Shakira Language Analysis

When a strict nun rejected Shakira from the school choir because of her shrill vibrato, Shakira told a friend that, one day, she would have the last laugh when she became a world superstar (Salgado 2008). Neither the friend nor the nun could have imagined that years later, that shrill vibrato would catapult Shakira onto the very stage she promised to stand on, performing for leaders of state, Popes, and legions of fans worldwide. For Shakira, as her artistic empire expanded, so too did her linguistic and performative repertoire. By employing discourse analysis, this essay will trace the linguistic journey associated with Shakira’s musical history, beginning with some of her earlier songs—Ojos Así (Eyes Like Yours) [1998], Suerte (Wherever, Whenever) [2001], and Hips Don’t Lie [2005]—to some of her more recent work—Lo Hecho Está Hecho (Did It Again) [2009] and Addicted to You [2010]—in order to understand how language and performance of her music affect the ways in which listeners consume, interpret, and experience Shakira as a US-Colombian, a Latina, and a global citizen.

while simultaneously creating an othered persona that is neatly acceptable within the music industry’s messy understanding of hybrid artists. This othered persona is coveted by the U.S. dominant culture which perpetuates it onto the global market as the idealized standard for both crossover artists and U.S.-Colombians, more generally. I will refer to this phenomenon as the globalized crossover artist and seek to explore the ways in which it redefines and problematizes perceptions of crossover artists on a national and international scale. For Shakira, language is not just a lyrical tool, it is also a performative and structural tool that has the power to transcend borders of identities and