If her belly dancing, fashion choices, and music style have not made it obvious to you yet, yes: Shakira is a Latina. Many even consider her as the Queen of Latin Music.
She definitely made her community proud with her achievements and undeniable influence on the music industry.
But what exactly is her nationality? Where was Shakira born? Let’s find out in this article.
Shakira: Her Early Life In Colombia
On the 2nd day of February in the year 1977, Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll was brought into the world. Her father is Lebanese, while her mom is a native of Colombia, who gave birth to her in her hometown Barranquilla, Colombia. This automatically means that Shakira is a Colombian national.
For most of her early years, Shakira trained in local workshops and participated in several talent competitions across her hometown. Eventually, she managed to land herself to a record deal with Sony Corporation at just the young age of 13.
She then proceeded to produce two albums in Spanish. It wasn’t until she was 24 years old that she started to branch out to the American market with the release of her hit song Whenever, Wherever.
The singer has admitted, though, that her transition from Spanish to English was not as smooth as she would have liked it to be.
“Writing songs used to be so difficult for me. A few years ago I could barely speak English and I used to write my songs with a dictionary. It was a real labor of love and I would sit there for hours just looking up words. But now thankfully it comes to me more naturally and spontaneously.”
Regardless of the coherence of her lyrics, however, Shakira still saw tremendous success with her songs. This just goes to show that people don’t care about the lyrics as long as the beat is catchy.
We mean, most of us don’t understand a single word in the song Waka Waka, but that doesn’t stop us from dancing our hearts out whenever the song is played.
Shakira: Colombia’s National Treasure
Shakira has made her country proud not just once but several times. Her achievements in the music industry are also the achievements of Colombia.
Here’s a list of all her accomplishments and the initiatives that raised Colombia’s flag even higher:
- Set the record for having the most albums sold as a Latin artist
- Ranked 2nd as in the list of Latinas who won the most Latin Grammy awards of all time
- Declared as the highest-selling Colombian singer of all time
- Had the most popular female Super Bowl halftime show performance in history alongside Jennifer Lopez
- Founded the Colombian charity organization called Barefoot Foundation to help children living in poverty
All things considered, it’s obvious why so many Colombians love and support Shakira. It’s inspiring to see that despite her success, she never forgets to give back to her community.
She’s a proud Colombian, and Colombia is more than proud of her. We hope to see more patriotic and compassionate people like Shakira!
