By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Shakira is on her way to drop her son off at flag football practice. It’s an ordinary experience for a mother who, in the not-so-recent past, has been at the center of some pretty extraordinary circumstances.
The boundary-breaking Colombian performer has spent the last year on her first global tour since 2018, where she has made history: Nearly 20 years after her first concert in Mexico City ‘s Zócalo, the capital’s main square, Shakira returned earlier this month to break the plaza’s attendance record with about 400,000 fans showing up to see her.
It’s impressive for any artist and one that certainly backs up her reputation as the Queen of Latin Music. Across her three-decade-plus career, Shakira has set records and challenged genre lines: from 1991, when she signed a deal with Sony Music Colombia at just 13 years old and released her debut album “Magia” — to breakthrough albums like 1998’s “Dónde Están los Ladrones?” and 2001’s “Laundry Service” — all the way to her most recent, 2024’s “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran.”
But this year is different.
“I’m being able to make so many of my dreams, as an artist, come true on this tour,” she told The Associated Press over the phone on Tuesday. “It’s everything I ever dreamt about.”
That’s not all: In February, it was announced that she is a 2026 nominee for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame — a logical selection for an artist lauded for her ability to bridge Latin music with rock and pop.
If she were to be inducted, she would join a small class of Latinos who have done so. She would become the first artist from Colombia, as well as the first Latina born and raised in Latin America, to enter the Rock Hall.
In an interview with the AP, Shakira discusses her history-making Mexico City show, her Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nomination, her next big goal and more.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
AP: Your Zócalo concert was massive. What was going through your mind?
SHAKIRA: That’s such a unique moment in time. After playing 13 stadium concerts in Mexico City, I never thought I was gonna have so many people gathering at Zócalo to watch my show one more time. It was just absolutely incredible. And one of those experiences that are unforgettable and that I wish my parents could have seen. That was just really, really, truly magical.
The love and friendship story that I have with Mexico is just uncanny, you know? Nothing compares to it, and it’s given me so much. My Mexican fans have given me so much of love and support since the beginning of my career. It was quite incredible also to be able to perform “Dónde Estás Corazón,” which was (my) first song that ever played on Mexican radio, like outside my country, you know? And so that was like a full circle moment.
AP: You’re also headed to the Pyramids of Giza for the first time in nearly 20 years.
SHAKIRA: It was just one of the most unforgettable performances of my life, and I just wanted it to happen again with this show, with this tour, which to me is the tour of my life. … I actually feel like I’m just starting my career. It’s a weird feeling because it’s been 30 years, but I feel at the threshold of a new beginning and that is all because my audience has been so emotive and so loyal as well. I’ve had a blast really performing in every country, every city where we’ve been. And the next thing is going to be Copacabana (Beach in Rio de Janeiro) as well.
We’re gonna have probably two million people on the beach, so that’s gonna be pretty crazy, I’m sure.
AP: When I think of the beginning of your career, I think of your rock records. And this year, it was announced that you’re a nominee for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction.
SHAKIRA: I feel really humbled and excited at the same time. It’s incredible to be nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and a little bit surreal as well. You know, I’ve experimented with different genres in my career, but I started out as a rock artist and continued to make rock. My last album, “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran,” there are rock tunes like “Tiempo Sin Verte” or “Cómo Dónde y Cuándo” and every album there are rock tunes because that’s an intricate part of my artistic persona. And everything that I listen to is rock music. So, to be nominated, for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, knowing that there are so many incredible icons of rock music that I adore, that inspired me, like The Rolling Stones (are in there) … to me, it is just a privilege and really an amazing moment in my career.
I don’t know what’s going on. But this year, like, all my wishes are coming true and I think this nomination is one of those things that you probably fantasize about sometime in your career but try not to get too fixated on it. Being nominated is a huge deal for me and my fans who followed my rock career.
AP: What does it mean for your community — for Latinos, for Colombians?
SHAKIRA: I feel very proud as a Latina. I feel like, “Oh damn, I don’t know how many Latinos are there, or Latinas, or at least Colombians.” I think it might be the first time for a Latino woman, someone born and raised in Latin America, you now, but who is loved and has been devoted to rock ‘n’ roll since I was, I don’t know, 15. Yeah.
I’ve been listening to rock music and that’s how I started my career as well. So yeah, it’s just pretty surreal, I gotta say. But I’m very happy for my community as well. I’m happy to feel that I’m representing a part of my community there.
AP: You’ve said your dreams have come true this year. What’s left on the list?
SHAKIRA: I don’t know what’s going on! But this year, all of those dreams I had way, way back, now they’re coming true. So, I’m going to just ask for more. I’ve always thought it would be pretty crazy to sing at the Eiffel Tower or the Champs-Élysées in Paris. That would be like the ultimate concert as well. But you know, I can’t complain. Being in Copacabana this year and the (Giza) Pyramids in Egypt and in Zócalo, that fills my heart. I feel so accomplished as an artist this year, but I’m also so pumped. I really am in love with making music and performing that music, and it’s brought so much joy to my life again, after the difficulties that I’ve been through and bitter moments that I had to endure — like every human being who goes through hardship.