Not long ago, twenty-two years passed since one of the most iconic musical profiles in history. In it, the then journalist Gabriel García Márquez described a young Shakira as “intelligent, insecure, demure, sweet, evasive and intense,” a series of adjectives that seem to have become stronger with the passage of all these years. Today, the Colombian Shakira may not seem like the woman who, at just twenty-one years old, recorded a couple of perfect albums that would lead her to become one of the biggest stars of Latin music; however, a couple of minutes of conversation with her is enough to realize that she has not really changed much. She may be someone who has broken all possible records in the world of music and has won awards in the industry by the handful, but her human virtues remain intact. “I’m not a big fan of myself,” she says in this interview for Vogue Mexico and Latin America, “I always listen to the things I’ve done and say ‘this could have been better’, I’m never completely satisfied.” These are words that don’t seem to come from someone who has conquered the world with her art, but her reflection is even deeper: “That dissatisfaction isn’t entirely negative, there’s something good about it. I never want to go back to what I’ve already done, I want to look elsewhere.”

Today, Shakira continues to be that sweet and intense person. “Curiosity has always been my driving force, not knowing where to go and not being clear about it. That has been a good ally. If I were so confident and so sure of my talent, maybe I would have already given up on this. But I’ve never fully believed it.” This is said by someone who, with thirteen impeccable albums, has managed to constantly reinvent herself, through an art that seems to be increasingly corrupted. “People around me always try to remind me what I mean or have represented on an artistic and musical level, but I forget what I have achieved and always want to go for more.” This is a person who seems to remain close to her audience at all times. Inside and outside the studio, on and off the stage, Shakira seems to remind us that she is as human as the millions of people who listen to her. It is enough to notice how she experienced the global pandemic to realize this. “Like everyone else; with concern, uncertainty, with some stress, especially for my parents, for the elderly, family members who have been exposed to the disease. But at the same time trying, within the moments of confinement, to take advantage of doing things that could not be done in a normal life. Taking advantage of being more with the children and the family.”

Shakira is also that intelligent and modest person. As an artist she has lived through different eras and has known how to not only shine in all of them, but also learn from each one. If a Latin artist has managed to remain relevant despite the over-information, it is her. Her music is always designed for the moment she wants to frame. It does not matter if it was before the Latin American domination of today or after the explosion of streaming platforms, her intelligence allows her to provide some important lessons. “Globalization and the explosion of social networks allowed us to break down many barriers and prejudices that existed against Latin music, when those who had the power to play that music for the people, for the listeners, were only a few. Right now the people rule, it is no longer the director of a station who decides what is played on the radio and what is played out there, it is the people, the voice of the people. There is no longer a man in a suit and tie deciding what is heard and what is not.”

Shakira reflects on her evolution in Latin music: “La Tortura (with Alejandro Sanz) opened a new musical stage in my life” Nico Bustos
There is a freedom in her music that seems to be present at all times and with which she has been able to create memorable collaborations throughout all these years. “The collaborations have also been the preface to new musical stages,” she says when talking about them as a space for joint experimentation. “La Tortura (with Alejandro Sanz), for example, opened a new musical stage in my life, it is an essentially reggaeton song and reggaeton was a very local thing in Puerto Rico.” With that song she managed to predict more optimistic times for Latin American music and, perhaps, prophesize its omnipresence today. “This song marked a stage because I started to get a little more involved with Latin sounds and the new Latin American movement: what was happening in Puerto Rico, in the Dominican Republic on a musical level and I wanted to bring all that to a global scale, but always doing a bit of anthropological work to investigate what happens in each culture.”

Shakira with black hair in 1998
If Shakira has managed to reinvent herself time and time again, it is not only thanks to her vision, but also to a cunning that goes beyond the merely musical field and that provides her with more complete perspectives, with deeper and more studied values. “I have been an essentially very curious person and interested in culture. I love culture, I love different idiosyncrasies, I love research and this nourishes me artistically. From there I do my research work and then experimentation in the recording studio.”

It is this cunning that has led her to create an impeccable career that does not stop looking at her roots, both Colombian and Arab. In another context, they might seem like two different and alien worlds, but in Shakira’s hands, they become a special sisterhood. “They are apparently distant but they are deeply rooted in the Colombian Caribbean with the migration from Arab countries, especially Lebanon and Syria. It was a very large migration, at one point those two cultures mixed in such a way that they are now in some way inseparable.” She has demonstrated this in her albums, in her performances and even in the 2020 Super Bowl, one of the biggest milestones of her career to date and an event full of obstacles that left her with a reaffirmation that seems to be the mantra of a life: “It was very stressful, but it seems that this is my karma, my destiny: that I always have to suffer to get some kind of reward in the end. Sometimes I feel that I work harder than I should to achieve something, but that’s how it is.”

That achievement remains, from a distance, as a collective celebration. Her performance alongside Jennifer Lopez could be translated as the symbol of a time in which Latinness is found in every corner of the planet, always latent and always full of pride. “From a sociopolitical point of view, it was a very important moment for Latinos, for Latinas, for women of my age, it was an important statement and we wanted – both Jennifer Lopez and I – to leave Hispanics in a place of respect and admiration on a global level and I think we achieved that by far.”

Analysis and reflection are not foreign to her. A glance at her extensive catalogue reveals it immediately. With her songs she not only manages to create hymns dedicated to feelings, she also offers important reflections on the state of the world around her. Her music is always full of reading between the lines, a capacity that not many out there share and which is the product of her passion for reading and learning. “First I think and then I write. Sometimes I reflect immediately after writing something that involves a political opinion, to know if what I am saying is really going to have a positive or negative effect on people. I think about it. I recently wrote a song with some political and social content and I am meditating on whether it is really worth it or not. There are many things that I keep to myself. I understand that everything I say has a consequence and an impact on others, I try to be careful and prudent.” It is something that has always marked her career and that led her to create a foundation that has not stopped helping her native Colombia for years: “I have a spectacular team of hard-working people dedicated to social work, who understand a lot about the subject. I feel quite organized in a foundation that works every day working to improve the living conditions of so many people and every day with new sacrifices and challenges. I know what is happening in my country and we are always looking to improve the service we provide in the community.”

It is that cunning, too, that has allowed her to remain in the ears and hearts of the world and is also what has her ready for a triumphant return to music. “I have the feeling that I am about to do something different from what I have done before and more evolved on a sonic level as well. Right now I have a song that is the song that I have wanted to do for a long time. I am very excited and looking forward, with great anticipation of what I am going to present and what I am going to continue doing.”

If García Márquez lacked adjectives to describe Shakira, one could add a few more: human, special and, above all,sas, passionate. Today Shakira is someone who is not weighed down by the years and who does not allow herself to be brought down by the weight of a career that has changed millions of lives. “I feel very energetic, eager to work and very inspired. I am going full throttle, making many songs. I am in the process of mixing that song that will be released in July. I just finished filming the video and these days I am dedicated to editing it, finishing mixing the song and preparing it for its release in July. I have a lot of hopes for this song, a lot of expectations and a lot of desire.” Today Shakira is that person who looks to the future with optimism and who foresees brighter times. “Songs will continue to come out throughout this year that will end up in an album that I believe will be available next year. There is also a lot of desire to go out in concert again, the idea is to go on tour next year, in the summer. I think that next year at some point I will be on tour again. I am very excited about all this. After enjoying the stillness, all the activity now begins again.”