Shakira

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll is a Colombian singer-songwriter born in Barranquilla, Colombia on February 2, 1977. She is also an actress, record producer, fashion designer, perfumer, UNICEF goodwill ambassador, and philanthropist.

Her alto voice is her most characteristic hallmark due to the great sonority and range it gives to her songs. Since her debut in the Hispanic-American music market in 1995 with the album Pies descalzos, Shakira has sold over 75 million albums and singles. She is regarded as the Queen of Latin pop, being a global icon of this music, whose melodic and danceable roots are present in all her compositions. The influence of her Lebanese heritage on her father's side has also led her to fuse Caribbean rhythms with those of Arab origin, as well as to create choreographies that highlight the typical belly dance, which is always present in her performances.

Three of her singles, "Chantaje," "La tortura," and "Suerte," are among the twenty most important in Billboard history. In 2011, she became the youngest artist to receive the Person of the Year honor.

One of Shakira's great passions is education, which is why in 1997 she founded the Pies Descalzos foundation in her hometown of Barranquilla with the aim of providing assistance to the entire vulnerable child community in Colombia and third world countries. For her humanitarian work, she was appointed goodwill ambassador and awarded at the United Nations in 2006.

In 2009 and 2010, Shakira recorded in collaboration with the American of Cuban descent Pitbull the singles "Lo hecho está hecho" and "Rabiosa," respectively. In 2012, they reunited with the song "Get It Started."

In October 2019, her song "La bicicleta," performed together with Carlos Vives, was surrounded by some controversy after the Cuban Livam Rafael Castellanos appealed to the Spanish courts due to the alleged plagiarism of a fragment of a song he authored in 1995 titled Yo te quiero tanto. Livam then claimed to have sent Vives through Sony ATV a sample of his song for him to sing, stating that the Colombian had reproduced a fragment without his consent.

The success of the disputed song took place in 2017. The occasional duo reached the top spots in major global charts and in just six months had nearly 800 million views on YouTube and a Latin Grammy in the Song of the Year category. Ultimately, the lawsuit was dismissed.

In February 2020, due to their participation in the famous Barranquilla Carnival, the Cuban duo Gente de Zona took the opportunity to openly request a collaboration from the Colombian artist: "your land is asking for it," expressed Alexander Delgado.

In August 2020, Shakira, through her social media, made some statements about Trump while encouraging Americans to vote in the upcoming general elections with the goal of removing Trump from the White House. "Donald Trump has shown that he is not the right person to lead the United States or 'why are pilots given psychometric tests before allowing them to fly, and presidents are not?'" are some of her statements regarding the role of the current American president.

On February 2, 2020, Shakira, along with Jennifer López, headlined the halftime show of Super Bowl LIV in Miami Gardens, Florida, becoming one of the most watched halftime shows of all time.