Shakira

Before Shakira took the stage alongside Jennifer Lopez at the 2020 Super Bowl, she told Apple Music that the performance was intended “to celebrate Latin culture and the importance of women in the industry.” It was the realization of a dream that the singer—born Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll in Barranquilla, Colombia, in 1977—has worked toward since she started writing songs at eight and released her debut album, Magia, at 14.

Following years of success in the Latin music world, she set her sights on conquering the English-language charts, soliciting the help of Gloria Estefan on her 2001 crossover hit, “Whenever, Wherever,” the lead single from her multiplatinum-selling fifth album, Laundry Service.

Combining poetic lyrics with tropical rhythms, pop hooks, and influences as diverse as folk and electronic music, she quickly became one of the best-selling Latin American artists in history and a worldwide star.