Colombian pop star Shakira, turning 40, is inspired by her Middle Eastern roots and has smashed sales records in Spanish and English. In times of insular politics, her globalized sound could be a healthy escape.
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Shakira keeps shaking at 40
Colombian pop star Shakira is inspired by her Arab roots and her hip-shaking moves and unique vocals have smashed sales records in both Spanish and English. Now 40, the singer is also an education activist.
Image: WEF/Jakob Polacsek
Colombia's superstar
Born in Barranguilla, Colombia on February 2, 1977, the youngest of eight kids, Shakira is one of the bestselling Latin artists of all time. She released her first album at 14, but her breakthrough came in 1996 with her third disc, "Pies Diescalzos" (Barefoot), establishing her mix of Latin, rock and Arab styles. In 1997 she moved to Miami to find fame in the US, helped by producer Emilio Estefan.
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A link between North and South America
Shakira won her first Grammy Award for best Latin pop album in 2000 before she released her first English-language album, "Laundry Service," in 2001 after just a few years in the US. The album shot to number three in the charts. She claimed her second Grammy, for best Latin rock/alternative album, in 2006 and picked up an MTV Latin America Award for best song ("Hips Don't Lie") the same year.
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The whole package
"Hips Don't Lie" from the 2006 Grammy-winning "Oral Fixation" album became one of Shakira's biggest hits. Standing just 157 cm tall (5'1"), Shakira draws on her Colombian, Spanish, Italian and Lebanese roots in her dancing, as well as her musical style. In 2009, she released the album/single "She Wolf," which got her an MTV Europe Music Award nomination. She's pictured here at that ceremony.
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Shakira's soccer spotlight
Think back to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and two words will come to mind: "Waka Waka." Shakira's single became the tournament's theme song, a celebration of Africa that spread fun, hip-shaking vibes around the world. The video to the song has since been viewed over one billion times on YouTube. Also in 2010, Shakira released her first fragrance: S by Shakira.
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The ex
For nearly a decade, Antonio de la Rua, son of the former Argentine president, was the man in Shakira's life. They even got enganged in 2001, but split in 2010. The breakup reportedly was quite messy, with De la Rua suing Shakira for $250 million, claiming he had managed her career and was losing out on compensation. The claims were dismissed. The couple is pictured here in Las Vegas in 2007.
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Partner and kids
Shakira has been in a relationship with Spanish soccer player Gerard Piqué since 2010. Rumors of their relationship started percolating during the World Cup, though they didn't confirm it until February 2011. The native of Barcelona, who turns 30 the same day the singer turns 40, also plays for Barcelona. In 2013, they had their first son, Milan. Their second son, Sasha, was born two years later.
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Among the stars
As if two Grammys and countless international prizes weren't enough, Shakira received the icing on the cake in November 2011. He name is now engraved on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood. The star maintains a home in the US (Miami), but also has residences in the Bahamas, her birthtown of Barranquilla, Colombia, and Barcelona, Spain.
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Barefoot foundation
Known for performing barefoot, Shakira named her charity the "Pies Diescalzos Foundation" - the barefoot foundation. The organization aims to help provide education to children in her native Colombia. She is pictured here in 2011 at the cornerstone laying ceremony for a school in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. Something of a child prodigy herself, Shakira wrote her first song at age eight.
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The face of 'The Voice'
NBC's popular singing competition TV show "The Voice" recruited Shakira for its jury during season four in 2013. With her quick-witted humor and ever-so-slight Colombian accent, she thrilled fans and held her own alongside fellow jury members R&B artist Usher, Adam Levine of Maroon 5 and country star Blake Shelton. Shakira took a break from season five, but returned to "The Voice" for season six.
Shakira is pictured here during a February 2016 photo session for the animated movie "Zootopia," in which she performed the voice of the character Gazelle in both the English and Spanish versions. She also performed the song "Try Everything" in the popular film, which won a Golden Globe for best animated feature film.
Image: picture alliance/ZUMA Press/A. Gallo
Shakira in Davos - UNICEF Global ambassador
Shakira is also a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Just recently in January 2017, she visited the World Economic Forum in Davos to campaign for education. She tweeted: "With Gordon Brown discussing the next steps to secure new major financing for Education." There she was also presented with the Schwab Foundation's Crystal Award, which goes to artists who are committed to improving the world.
Image: WEF/Jakob Polacsek
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She might just be the proof some women may need that turning 40 is nothing to dread.
Since dropping her lastest single, "Chantaje" featuring Maluma, last November, the Colombian superstar has been challenging her fans to send in videos of their own dance moves as they shake their own hips to her track. (Shakira faithfully posts most tweets twice, in Spanish and English.)
A quick scan of #ChantajeChallengeContest offers a few moments of what the Germans would call "fremdschämen" (being embarrassed for someone else) - and proof that at 40 Shakira herself still has the world's fastest, sexiest hips.
While with her midriff tops, skimpy dresses and erotic moves and lyrics, she may not embody the emancipated modern woman - and certainly didn't in 2001 when she stormed onto the US music scene with her steamy "Laundry Service" video and run-of-the-mill pop album of the same name.
Not your typical pop queen
She was already a big star in Latin America, but with her North American breakthrough at the beginning of the 2000s, "some people associated the Colombian singer with her American pop-music contemporaries Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera," wrote music magazine "Rolling Stone."
"But the stylistic breadth of Shakira's music - elements of folk, Middle Eastern and traditional Latin styles over a foundation of rock and pop - gave her a degree of credibility the American teen queens lacked."
And perhaps that - besides her sheer vocal and dance talent - is what makes Shakira not only the inevitable superstar, but also all the more relevant in times of insular politics.
So maybe we can't dance like Shak (see #ChantajeChallengeContest). And maybe we can't sing like Shak, a wunderkind who wrote her first song at age eight. But still, she could be any of us.
Citizens of the world
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll was born in Barranquilla, Colombia, on February 2, 1977, as the youngest of eight siblings. Her Colombian-born mother had Spanish and Italian roots, while her father was born in New York to Lebanese immigrants.
To create her signature dance style, the superstar is able to draw on her diverse cultural heritage - having tapped into her Lebanese background in particular to master the art of belly-dancing.
The salsa beats in her 2006 megahit "Hips Don't Lie" transported us to the palm-tree-lined squares of Havana, while "Waka Waka" made us all feel like Africans. Her 2010 single became the theme song of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the video has since racked up well over one billion views.
As a UNICEF ambassador and founder of the Barefoot charity for kids in Colombia, Shakira's activism has focused more on education than politics. But in times where national boundaries are being fiercely defended and cultural differences become points of contention, perhaps we are desperately in need of a beat that can break down barriers.
Shakira's Latin beats, spiced with Middle Eastern and other world elements and made comfortably familiar by being churned through the pop machine, make you feel like a citizen of the world - albeit one who traipses through the clubs of Miami, Barcelona, Cape Town or Havana, dressed in linen with cocktail in hand.
