Shakira Isabel mebarak ripoll

“This album represents exactly the way I am—my state of mind today, as an artist and as a woman,” says Shakira. “Some of the songs remind me of my beginnings, so it’s kind of like going back to where everything started, but from a new perspective, with the way I see things now.” On her ninth album, Sale El Sol/The Sun Comes Out, one of the few truly global superstars of our time continues her creative journey by looking both forward and back. The disc comes on the heels of Shakira’s worldwide smash “Waka Waka,” the theme song for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which turned into a global phenomenon. It’s also the next chapter after 2009’s critically-acclaimed, dance-oriented She Wolf, which was the long-awaited follow-up to 2005’s groundbreaking one-two punch comprised of Fijacion Oral, Volume 1 and Oral Fixation, Volume 2—a pair of albums which combined to sell over 12 million copies worldwide and secured the young Colombian-born singer’s place among pop music royalty.

Over the course of her career, Grammy winner Shakira has sold close to sixty million albums. Her collaborations with such stars as Beyonce and Alejandro Sanz have helped keep her audience expanding continually. She is the only artist from South America to have a Number One song in the US, and her performance was a highlight of the 2009 concert celebrating President Obama’s inauguration. She has four of the twenty top-selling hits of the decade, more than any other artist—including 2006’s unforgettable “Hips Don’t Lie,” the biggest-selling single of the 21st Century, which reached the Number One spot in an astonishing 55 countries.

Singing, Charities, Art,Cultures