choice Awards; and three American Music Awards. In 1999, Parton was inducted as a member of the coveted Country Music Hall of Fame.

In 2020, she released the Christmas album “A Holly Dolly Christmas” which went #1 on the Billboard Country and Holiday charts, as well released the bestselling coffee table book “Songteller: My Life in Lyrics.”  In 2021, she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie for the film “Dolly Parton's Christmas on the Square” and in December 2022, she released on NBC an all-new original holiday movie called “Dolly Parton's Mountain Magic Christmas” with her starring as well as producing; it was the most watched film of that year and the two years prior.

To date, Parton has donated over 211 million books to children around the world with her Imagination Library. Her children's book, Coat of Many Colors, was dedicated to the Library of Congress to honor the Imagination Library's 100 millionth book donation. In March of 2022, Parton released the book Run Rose Run which she co-authored with James Patterson which sat at # 1 on the New York Times Bestseller's List for 5 weeks, a record for this decade.  She also released an accompanying album of the same name with original songs inspired by the book which reached #1 on three charts simultaneously --- Country, Americana/Folk and Bluegrass Albums.  From her “Coat of Many Colors” while working “9 to 5,” no dream is too big and no mountain too high for the country girl who turned the world into her stage.               

ABOUT NBC OLYMPICS

A division of NBC Sports, NBC Olympics is responsible for producing, programming, and promoting NBCUniversal’s coverage of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. NBC Olympics is renowned for its unsurpassed Olympic heritage, award-winning production, and ability to aggregate the largest audiences in U.S. television history. NBCUniversal owns the U.S. media rights on all platforms to all Olympic Games through 2032. NBC Olympics also produces thousands of hours of Olympic sports programming throughout the year, which is presented across NBC, USA Network, CNBC, Peacock, and NBC Sports digital platforms.

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