The Buzz About … SHAKIRA

THE COLOMBIAN SUPERSTAR IS BACK WITH HER FIRST NEW MUSIC IN THREE YEARS

It’s been a big couple of weeks for women in music with at least two of the world’s biggest female singers offering up new work (see below). For Shakira, 44, the nerves are at an all-time high with the release of her new single ‘Don’t Wait Up’ – even though the Colombian artist has sold more than 80 million albums worldwide, and delivered the ultimate halftime performance with J.Lo at the 2020 Super Bowl. She’s also famed for absolute bangers like ‘Hips Don’t Lie’ and ‘Whenever, Wherever’.

“I have to say, I’m very nervous because it’s my first English song in a long time because I’ve been focusing on Spanish songs only lately,” she told DJ Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1 recently. “But this song came about and I’m like, ‘It’s time to do this again [because] I’m happy and so inspired right now.’”

The track is classic Shakira – part dance floor magnet and part unforgettable earworm. “This song has taken me through so many roads and it has taken me on an adventure,” says the singer, who graduated with a degree in ancient philosophy during the pandemic while raising her two young sons with her Spanish footballer partner Gerard Piqué.

The video for the song features Shakira’s inimitable dance moves, plus a light-up surfboard. “I spent two months preparing,” she reveals. But she says she drew the line at appearing in a bikini. “I’m not that fit,” she says. “I need to wear something to hold everything in. I want to be comfortable.”

(‘Don’t Wait Up’ is out now)