Girl Gang, a track by New Zealand singer Gin Wigmore, has been announced as the official song of the 2022 ICC Women's World Cup. The tournament is set to be hosted in New Zealand from March 4 to April 3, 2022.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) made the announcement in an event on Wednesday at Mt Maunganui Beach with Wigmore skydiving to the beach with the World Cup trophy in her hands.
"When you send a song out to the world you never really know what will happen," Wigmore said, who when not performing goes by the name Virginia Butler.
"You do certainly have hopes for it. I guess I had thought it would make a great theme song for something. So when the ICC called I was like 'heck yeah, that is so cool'. I'm really thrilled. It's so exciting," she said.
Wigmore had to work around her fear of heights for the event. "It is legit my biggest fear. But given what Girl Gang stands for, I figured I needed to follow through and take care of some business," she said.
A punchy, upbeat song, the soundtrack of the World Cup was also the name of a project Wigmore created to coincide with the release of Ivory, her fourth album which was released in 2017 which includes Girl Gang.
The essence of the song is celebrating women coming together to "fight against a society that so often pits us against each other and tears us down".
A mother of two boys, Wigmore admits she is "not all that sporty". Her memories of the sport are limited to games of beach cricket at the family holiday home in Hahei on New Zealand's East Coast of the North Island.
"I was kind of the kid who sat over to the side on the bench drawing and writing. So this is actually going to be a really cool journey. I'm really excited about learning all about cricket and the World Cup. From what I've seen so far these women are amazing athletes," she said.
Originally scheduled to be held from February 6 to March 7, 2021, the World Cup was postponed by a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
