FIFA handed Shakira and Burna Boy the Mexico City opener on June 11, completing a first-ever trilogy of World Cup opening ceremonies spread across three host nations.
The staggered shows, paired with an album of original songs and a debut halftime show at the final, mark FIFA's boldest move yet to weld the World Cup to global pop culture.
FIFA will stage a separate ceremony before each host country's first match, breaking from the single opening the tournament leaned on for nearly a century.
The arrangement also marks only the second time multiple nations have co-hosted, after South Korea and Japan split the 2002 edition.
Mexico City opens the run, when Shakira and Burna Boy perform the official tournament song Dai Dai before the hosts meet South Africa at Estadio Azteca.
The Mexico City show spotlights the country's heritage, weaving indigenous and folkloric acts around rock band Maná, Alejandro Fernández and Belinda.
The Mexico bill also draws in J Balvin, Danny Ocean, Lila Downs and cumbia group Los Ángeles Azules, stretching the night across pop, regional and folk traditions.
Each ceremony will start 90 minutes before kickoff, giving fans a concert-length build-up before the football begins.
Toronto follows on June 12, where Michael Bublé, Alanis Morissette and Alessia Cara headline a program built around Canadian diversity before the hosts face Bosnia and Herzegovina.
FIFA will mark the Toronto show with a mosaic-style reimagining of the World Cup trophy meant to reflect the country's diversity.
Los Angeles closes the opening stretch later that day, when Katy Perry, Future, LISA, Anitta, Rema and Tyla drive a high-energy pop show at SoFi Stadium before the United States meets Paraguay.
Tyla will appear at more than one ceremony, a sign of how FIFA has spread its headliners across the three host cities.
The Athletic first reported the lineups, though FIFA has kept the headliners for the July 19 final halftime show at MetLife Stadium under wraps.
The halftime show will give the final a stadium-sized musical centerpiece, a first for a World Cup decider.
FIFA released the official 18-track album through its FIFA Sound arm, packing it with cross-continent collaborations that join artists who had never recorded together.
Early drops include Goals by LISA, Anitta and Rema plus Game Time by Future and Tyla, six tracks that landed before Dai Dai closes the album.
The collection ranges from The Rolling Stones and Stormzy to 21 Savage, Major Lazer and Davido, layering rock, rap and Afrobeats into one soundtrack.
FIFA will also open a Countdown Concert on June 10, running shows in Mexico City, Toronto and Los Angeles at the same time, with Major Lazer, Davido and Belinda among the acts.
The campaign reframes the World Cup as a live-entertainment event, pushing music alongside the football rather than behind it.
FIFA has cast the album as a core part of the event rather than a side note, betting that music will pull in viewers far beyond the football audience.
The spectacle sits far from the tournament's roots, when FIFA staged the first World Cup in 1930 with just 13 teams.
Uruguay claimed that inaugural title, and the tournament has run without a break since, apart from the years lost to the Second World War.
This year's field swells to 48 teams, up from 32, the largest edition the tournament has ever staged.
What began as a compact contest in Uruguay will now unfold in three cities at once, turning the first whistle into a global concert as much as a kickoff.
