Shakira plans Latin tribute at Super Bowl
BARCELONA, Spain — Colombian music star Shakira says she will pay homage to Latin culture alongside Jennifer Lopez at the 2020 Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show in Miami.
Shakira said she was fulfilling a dream that also had “a very important purpose.”
“To celebrate that culture, to showcase it in a country where Latinos have also struggled a lot, I feel really humbled and with a great responsibility in my hands to represent the Latino community” she said.
The Grammy winner, who turns 43 on Feb. 2, Super Bowl Sunday, is also promoting a documentary and live concert album from her 2018 “El Dorado World Tour,” to be released worldwide Nov. 13.
In late 2017, Shakira left fans worried after she was forced to postpone the European part of the tour due to a vocal cord hemorrhage.
“That was probably one of the most difficult times of my life. It was really a nightmare,” she recalled. “I didn’t know if I was ever going to sing again.”
At the time, doctors recommended surgery that carried risks. Shakira chose not to have it, and her voice slowly recovered. But it meant she couldn’t speak for long periods of time.
“I healed miraculously, really, because the doctors were convinced I needed a medical procedure,” she said, adding that without fan support she wouldn’t have been able to return to the stage. “I felt so much gratitude, so much joy to be able to sing again. I think at some point in my life I had taken it for granted.”