The rhythm of the bongos. The pounding of a kickdrum. Floating notes of a panflute. Rocking riffs of an electric guitar. And? Killer vocals from the world famous, Grammy-winning, bilingual sensation – Shakira!

These are the sounds washing over the thousands, and thousands of people in a San Diego arena. The crowd can’t get enough. They’re swaying, hips and feet moving to the beat. Everyone is singing along word for word – in English, and in Spanish.

This is Shakira’s first concert on the tour to promote her first ever album in English. But Shakira is much more than just a popstar… she’s a global sensation.

I’m Yana Faris. And this is Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls.

A fairy tale podcast about the real-life rebel women who inspire us.

On this episode, Shakira – worldwide, cross-cultural, musical phenomenon.

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll was born in Barranquilla, Colombia, a bustling city on the shore of the Caribbean. Music was in her blood from the very beginning. And not just the music of Colombia – Shakira was influenced by her father’s Lebanese culture, too. By the age of four, she’d learned how to bellydance – a style of dancing with a rich history in the Middle East and North Africa. That very same year, she wrote her first poem. The rhythm, the rhyming – she loved it all. But it wasn’t until four years later that she thought to add another beat to the rhythm of the words: music. When she was 8 years old, she wrote her first song! But Shakira wanted to do more than write the songs. She wanted to play them. So it only made sense that her next step should be to teach herself how to play guitar.

It was clear to everyone that she had a future in music – but no one guessed just how soon that future would arrive.

When Shakira was only 13 years old, a family friend pulled some strings. They set up a meeting between teenage Shakira… and an executive from a music recording label! She was nervous – this performance had higher stakes than any she’d ever done – but she was determined. Shakira walked into the fancy hotel lobby. Across the room, she saw a suited up business man, just waiting… She had no music, no band – she’d be singing a capella. And in an echoey lobby, crowded with noise. But this was it – her huge break, sooner than anyone ever expected! She walked up to the executive, planted her feet, and took a deeeep breath in, and then… Shakira let her powerful voice soar. The notes floated around the room, turning the heads of anyone within earshot. When she finished, Shakira could feel it. Her time had begun.

The record executive saw something special in Shakira, and heard the passion in her voice. She was offered an opportunity that could change her life – the chance to record an album. Soon, she was signed with the record label! At just 14 years old, she released her very first album, complete with songs she’d been writing since she began, at 8 years old. This was the dream! But that first album wasn’t an overnight success. It did alright on Colombian radio, but Shakira wanted more than that.

And to pull that off, she’d have to work at it. She wrote more and more songs, honing her craft. She published another album and played in music festivals all around the country. She began to build a small following of fans. But it wasn’t the success she knew she was capable of. Shakira decided to take a step back from recording music, and focused on her performance skills. She landed a role on the soap opera El Oasís, and worked as an actress for a few years. By age 19, she felt like it was time to go back to the recording studio, and she recorded her third album.

With this, Shakira had a breakthrough. She called the album Pies Descalzos, or Bare Feet, and it took OFF. Her once small following grew like wildfire. All of a sudden, she was touring Spanish-speaking cities all around the world. She played in cities in Honduras, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guatemala, Perú, and more. And she started winning huge awards! Songs from her fourth album won her Latin Grammys for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. This was a BIG DEAL. She was always a songwriter, singer, and a dancer. Now, she was officially a star with an international audience, and the recognition to prove it.

But Shakira still wanted to be bigger. She didn’t think her music should stop with the Spanish-speaking audience. She wanted to reach the English-speaking world, too. Many musicians had attempted to bridge this divide, but very few had succeeded. It was difficult to recreate the full feeling of a song in a whole other language. But Shakira knew she could do it.

The thing was, Shakira wanted to make sure the meaning, the heart, she’d put into each song was translated, too.

Cada cosa calculada
En su espacio y a su tiempo. (Everything calculated
In its own space and time.)

The only way she could be sure of that? To write them in English, herself.

There was only one problem…she didn’t speak any English. Not yet anyway.

Shakira asked for help from her team. Together, they worked toward reaching her ambitious, double language, world conquering goals. She’d learned Portuguese when she was younger, touring in Brazil, so she hoped that with the help of a tutor, English would come quickly… But it was, in her own words, a “herculean challengetask.” Shakira was still nervous. A lot of English words had multiple meanings, and there were phrases in her songs that didn’t have direct translations. What if she said the wrong word? What if her message was misunderstood?

Shakira sought help from someone older and more experienced than her: Gloria Estefan. Gloria has won four Grammys and four Latin Grammys, and has been named one of the 100 greatest artists of all time – twice! People call her the “Queen of Latin Pop.”

After decades performing for Spanish and English speaking audiences, Gloria knew how to make sure the heart of a song didn’t get lost between languages. She reassured Shakira that she and her music had what it took to cross the language divide. Shakira began to gain more confidence in her English, but songwriting requires more than just choosing the right words… something was still missing.

There was a poetry, a rhythm, to her music in Spanish. The songs took their meaning from more than just the lyrics. Shakira was meticulous, she paid lots of attention to the beat and the flow, and she was particular about the specific words she sang.

She turned to English-language poetry, reading classics like Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. In time, she gained her own understanding of the cadence, the rhythm, of the English language – and discovered how she could use it to write songs like she always had. New music flowed out of her, and it felt so good. She wrote a whole new album, full of words she’d only learned a few years before. And they felt like hers.

In spite of all of this, Shakira was nervous – what would people think of her first English album? Would this new audience relate to her music, the way so many Spanish speaking people had? It was time to find out.

Shakira decided to call her first English album Laundry Service. To her, the title was a nod to the feeling you get from clean laundry, fresh from the wash. It was a clean slate, a new start. And? It. Was. A. HIT! Millions and millions of copies of the album were sold all around the world. Her English songs climbed the charts, and stadiums filled with people ready to hear her music. Stadiums just like that one in San Diego, the first stop on her Laundry Service tour…

That night, the crowd roared. They roared when she pulled off an incredible guitar riff. When she showed off her belly dancing skills. When she transformed with glamorous outfit changes. And, most meaningfully to her? When she sang in Spanish…and English. She owned that stage, and made both languages her own. The crowd loved her, and her lyrics. And it didn’t stop there.

Her songs took off around the world, as fans everywhere swayed their hips and belted her words. Shakira had accomplished her goal – she was the next great crossover artist! She’d brought Latin music to the English-speaking mainstream! But she’d brought something more important than that to the mainstream: representation. Many of her fans in the audience did exactly what she was doing, swapping smoothly between English and Spanish, every day. But it wasn’t often they got the chance to see someone like themselves up on the world stage!

Laundry Service was like a light switch. Almost overnight, Shakira became a household name around the world.

Shakira kept making music – in both English and Spanish – now on a whole new level. She was a songwriting machine. For every 12-song album she released, she’d write around 60 songs! 48 would get tossed away, or saved for later. Just like always, only the best would do.

Shakira worked with other major global sensations like Beyonce, Rihanna and the Black Eyed Peas. One of her songs was chosen as the official anthem of the FIFA World Cup! She even performed with J. Lo at the Superbowl halftime show, to an audience of more than 100 million people!

Today, the album that started it all, Laundry Service, is listed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s “Definitive 200” Albums of All Time.” Acknowledging once again that Shakira’s words, her culture, her rhythms and beats, have had a bigger impact than she ever could have dreamed.

On top of all her musical success, Shakira used her success from her album, Pies Descalzos, to start a non-profit by the same name. She wanted to help children living in poverty lead better lives through education. Today, Fundación Pies Descalzos builds schools and trains teachers in Shakira’s home country, Colombia.

In 2011, President Obama appointed Shakira as a Member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. There, she worked to improve the outcomes of Hispanic students in the United States, helping millions more children.

Through her music, advocacy and success, Shakira has paved the way for countless other Spanish-speaking singers who have come after her. Their joy, their pain, their hopes, and their dreams, now expanding to audiences and languages around the world.

Shakira never took no for an answer, and she never expected success to fall into her lap. She worked hard, honing the skills she knew she’d need to make it big. And when she did? She turned around and offered a helping hand to those who came behind her.

Shakira’s story is proof – if you set your mind to overcoming an obstacle, and find the people and the tools to help you? Anything is possible.

This podcast is a production of Rebel Girls. It’s based on the book series Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls.

This episode was narrated by Yana Faris. It was produced and directed by Rebecca Chaisson, with sound design and mixing by Carter Woghan.

The story was written by Rebecca Chaisson and edited by Haley Dapkus. Fact checking by Danielle Roth. Our executive producers were Anjelika Temple and Jes Wolfe.

Original theme music was composed and performed by Elettra Bargiacchi.

A special thanks to the whole Rebel Girls team, who make this podcast possible! Until next time, staaaay rebel!