wookira

Shakira doesn't have a talent for lip-syncing convincingly to make it look like a live performance anyway, so no one was fooled to begin with.

A lot of people seem to misunderstand one thing: outside of North America, Latin America, and Europe, Western pop stars don't actually have that much of a meaningful difference in recognition or popularity. In many regions, people often only know a few major hits. For example, Beyoncé might still be associated with "Single Ladies," and Shakira with "Waka Waka" as their most recent songs. At the same time, many Americans tend to assume that if an artist is popular in the U.S., they must be equally popular worldwide. On the other hand, even though Shakira has had strong popularity across both Latin America and Europe, people often frame her success as if it were somehow regionally limited. Shakira seems to have had to fight against being underrated throughout her entire career. Compared to her peers, much of her popularity came from regions with lower purchasing power. So during the era when success was heavily measured by sales, artists who were dominant mainly in the U.S. could appear to have achieved more, even if Shakira had a broader global reach. If she had experienced her peak in a time like today — where markets like Latin America carry much more weight globally, similar to what we see with artists like Bad Bunny — she might have been evaluated very differently. It's just a fun hypothetical, but if purchasing power had been equal across the world from the beginning, Shakira might have held many of the biggest records — she would definitely have the highest numbers among her contemporaries. Back to reality, even within those constraints, she still competed with the biggest names of her time and built a career that remains incredibly significant to this day. That, more than anything, is what makes her truly impressive.

While Girls' Generation is the most popular K-pop group of all time, I believe Wonder Girls holds the most iconic discography. 'Tell Me' is the greatest hit of the 21st century, and the entire K-pop landscape shifted because of it. Even looking beyond idols at the Korean music industry as a whole, they were the most symbolic act since Seo Taiji and Boys (or perhaps Lee Jung-hyun).

I hope she tries something a bit bolder and explores new territory this time. For example, maybe a collaboration with BLACKPINK...

https://theqoo.net/hot/4105464837?filter_mode=normal A post about Shakira's potential visit to South Korea reached the 'Hot' section on a major Korean internet forum today. The buzz started from her Instagram story last month, where she expressed gratitude for 'Zoo' trending in Korea and mentioned she hopes to see fans on tour. Netizens are speculating this could lead to her first-ever concert in the country. The forum where this was posted is an entertainment-focused community even more exclusive than ATRL, having closed its registration for several years. The post has already garnered over 250 comments.

It just felt like a video thanking people for the popularity of Zootopia 2 and "Zoo," to be honest. Wasn't she simply expressing a straightforward hope that she'd get to meet fans through a tour in Japan? China actually seems like a reasonable option…Among East Asian countries, it's probably the one with tastes closest to Shakira's music, so the demand would be there. Japan, if anything, feels even further from Shakira's musical style than Korea does. Still, if it's true that she's planning to perform in Japan, that would mean she's willing to accept losses from logistics and other costs to do an arena show. If that's the case, then an arena concert in Korea should be possible too. I really hope she comes to East Asia this time.

I remember being shocked by how unfamiliar yet striking the metaphors in the lyrics were. To native English speakers, they might sound a bit awkward or even amusing, but since I don't have an instinctive grasp of those nuances and only understand the lyrics through translation, I was able to immediately recognize that she wasn't just a sexy pop star, but a poet. When I was young, I became so absorbed in this song that I wanted to synchronize myself with the speaker of the lyrics, and I even found myself wanting to date a foreigner because of it.

I've been a Shakira fan for over 20 years, and this is the first time I'm experiencing reactions in Korea about whether she'll come here or not.

I'm reminded of a comment I once saw that said, 'She hasn't gone back to Australia ever since someone threw a cement bag at her.' I laughed so hard at that.

While Lady Gaga may deliver stronger live performances, Shakira is obviously the superior vocalist. The richness and delicacy in her voice are simply incomparable.

a single tour drew 1% of a country's entire population is just insane.

If the question were about "popularity" rather than "recognition," it might be different, but in reality, most people don't know much about pop stars. This is even more true across different cultural spheres. When it comes to recognition, every person on the planet would have an equal "vote," without any premium based on spending power. So exposure is the key factor. Of course, being at the top in the U.S. does come with huge promotional advantages. For example, at one point, people associated America with Katy Perry, and now it's Taylor Swift. But Ariana Grande was perceived similarly at one point, and more importantly, the fact that she could hit notes like a dolphin made her highly shareable, so I thought even people who weren't interested in Western pop music had likely come across one of her videos at least once. But thinking about it now, the recent success of the Eras Tour drew massive public attention, and Trump has used her, as a symbol of American pop, in various ways. So Taylor might rank higher than Ariana. I focused only on her career and overlooked a few things.

Ah, I see. Sorry if I sounded a bit sensitive — as a Shakira fan, I've dealt with this kind of thing so many times that I get a little touchy about it, haha.

I feel like Taylor or Katy Perry are probably the least well-known compared to Ariana. People seem so used to ranking everything by power and money that they don't realize recognition doesn't follow sales numbers. If you star in a single successful movie or have a signature whistle note, even middle-aged men in Asia end up knowing who you are. And seriously, stop leaving Shakira out of these conversations. How U.S.-centric do you have to be to not even think to include her? Is this some kind of gatekeeping against someone who hasn't fully assimilated into American society and keeps her Latin identity? Aside from Madonna, Shakira has performed at the World Cup three times, which makes her the strongest contenders. No matter how many sales records or tour records break, performing at the World Cup even once gives you way more exposure.

Has Brazil been forgotten?