Shakira
Shakira
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll is a Colombian singer, songwriter, dancer and record producer. Born and raised in Barranquilla, she began performing in school, demonstrating Latin American, Arabic, and rock and roll influences and belly dancing abilities. Shakira released her first studio albums, Magia and Peligro, in the early 1990s, failing to attain commercial success; however, she rose to prominence in Latin America with her major-label debut, Pies Descalzos, and her fourth album, Dónde Están los Ladrones?...
ProfessionPop Singer
Date of Birth2 February 1977
CityBarranquilla, Colombia
I feel comfortable in my pop shoes. They let me walk in any direction. I like to go from one extreme to the other. One day I feel that I want to do a song with reggaeton influence, I do it. The next day I feel I need to do a song with rock elements to it, I do it.
Videos come definitely after the music has been created, but I have always felt, and especially today, that videos are vital in the album process. I think that we live in a very visual era, and if you make a mistake with a video, those images will accompany the song forever.
Sometimes, I ask myself how any other singer could substitute the inspiration of god in their songs
Writing songs has a therapeutic effect, and it either kills off love or wins the heart of the lover.
You're a song written by the hands of God.
My songs are the reflection of how I think and how I feel in that moment. But I'm conscious of the fact that artists have a responsibility before the masses and they have to take care with their words.
Writing in English was a major challenge. I didn't want other songwriters to write for me. I wanted to preserve the spirit of my songs in Spanish. I am the same Shakira in English as I am in Spanish.
I was unaware of the dispute in Brooklyn, ... I would never knowingly wear any clothes or support any company who produced clothing with alleged wage and labor violations.
On New York: This city sounds like jazz.
It's a very interesting process to write in English because all my literary resources come from Spanish, ... I must confess that I felt really handicapped, creatively, when I accepted the proposal to sing in English. ... I thought that I would encounter more difficulties, but everything has come together.
'Elixir' means magical potion, so I wanted to depict the kind of bottle that was used in ancient times, but that looked modern and chic as well. I also wanted it to have a golden tint to evoke the memories of sands and sunsets.
The worst frustration for a singer is choosing a career in making music and then not being able to make music because you're always giving interviews.
I wanna stay an eternal girlfriend. I want to have my boyfriend's children, but I don't think we need a piece of paper to regulate the game, and we don't have to go through the whole stress of a wedding and suffering to throw a good party.
I am a person who has many dreams. But as soon as I accomplish one, I move on to the next. That's my fatal, absurd nature.