The Latin Queen of Pop reflects on raising her sons, her unbreakable World Cup connection and why three decades into her career, she still feels like she is just getting started.
The Latin Queen of Pop, Miss Shakira-Shakira, is opening up to PEOPLE with the candid, raw realness that has always made her far more than a perfectly choreographed superstar.
In the wide-ranging conversation, Shakira looks back on more than three decades in music, the strength she discovered through motherhood and the strange, almost unbreakable connection between her life and the FIFA World Cup.
Motherhood, World Cup history, hard-earned strength and the legacy of an artist who continues expanding her own borders.
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Motherhood sits at the center of the interview. After moving through some of the most difficult and publicly examined years of her personal life, Shakira says raising Milan and Sasha revealed a strength she did not fully know she carried.
“Motherhood makes you strong.” Simple, direct and completely Shaki. Life does not stop because your world has cracked open. There are still breakfasts to prepare, children to guide and another morning waiting whether you feel ready for it or not.
Her sons are also permanently connected to one of the defining chapters of her career. Shakira affectionately calls them her “Waka kids” because recording Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) carried her to the 2010 World Cup, where the path toward motherhood began.
Now the circle is spinning back around. After first appearing at the tournament 20 years ago, Shakira is preparing to return for the inaugural World Cup Final halftime show. Her connection to the event has crossed music, romance, motherhood and now another history-making performance.
She also discusses Dai Dai, her World Cup collaboration with Burna Boy. Its message about emerging stronger from what once broke you fits naturally beside the personal transformation Shakira has documented through Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran and its massive world tour.
Related Story: Shakira & Burna Boy Unveil FIFA World Cup ‘Dai Dai’ Official Video
But the conversation is not only about survival. It is about perspective. Shakira looks back at the younger artist who had to fight her way through language barriers, industry expectations and an international market that did not yet understand how large a Colombian pop star could become.
She did not merely cross over. She helped redraw the map.
More than 30 years later, her voice, movement, songwriting and distinctly Shakira way of bending pop, rock and Latin rhythms remain instantly identifiable. You hear two seconds, one vocal cry or one drum pattern and already know who has entered the room.
That kind of longevity does not arrive through nostalgia alone. It comes from curiosity, discipline and the refusal to stay trapped inside the version of yourself that first became successful.
Perhaps that is why Shakira can look at everything already accomplished and still say that it feels like she is only starting. The legacy is secure, but the artist remains in motion.
Press play on all of Shaki’s candid, raw realness right below.
Watch Shakira open up about motherhood, the World Cup and her 30-year legacy.
In the full PEOPLE interview, Shakira reflects on raising Milan and Sasha, the personal meaning behind her World Cup history and the confidence she has gained after more than three decades as a global recording artist.
Source: PEOPLE published the Shakira cover interview and shared the accompanying video conversation.
