Shakira

Shakira is the Colombian pop titan who turned her very public divorce into the most-streamed diss tracks on the planet, and somehow keeps getting better with age.

By Alexandre Le Hégarat · datastats · Updated June 15, 2026

Shakira: The Unstoppable Force of Global Pop

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, known to the world simply as Shakira, is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with over 80 million records sold. Born in Barranquilla, Colombia, she broke into the Latin market as a teenager before crossing over to English-language pop in the early 2000s with the smash hit Whenever, Wherever. She then redefined her global profile with Hips Don’t Lie (2006), which became one of the best-selling singles in history.

Beyond the music, Shakira is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and founded the Pies Descalzos Foundation, which builds schools in disadvantaged communities across Colombia. She is, in short, not just a pop star, she is a brand, a philanthropist, and a cultural institution.

What sends search traffic into overdrive, though, is her personal life. Her high-profile relationship and split from Spanish footballer Gerard Piqué dominated global headlines from 2022 onward, and her musical response, a series of razor-sharp diss tracks, turned a painful breakup into the most talked-about pop moment of the decade.

She also became a viral sensation far beyond music fans when her animated alter ego Gazelle starred in Disney’s Zootopia (2016), and anticipation is high for the sequel. Combine all of that, the hits, the heartbreak, the hips, the timelessness, and you have the single most Googled pop artist of her generation.

People also ask

Since relocating after her split from Gerard Piqué, Shakira has been primarily based in Miami, Florida. She moved there in 2023, partly to be closer to the U.S. market and to give her sons a fresh start away from Barcelona, where she and Piqué had lived together for years.

Shakira is Colombian. She was born and raised in Barranquilla, Colombia, and holds Colombian citizenship. She is also of Lebanese heritage on her father's side, a background she has often cited as a key influence on her musical style.

Shakira was born on February 2, 1977, which makes her 48 years old as of 2025. She has been a professional recording artist since she was a teenager, meaning she has been in the public eye for well over three decades.

Shakira stands at approximately 5 ft 2 in (157 cm). Her compact stature has never once slowed down her reputation as one of the most electrifying live performers on the planet.

As of mid-2025, Shakira has not publicly confirmed a new serious relationship. She has been photographed with various people since her split from Piqué, but no partner has been officially acknowledged. Any specific names circulating online should be treated as unconfirmed until she says otherwise.

Shakira has never been legally married. Her long-term relationship with FC Barcelona defender Gerard Piqué (2011–2022) was widely described as a partnership, but the two were never husband and wife in the legal sense. She is currently single, as far as public record shows.

Shakira does not have a publicly confirmed boyfriend as of mid-2025. After the very public end of her decade-long relationship with Gerard Piqué, she has been notably private about any new romantic involvement, even as she has been very vocal about the breakup through her music.

Technically, Shakira was never married, so there is no ex-husband. The man people are referring to is Gerard Piqué, the retired Spanish professional footballer and former FC Barcelona captain, with whom she was in a committed relationship from 2011 to 2022 and with whom she shares two sons.

Gerard Piqué is the father of Shakira's two children, Milan, born in 2013, and Sasha, born in 2015. Since their separation in 2022, Shakira has had primary custody of the boys, who moved with her to Miami in 2023.

No new boyfriend has been officially confirmed by Shakira as of mid-2025. Tabloid speculation has linked her to various figures, but she has not publicly validated any of those reports. She seems to be focusing squarely on her career and her children right now, and frankly, the music she's making in that headspace is excellent.

Shakira's full birth name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll. The first name Shakira is of Arabic origin, meaning 'grateful' or 'thankful', a nod to her Lebanese-Colombian heritage. She has always performed under her first name alone, which is one of the most recognizable single names in global pop.

They never married. Shakira and Gerard Piqué began dating in 2011 after meeting during the filming of her *Waka Waka* video at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, and they were together for over a decade. Despite having two children together, the couple never formalized their relationship through marriage.

Again, there was no legal divorce since they were never married, but the separation was very real and very public. In June 2022, the couple announced their split after widely reported allegations that Piqué had been unfaithful. Shakira has since addressed the betrayal directly and scorchingly through her music, most notably on *BZRP Music Sessions #53* and *Te Felicito*.

Shakira simply takes care of herself, she is famously disciplined about fitness, has spoken about healthy eating habits, and has been doing high-intensity dance rehearsals since she was a child, which is arguably the world's best anti-aging regimen. There are no confirmed cosmetic procedures; what is documented is decades of relentless physical training and an apparently excellent gene pool from her Colombian-Lebanese heritage.

The story Shakira has told publicly, and that went massively viral, is that she discovered Piqué's alleged infidelity through a jar of strawberry jam. As she recounted in interviews, she noticed the jam in her fridge had been eaten even though she does not eat jam and her children do not either, which tipped her off that another woman had been in the house. It is a story so specific and so mundane that it landed harder than any dramatic confrontation could have.

By her own account, the jam jar was the first clue (see above), but the broader picture painted in her songs and interviews suggests a pattern of suspicious behavior she pieced together over time. She has been deliberately cryptic about the full details, letting lyrics like those in *BZRP Music Sessions #53* do the heavy lifting, and those lyrics, famously comparing herself to a Rolex and her replacement to a Casio, said more than any interview ever could.

As of mid-2025, *Zootopia 2* has not been officially released, so no confirmed soundtrack details, including any Shakira contributions, have been publicly announced. Given that her animated character Gazelle was a fan favorite in the original, speculation is high that she will return, but nothing is confirmed yet.

Shakira looks, by most accounts, almost exactly like she did a decade ago, which is why 'why doesn't Shakira age' is one of the most-searched questions about her. She keeps her signature long, wavy blonde hair, maintains a highly athletic physique from years of dance training, and has appeared on red carpets and in music videos in 2023–2025 looking as sharp as ever.

*Try Everything* is the Shakira song featured in Disney's *Zootopia* (2016). She co-wrote it and also voiced the character Gazelle in the film. The song became a standalone hit beyond the movie and remains one of her most streamed tracks to this day, beloved by a generation of kids who may not even know her earlier catalog.

Several, and they are absolutely devastating. The most famous is *BZRP Music Sessions #53* (with Bizarrap, January 2023), which broke Spotify records and took direct aim at Piqué and his new partner. *Te Felicito* (with Rauw Alejandro, 2022) and *Monotonía* (with Ozuna, 2022) are also widely interpreted as being about the relationship's collapse. Her 2023 track *Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53* remains the definitive post-breakup anthem of the decade.