Shakira: WP3
Her name, Shakira, means grateful. From her father’s first marriage, she has eight half-siblings. Her grandmother taught her the art of Arabian belly dancing. Even though Shakira was hugely popular worldwide, she had not yet achieved her goals of having a significant hit on the U.S. pop charts. So, when she was 20 years old, the singer moved to Miami, Florida, where she taught herself to write English songs to expand her American fan base. Having become the artist who catapulted and promoted Latin music to the international market, her legacy transcends language barriers, establishing Latin music as a global phenomenon. Shakira uses multiculturalism through various different cultural music ideas from the U.S., Latin, and middle eastern themes to make songs that would be attractive globally.
Born in the Colombian city of Barranquilla, Shakira’s first foray into performing was as a belly dancer. Born to a Lebanese father and a Spanish mother, she took part in both cultures and brought them into her artistry. Being of Lebanese descent, Shakira fell in love with belly dancing at the age of four, and this particular style of dance would stick with her even today when she performs to millions of people globally. Belly dancing is a dance form with string movements with your hips and torso. Each middle eastern culture has differences, with the Lebanese adding significant steps with a modern edge. Growing up, she has claimed “that she was born to perform’” and wrote her first poem at the age of four on a typewriter. After getting signed to Sony records at the age of 13, Shakira released records that were flops. It was not until she released her third album.
“Pies Descalzos,” which means bare feet, did Shakira become a South American star. On this record, she wrote each song and used Latin rock and standard pop sounds to detail the universal struggles of a relationship. Staying true to her latin heritage she used mariachis and percussion to flesh out her sound. Written and sung entirely in Spanish and out on tour, she sang her confessional lyrics while belly dancing to many adoring fans. The blend of middle eastern dancing and Spanish lyrics worked, and her tour was a massive hit. At this time Shakira was relatively unknown in the Unted States; but she was starting to get some press and was nominated for a latin grammy.
As her popularity grew in South America, Shakira rode a wave of Latin performers breaking into the United States, such as Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez. They wrote and sang songs in English, but the songs were embedded with traditional Latin sounds. This globalization made the Latin sounds universal in appeal and proved that they could sell records in the states without having to change their artistry. As Shakira plotted to become an American star, she had to master the English language. With the help of her friend Gloria Estefan, another artist who broke through in America from Cuba in the 1980’s she helped Shakira. According to the website, Pitchford Shakira was “trying to write an album for an English-speaking audience that would somehow preserve the spirit of her trenchant pop-rock — all without forsaking the legion of Latin American fans that made her a pop luminary.” The subsequent release was called “Laundry Service” and proved that you didn’t just need to sing American pop or rock to succeed in the United States. For the first video for a song called “Whenever, Whenever,” Shakira is seen belly dancing throughout the clip, mashing together middle eastern, Latin, and American sounds and dances for a worldwide smash hit.
Achieving worldwide success, Shakira continued to record albums in English and Spanish. In an interview with Roling stone magazine, she stated, “My music, I think, is a fusion of many different elements…and I’m always experimenting. So I try not to limit myself or put myself in a category” (Udovitch). Shakira’s rise to fame was before the internet and social media and has made Latin culture accessible to the masses. The interesting thing about Shakira is that she never changed who she was or her sound to become famous in America. It could be argued that singing in English was a concession to Americans, but with songs like “Despacito’’ by Luis Fonsi, that issue should be mute. Her ability to combine so many different cultures into a sound has made her traditionally Latin sounds accepted globally. With Shakira’s help, Latino artists now have a greater voice in the international music industry, where prejudice and even racism still exist. As a result of her pre-crossover albums, Shakira was regarded as the biggest Latin star of all time. While Shakira navigated a tightrope balancing act in the early 2000s when she explored the U.S. market, she remained true to her music while appealing to a wider audience. Her steadfast dedication to vocalizing her own blend of backgrounds has, however, reached a wide audience. Infusing a variety of styles and instruments into her music and live performances, she eludes commercial demands while drawing inspiration from both her Colombian and Lebanese backgrounds. From the beginning, Shakira set the stage with a unique sound set that rocked the industry and the world with her credibility and hinted at her greater cultural influence in American music.
At the age of 20, the singer moved to Miami, Florida, where she learned how to write English songs to expand her American fan base. Ever since then her platform has grown into one of the biggest if not the biggest latino artists of all time due to her diversing herself with different cultures. As an artist who brought and promoted Latin music to the world market, her legacy transcended the language barrier and established Latin music as a global phenomenon. Shakira leverages multiculturalism and uses a variety of cultural musical ideas from American and Latin music to create compelling songs for both.
