Shakira celebrates unveiling of 21-foot bronze statue of her in Colombian hometown
Shakira's legacy has been immortalized with a 21-foot statue in her hometown of Barranquilla, Colombia.
The monument, which was unveiled Tuesday, depicts the multiple Grammy and Latin Grammy winner in one of her famous belly dancing outfits, with her hips swaying to her right and her arms raised gracefully toward the sky. The 46-year-old's pose is evocative of the iconic music video for her 2006 chart-topping hit, "Hips Don't Lie," which featured Wyclef Jean.
Shakira and her family celebrated the milestone and posed for photos with the bronze statue, which the singer shared on her Instagram.
"It makes me happy to share this with my parents, especially with my mother on the day of her birthday," the singer shared.
The statue "shows millions of girls that they can pursue their dreams and any of them can achieve what they want," Mayor Jaime Pumarejo Heins said during the unveiling ceremony, according to Reuters.
A plaque under the statue says that on Feb. 2, 1977, the town of "Barranquilla and the world witnessed the birth of a heart that composes, hips that don’t lie, a voice that moves masses and a pair of bare feet that walk for the good of children and humanity."
"This is too much for my little heart," Shakira wrote of the dedication in her Instagram caption.
Shakira's statue is located on a recently built promenade along the Magdalena River that runs along the edge of her hometown. The bronze giant is not the Caribbean town's first Shakira statue. In 2006, Barranquilla unveiled a Shakira monument that depicts the pop star in her early days, playing an acoustic guitar and wearing jeans and boots. That statue stands near the entrance of the local soccer stadium.
In a post on X, Shakira thanked sculptor Yino Marquez and his students at Barranquilla’s public art academy for the latest statue, which she described as proof of the “enormous talent” of Barranquilla’s citizens.
A decade after "Hips Don't Lie" hit #1 on Billboard's Hot 100, Shakira reminisced how a track that "almost didn't get released" became her biggest hit.
"Hips Don't Lie" "had sounds that weren’t just interesting and fresh to the pop scene, but also ones that I was really excited to experiment with and share, like cumbia and typical Colombian folkloric percussion and instrumentation," Shakira told Billboard in 2016. "They were also deeply personal, down to the reference to my hometown Barranquilla."
The song's success was "validation that I didn’t have to sacrifice any part of what makes me different to connect with a global audience," she added.
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In November, the pop star struck a last-minute deal to avoid the risk of going to prison in her tax fraud trial in Barcelona. She had maintained her innocence for nearly five years in the case.
Under the deal, Shakira was to receive a suspended three-year sentence and a fine of 7 million euros ($7.6 million). Prosecutors said in July that they would seek a prison sentence of eight years and two months and a fine of 24 million euros ($26 million) for the singer.
"I have made the decision to finally resolve this matter with the best interest of my kids at heart who do not want to see their mom sacrifice her personal well-being in this fight," Shakira said in a statement. "I need to move past the stress and emotional toll of the last several years and focus on the things I love, my kids and all the opportunities to come in my career."
Shakira's tax fraud case: Spanish prosecutors had sought an 8-year jail sentence
Contributing: Joseph Wilson, The Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Shakira honored with 'Hips Don't Lie' statue in Colombian hometown
