This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
You gotta love this global chart topper from Shakira for its lyrics alone. Sure, the Latin beats and instrumentals courtesy of the charango and panpipes add flavor and originality to the song, but it doesn’t get more authentic than her line about her bosom’s fortune: “Lucky that my breasts are small and humble / So you don’t confuse them with mountains.”
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Shakira welcomes Puerto Rican singer Nicky Jam to help her with her 11th studio album, El Dorado, which the songstress declares is “a tribute to Colombia.” With “Perro Fiel” (rough translation: “Faithful Dog”), she and Nicky trade verses, each one affirming their undying love for one another. In the sultry video, there are wolves, gold body paint, and torque racing—because of course there are.
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Admittedly, high school Spanish doesn’t help too much with deciphering the song-and-dance between Shakira and her feature man, Colombian singer Maluma—not that it matters much though. The two are dripping with enough sex appeal and seduction to transcend language barriers. If you’re curious though, “Chantaje,” a 2016 reggae tune that hit number one on Billboard‘s Hot Latin Songs chart, translates to “Blackmail.”
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Another genre-blending tune coupled with eccentric lyrics, “Hips Don’t Lie” mixes hip-hop, Latin, and reggae beats, while Shakira and Haitian rapper Wyclef Jean each do their thing. The song sat at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart for weeks in 2006, not to mention it came with a video of Shakira showing off her moves and giving the entire world ab envy.
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Every four years, the FIFA World Cup dominates the sports world. And every four years, the quadrennial tournament’s official anthem takes over the musical sphere. One of the best of those songs is “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa).” Not only listed as “the most successful World Cup anthem ever” by Billboard, the publication also solidified her as “the queen of the World Cup.”
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Shakira and frequent collaborator Maluma team for the third time with “Clandestino,” a stimulating track about two lovers’ forbidden secret affair: “Ours is illegal and I will not deny you / That I pay the sentence because I kissed you.” According to Shakira, the pair have “absolute chemistry,” and not even a verse into “Clandestino,” we believe her.
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Shakira gives her trademark belly-dancing moves a serious workout in the video for “La Tortura,” her colossal international hit that translates to “Torture.” Featuring Spanish musician Alejandro Sanz, the song gives off major cumbia vibes—cumbia, NPR explains, is the “musical backbone” of Latin America.
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Now, Shakira is known for her bust-thrusts and malleable midsection, but never has the artist shown off how bendy she can be than in her video for “She Wolf.” But just as impressive as her caged contortions is her sound: In a diversion from her Latin roots, the singer goes electro-pop and sounds really beautiful doing it. Close your eyes and you can almost hear elements of Céline Dion.
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
A tender departure from the up-tempo, multicultural tracks that catapulted Shakira to global recognition, “Underneath Your Clothes” does just that: It strips away the reggae beats and the guitar flourishes and just lets the Colombian megastar’s vocals shine. Not to mention, the song is one of Shakira’s most successful singles worldwide.
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
We know we’re talking songs here and not necessarily the best Shakira videos, but this short film directed by Joseph Kahn that features the Colombian singer with the hottest artist out of Barbados cannot be ignored. As for the song, its explosion of vocals and Latin/reggae beats is another reason “Can’t Remember to Forget You” can’t be … forgotten.
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Can we all just pause and again appreciate the lyrical maestro Shakira is; somehow she works Communism, Tai Chi, and thoughts about football into one top 10 chart-frequenting song. Though the song’s message is a little old-fashioned—it’s about a woman going to just about any length, including moving to a Communist country, to keep her beau—“Don’t Bother” can’t help but achieve earworm status.
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
A song off her first entirely English-language album, Laundry Service, “Objection (Tango)” is the dance song that ignited the international hit maker’s crossover into American pop. It’s a thrilling mix of samba drums and surf guitar (it’s a thing). And those lyrics? Shakira actually credits learning English with the help of one very famous artist: Gloria Estefan.
This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Though we know Shakira as one of pop’s most legendary princesses, she actually started out with the intention of becoming a rock star. But she achieved something even cooler: international pop-rock stardom. With “Empire,” the singer uses a power rock ballad to tick off impressive chunks of the vocal spectrum. She goes from soft to hard to vulnerable to completely unfettered, all in one glorious tune.
DeAnna Janes is a freelance writer and editor for a number of sites, including Harper’s BAZAAR, Tasting Table, Fast Company and Brit + Co, and is a passionate supporter of animal causes, copy savant, movie dork and reckless connoisseur of all holidays. A native Texan living in NYC since 2005, Janes has a degree in journalism from Texas A&M and got her start in media at US Weekly before moving on to O Magazine, and eventually becoming the entertainment editor of the once-loved, now-shuttered DailyCandy. She’s based on the Upper West Side.
Watch Next
