Shakira - A Unique Singer
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♣ Introduction
Hello Friends, I hope you are doing fine. Today, I have come up with my another new Blog with the title of Shakira - A Unique Singer. Friends, Shakira is an internationally renowned singer who sings in English and Latin languages. She also has the ability to sing in other languages such as Italian and Arabic because she calls herself a fusion between people of black and white colors, pop as well as rock music and between different cultures. This is so because Shakira's father and mother had different ancestral backgrounds and from the beginning of her life, she has been seeing and experiencing different cultures. From a modest beginning by singing Latin songs to become an international star who also sings English songs in a superb manner, Shakira has reached international stardom in a short span of time. She is one of the greatest Latin singers and has a huge fan following wherever Latin and English languages are spoken and wherever music is famous. Before she entered into English music markets, she had already sold more than 10 Million albums in Latin America and other parts of the world. With her English music, she was also very successful and managed to mesmerize the world with her unique vocal quality and an awesome style of signing with her awesome dance moves in her videos. Shakira is a multiple Grammy Awards, Latin Grammy Awards and American Music Awards winning artist. In this Blog, I shall discuss her career, her early life and the struggle she went through in her musical journey from being a Latin music star to becoming an international English Pop Music and Rock Music artist.
"My songs are the reflection of how I think and how I feel in that moment. But I'm conscious of the fact that artists have a responsibility before the masses and they have to take care with their words."
Quote By: Shakira
Image Credit: www.un.org
Shakira was born on February 2, 1977 in Barranquilla, Colombia. She was born into a middle-class family of mixed descent and was named Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll by her parents. Her mother Nidia del Carmen Ripoll Torrado was a Spanish and Italian descent lady living in Colombia and her father William Mebarak Chadid was of Lebanese descent. Shakira's family loved music and that is the reason why Shakira showed interest in music from her early life. She had active interest in songwriting and belly dance as well as listening to songs based on Pop Music and Rock and Roll Music. She wrote her first poem when she was just four years old and later wrote her first song when she was 10 years old. She managed to get herself enrolled in a dance group and worked as a choreographer. Later on, she got the opportunity to perform an impromptu song and dance in a program under the arrangement of the Latin Division of Sony Music. She impressed the officials with her singing, dancing and appearance and attained the offer for a three album-deal. Her first three studio albums, Magia (means Magic in English), Peligro (means Danger in English) and Pies Descalzos (means Bare Feet in English) were Latin albums and were released for Latin community especially in Columbia and the USA. These albums were Pop Music and Latino Pop based albums and though not very hit albums but helped to lay foundation for Shakira in her journey towards stardom. Based on the popularity level and success of her previous albums, Shakira then released her another Latino studio album Dónde Están los Ladrones? (means Where Are The Thieves) in 1998 which also was a commercially hit album in Columbia and the USA. Now was the time for Shakira to release first English studio album to reach international audience and Shakira started working on it and eventually released it in 2001. Here, I shall highlight some of her famous English studio albums which were praised on international level.
♣ Studio Album - Laundry Service
Image Credit: www.billboard.com
Shakira released her first English studio album with the title of Laundry Service in November 2001 under the banner of Epic Records. Shakira wrote and produced all the songs in this album. The success of her previous Latin albums paved the way for Shakira and encouraged her to work on English album. This decision proved to be correct later on as this album was declared to be a Commercially Hit album. By the time this album released, Shakira had made a stable position in the Latin Music Industry in Columbia and in the USA, which helped a great deal in the sale of this album in these two countries besides liking and sale in many other Latin speaking and non-Latin speaking nations. This album was generally based on Dance Pop and Pop Rock music genres and contained 13 tracks. This album received positive reviews by music critics and was generally liked by many music lovers across the world and managed to sell more than a massive number of 18 Million copies worldwide. Shakira had become instant famous around the world with release of this album. This album managed to get top spots on the Music Charts of different countries and was a major hit. Especially, it reached within top five spots on Music Charts in South American countries, the USA, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, France and many other countries.
Video Credit: shakiraVEVO via youtube.com
On the USA Billboard 200 Music Chart, it managed to reach number three spot. This album was the 7th Best-Selling album in 2002 and is the best album released by Shakira in terms of liking and number of recorded sales around the world. In order to promote the album, Shakira embarked upon her first major global music tour in 2002 which is known as Tour of the Mongoose and it helped a great deal in promoting this album in Europe as well as in Asia and generating wealth for Shakira and the music company. Shakira released six singles from this album internationally and all managed to reach good positions on Music Charts in various countries. In particular, her lead song Whenever, Wherever (video above) was an international hit and topped the Music Charts in many countries giving Shakira a lot of popularity across the globe. Other singles such as Underneath Your Clothes and Objection (Tango) also managed to reach within top ten spots in many countries including the United States and the United Kingdom. This album also included a few Spanish songs such as Te Dejo Madrid (means I Leave You Madrid) and Que Me Quedes Tú (means Let Me Keep You) also got praise from music fans in Latin speaking regions. Shakira received many awards, accreditations and certifications for this album apart from the worldwide fame. Some of the highlights of awards she received for this album are given below:
♦ Winner of American Latino Media Arts Awards in 2002.
♦ Winner of five awards at the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards Latin America in the categories of Artist of the Year, Video of the Year, Female Artist of the Year, Pop Artist of the Year, Best Artist - North Latin America.
♦ Winner of 2003 Juno Awards in the category of International Album of the Year.
♦ Inclusion in The Definitive 200 Albums of All Time compiled by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
♣ Studio Album - Fijación Oral, Vol. 1
Image Credit: www.discogs.com
Shakira released her Grammy Award winning sixth studio album with the title of Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 in June 2005 again under the banner of Epic Records. Shakira had bagged a lot of fame and wealth from her pervious album 'Laundry Service' and this time she decided to release a Latino album as a follow up. Her decision was proved to be right as this album also hit the Music Charts amicably in many countries. For this album, Shakira worked under the collaboration of many experienced Producers including Grammy Award winning Producer Rick Rubin and the collaboration came out to be very fruitful. This album was also based on Latino Pop genre of music and contained 12 Latin tracks. Shakira wrote, co-produced and also gave music for all songs in the album. This album was liked very much by music fans and received positive reviews by music critics as it managed to sell more than four Million copies worldwide which is considered to be a great number keeping in view a limited audience of Latin music. This album was declared to be Commercially Hit album in North and South American continents as well as many countries in Europe, Australia, Canada and Asia. This album was declared to be among the Best-Selling Latin Albums in the United States. In order to promote this album, Shakira released four singles and all managed to reach good positions on the Music Charts across the globe, especially, her single La Tortura showed good performance on the Charts. For this album, Shakira received a lot of awards, accreditations and certifications. Some of the highlights of Shakira's awards for this album are as under:
♦ Winner of Grammy Award in the category of Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album at 48th Annual Grammy Awards in the year 2006.
♦ Winner of three Latin Grammy Award in the categories of Album of the Year, Best Engineered Album and Best Female Pop Vocal Album at 7th Annual Latin Grammy Awards in the year 2006.
♦ Winner of Billboard Latin Music Award in the category of Latin Pop Album by a Female at 2006 Latin Billboard Music Awards.
♦ Winner of Premios Lo Nuestro 2006 Award in the category of Pop Album of the Year.
♦ Winner of American Latino Media Arts Award in the category of Spanish Album of the Year.
♣ Studio Album - El Dorado
Image Credit: flavs9701.deviantart.com
Shakira released her latest studio album with the title of El Dorado in May 2017 under the banner of Sony Music Latin. This was her eleventh studio album in total and this album was based on Music genres of Pop Music and Latin Pop Music containing 13 tracks. The theme of this album was love and relationship. This album also remained on top of Latin Music Charts and got positive reviews from music critics and music lovers. For this album, Shakira had collaboration with new Producers such as Grammy Award winning Supa Dups along with her previous Producers. This album was declared as a Commercially Hit album as it managed to reach number one spot on the list of Top Latin Albums in the United States. This album also managed to reach within top 20 spots on the USA Billboard 200 Music Charts. Shakira released four singles from this album which managed to gain a lot of attention and praise by music fans around the world.
Video Credit: shakiraVEVO via youtube.com
Out of four released singles, Chantaje (video above) managed to get international hit status and was declared as a Global Success and managed to reach number one spot on the Music Charts of US Hot Latin Songs. This is also one of the Most Viewed video song on youtube.com as its viewership has crossed more than 2 Billion. Other released singles from this album were Me Enamoré (means I Fell In Love), Perro Fiel (means Faithful Dog) and Trap also managed to get moderate success on Music Charts in the United States and rest of the world. Shakira received a lot of awards for this album as well as international accreditations and certifications despite this being a Latino album. Some of the highlights of Shakira's awards for this album are as under:
♦ Winner of Grammy Award in the category of Best Latin Pop Album at 60th Annual Grammy Awards held in January 2018.
♦ Winner of American Music Award in the category of Favorite Latin Artist in 2017.
♦ Winner of two Latin American Music Awards in the categories of Favorite Song-Tropical and Song of the Year for her song Deja Vu in this album.
♦ Winner of Latin Grammy Award in the category of Best Contemporary Pop Vocal Album at the 18th Annual Latin Grammy Awards held in November 2017.
♦ Winner of iHeartRadio Music Awards in the category of Latin Album of the Year at 2018 iHeartRadio Music Awards held in March 2018.
♦ Certified as 16 times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
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♣ Some Important Links
♦ www.billboard.com/music/shakira
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♣ Conclusion
Shakira is a very talented Singer, Producer, Dancer and Songwriter. She has received numerous awards and accolades for her unique ability to mesmerize the audience. Her beautiful supple vocal quality makes her outstanding among others. She is also a successful Business Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, Social Activist and a Mother who has learnt to keep a balance between her social and personal activities. She has received a lot of love, fame and money and now she is always ready to thank others and has been helping them for a long time in noble causes to serve humanity. In 1997, Shakira founded a charity organization in Columbia called Pies Descalzos Foundation (means Barefoot Foundation in English) which helps poor kids in their daily food and educational requirements. She has also been nominated by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador because she understands that children are future of this world and this should be our collective effort to provide our children with a safer and healthier environment where they can learn and excel without suffering from hardships early in their lives. Furthermore, Shakira is the owner of her fragrance brand S by Shakira for ladies because she is always aware of the new fashion trends and beauty products around the world.
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Thanks for Reading.
This Blog was written by Rafaquat Noman (a Resident of Saudi Arabia and a Traveler) for bitlanders. If you wish to join bitlanders.com, Click Here.
DISCLAIMER: The contents of Blog above are that of the author and does not represent his company or agency. The sites, videos, and photos used in this Blog are for information purposes only and links are available for direct access. The author does not receive any monetary benefit from those companies or sites.
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