Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 03/11/2011 at 5:30 PM News

The Popdust Files: nick lachey

How awesome is the Big East Conference this NCAA season? Not only is it rumored to possibly be getting an unprecedented 11 teams into the 64-squad March Madness faceoff, it even has its very own theme song for its conference tournament. One-time pop star and always-time Big East devotee Nick Lachey has created an appropriately titled anthem, “Last One Standing.” “As a Cincinnati native, I have had a passion for college athletics and the University of Cincinnati,” said Lachey. “I have grown a strong affinity to the Big East since it joined the conference, and think that this song represents the true test that these inspiring student-athletes face by competing in this league.”

Bold statement, but the song does an impressively good job of living up to it. Though our knowledge here at Popdust of the Nick Lachey solo oeuvre could use some updating, this certainly sounds like one of the more legitimately rocking things he’s done to date. It begins with a pounding drum intro that sounds like something out of a Ministry song, and launches into a chugging arena-rock groove, with Lachey doing his best montage mugging: “Though all the tears and pain / One question remains / Who’s the last? / The last one standing?” Please, Frank Stallone, don’t hurt ‘em!

The song will air during the Big East Tournament’s final game on Saturday night. “Sports is so much about energy and all the excitement you get being there live at a game,” says Lachey, “And I wanted to capture it in a song.” We’re pumped. Go ‘Cuse!