AIFOS INTERVIEW: SHAKIRA
“I’m not afraid of success, but of failure”
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll is already the most important Latin artist in the
world. With two new records out on the market (one in Spanish and one in English),
she is getting ready for an intense world tour, starting with 10 concerts in Spain
from the 16th of June. The world has to get ready: Shakira is back for good.
The sensation provocated by Shakira, when she enters your room, is very
strange. On the one hand, you see a splendid girl, with a beautiful face and a
tanned but not exuberant silhouette. Her body is the body of a normal girl, like the
one next door. However, there is something about her I cannot explain; she is
surrounded by an aura that paralyses everybody when she comes through the
door. If you can already imagine the power of her magnetism, which goes far
beyond the normal, imagine on stage, where her fascination turns her into an
uncontrollable beast. She prooved this already during her previous tour, the “Tour
de la Mangosta”, and this summer she will astonish Spain with a serial of 10
concerts all over the country, which are meant to present the two edited volumes
of her album “Fijación oral” (Oral Fixation), one in Spanish and one in English. The
tour will start in A Coruña the 16th of June, so that Shakira, just as the toreros, is
already preparing herself in chapel.
AC: Is this the most important tour of your life?
SH: There is no doubt. I have been waiting for this moment for a long time and it
is a part of the launching of the new album that I love best. I will be reunited with
my fans who will sing along with me the songs that accompanied me on my musical
journey. On my last tour, I was in Madrid and Barcelona and I really wanted to see
the whole country, so now I will also visit A Coruña and Malaga. In a way it is a
natural process that I will start my world tour in this country because here I started
the creative process of my album “Fijación oral” (Oral fixation). The first note, the
first letter of the first song that I composed was born in a finca on the outskirts of
Madrid where I spent a few months, nearly 2 years ago. Today I am on diet, getting
ready, and I will dedicate almost 2 months to the rehearsals.
AC: During the last tour, you appeared on the stage with a big cobra on
your shoulders and there were moments, which we just cannot get out of
your mind for a very long time. Will we see now something similar?
SH: The show will be about art, dancing and the energy of Rock and Roll. Now I
cannot tell you more, but I am sure that if you are looking for unforgettable
moments during this tour, you will find some.
AC: Will Alejandro Sanz be present in one of these concerts?
SH: You never know with Alejandro, but now he is very into his next musical project
and I do not know whether he will be in Spain at the same time as me. However, I
would be the first to celebrate his coming!
After the international succes of “Servicio de lavandería” (Laundry Service), with
almost 15 million copies sold, and the tour afterwards, Shakira became the most
important Latin star of the planet. For many she is a super talented woman with
bells around her waist. At the age of just one and a half she already knew the ABC,
at 3 she could sing numbers, at 4 she knew how to dance the belly dance without a
teacher, at 7 she wrote her first song, at 9 she had already finished various verses
and compositions, at 11 she was contracted as an entertainer for the workers of the
carbon mines of Guajira, at 13 she participated in a successful TV soap opera in
Columbia, at 14 she published her first record and at 18 she founded the
humanitarian foundation “Pies descalzos” (Bare Feet) which fights for a better future
for the children of her country. She is very proud of this initiative and, of course, she
defends it from the pressure of the multinationals that surround the foundation.
AC: Are you afraid of the magnitude of your career?
SH: I am not afraid of success, but of failure. 14 years of career and relationship
with fame, of getting used to being a public person, gave me enough experience to
avoid distracting me with the reflexes of fame. My relationship with fame has been
gradual; she is like an old friend.
AC: Are you as protected as it seems?
SH: It has not been a bed of roses; I had many stones in my way. For many years, I
felt very alone, swimming against the flow on my own. Fortunately, nowadays I
have a great team that contributes to my project. For the first time in my life, I do
not feel so alone. I have defended my ideals almost on my own for a long time and
the change has made me very happy. Antonio is a great companion and a big help
in my life. Since not long ago, I now feel respected by the people of my company,
my colleagues. It is a very good feeling when people trust in your criteria. But make
no mistake, I am in charge. I fought all my life to be the captain of my own ship
with my crew to help me at the helm.
AC: You spend a lot of time composing your songs. What do they give you
back afterwards?
SH: They become physical and get a nearly human aspect. They give me back the
direct contact with people, too: the embraces, the smiles; I like to think that my
songs have their own life, that they transform the lives of other people because they
fill them with sensations. We artists are workers at the service of beauty.
AC: Artists usually lose respect when they get successful, but in your case,
it has been completely the opposite.
SH: The hardest task for a pop artist is that you have to gain respect as hard as a
beggar gains charity. The truth is that being on the covers of the magazines and in
the programs of here and there, makes you lose credibility. I have always been
sure of what I had to offer, of what inspires and drives me. I always continue on
my way and I am not afraid of making commercial songs, which become number
one hits all over the world. I do not think that I am losing my credibility although it
seems to be an unwritten law of the industry. Honesty and respect are necessary
and can be obtained with time. I consider myself a pop artist, although I could die
for rock music, because I am in love with Led Zeppelin, The Cure… However, pop
music gives me the license to take any decision and, because of being very curious,
to make experiments with everything that comes to my hands. I would not want to
miss this possibility. In other kinds of music, you do not have so much freedom.
AC: Have you ever met again the priest who threw you out of the college
chorus because you did not have voice?
SH: No, neither I have seen him again nor do I know what he will be thinking now
when he sees me.
AC: Shakira would like to be the queen of…
SH: I would like to be the queen of heart of the man I love. Moreover, I hope that I
have earned this throne already a long time ago.
Shakira leaves the same way as she arrived, paralyzing the people that surround her.
Now she is leaving for Monte Carlo for a series of promotional acts. Afterwards she
will relax in her residence in the Bahamas while she gets ready with exercise and a
healthy diet for her tour, which will make her travel around the world until at least
December. The rehearsals for her world tour will be held in a secret place in Madrid
and later on, after the tour, she will allow herself a year off together with her fiancé
Antonio de la Rua, son of the ex president of Argentina. “I will learn to take care of
my roses and maybe go to the University”.
It seems that there is not much left for her to learn…
