We all know that Shakira is an amazingly talented singer and dancer, pero la sexy Colombiana is also a leading advocate for children and the founder of ALAS, a non-profit organization that promotes Early Childhood Development (ECD) policies in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Yesterday, the Grammy Award-winning artist joined forces with the president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, to launch an $300 million Early Childhood Initiative. The program will go towards funding development programs that will provide children from birth to 6 years of age with adequate nutrition, health care, and stimulating environments to give every child a fair start. There are approximately 22 million children in Latin America who have no access to education, and Shakira is making every effort to try to change that and help ensure a more positive future that will boost economic growth, global security, and peace by investing in early education for children. Que buena causa, verdad?
Before arriving at the World Bank, Shakira had the opportunity to discuss with President Obama their shared interest for the promotion of ECD programs in Latinoamerica as well as in the US.
According to Shakira: "Education has the power to change children’s lives but also the lives of their families and entire communities."
With some small talk about the President's immigration reform, Obama assured the singer that his staff is doing everything possible to address the 11 million undocumented people in the country.
The combined efforts of ALAS and those of the World Bank and other leading organizations ensure a brighter future for the children en países latinos. Shakira, thank you for being such an influential Agente de Cambio!
Shakira's new video "Gypsy" features super HOT tennis champ, Rafael Nadal. Steamy!
The single, available in both English and Spanish, will hit radio next week. Judging from this behind-the-scenes pic, the video with this duo is sure to be heart-racing. Could this be the next "La Tortura?" You'll have to check MTV Tr3s in coming weeks to watch it!
Check out more behind-the-scenes photos after the jump!
Que que? Shakira vs. Wisin y Yandel? De que estamos hablando?
Bueno -- en la lucha to be the ULTIMATE Latin music superstar, who would win? We're picturing a Celebrity Deathmatch of epic proportions, pero con sabor latino. Tell us, who is the bigger superstar?
Is it Shakira, the highest-selling Colombian artist of all time, humanitarian, Grammy-Award winner and belly-dancing, hip-shaking stunner?
OR, is it Wisin y Yandel, one of the hottest Puerto Rican duos out of Cayey and 50 Cent's right-hand Reggaetoneros?
Shakira will guest star on an upcoming episode of the hit Disney series The Wizards of Waverly Place! La Loba and Selena Gomez on the same set ... we're sure that will make muchos chicos very happy!
Shaki was interviewed by Access Hollywood while on the set of Wizards, and talked about her previous acting career, working with the cast, and even Selena Gomez's voice. Here's what La Colombiana had to say:
"She's a very amazing young talent. Great voice, very natural!!"
Shakira recently sat down with MTV News to explain her 'Did It Again' video frame by frame.
Shaki and video director, Sophie Muller, scoured the globe to find inspiration for the video, taking cues from Moroccan dancers and 19th-century British painters, and recruiting a Florida-born dancer and an Icelandic choreographer for the project.
It was a collaboration between this friend of mine who's a dancer, and me. She showed me this contemporary dance piece that was produced in Iceland. So we said, 'Hey, maybe we could do something like this for "Did It Again." So we brought this choreographer from Iceland from this contemporary dance company, and we worked on this piece.
And I decided to bring a little bit of this painter, [Lawrence] Alma-Tadema, who portrays women in these bathrooms, these Turkish bathrooms, and I wanted to bring a little bit of that poetic imagery to this video. And I remember not too long ago having watched a few women turn their heads in a trans in Morocco. So we brought all these pieces — Moroccan women twirling and turning their heads, and the poetry from Alma-Tadema's paintings, plus this Icelandic contemporary dance piece — and we mixed all these pieces together for the video.
It was a lot to cram into one video, and Shakira needed a male counterpart to pull it off. Luckily, she found a (more than) able body: Daniel "Cloud" Campos, a dancer who's worked with Madonna. He's sick! What he does is unbelievable.
But did she have any problem getting close to a guy she barely knew? Not really — as she put it, people often do more with folks they know even less.
[We worked on the routine] for a few days. Hey, some people just get in bed after one night.
Truer words have never been spoken! What do you think of 'Did It Again?'
Big week for music releases? That's the understatement del siglo!
Esta semana will see the release of some of the most anticipated albums del año, including:
Wisin y Yandel - 'La Evolucion'
Los lideres are back with a double CD of remixes and new material from their 'La Revolucion' record. We've already got a taste of what's on here, with "Imagínate" f/T-Pain, and you know the rest of it is going to be just as hot!
Shakira - 'She Wolf'
FINALLY! El muy esperado disco de Shakira has finally hit the stores! La cantante Colombiana "Did It Again" con este album, delivering one sexy hit (um... the title track, "Loba"?!) after another.
Lady Gaga - 'The Fame Monster'
Listen to the track "Alejandro" and you'll see that even the Gaga-monster has been bitten by the Latin bug! No te la vas a poder sacar de la cabeza, we promise you!! That is, as soon as you can get "Bad Romance" out of it!
Rihanna - 'Rated R'
With "Russian Roulette" blowing up the scene, we expect a repeat success for our favorite 'Good Girl Gone Bad.'
Also out this weekare Beyoncé's 'I AM… Deluxe Edition,' a re-release of her platinum-release 'I Am...Sasha Fierce,' and Britney Spears' 'The Singles: Deluxe Box Edition.'
Cuéntanos, which album(s) are you MOST excited about hearing esta semana? Stay tuned to MTV Tr3s toda esta semana for special programs on your fave new música!
Rolling Stonemagazine threw a party for their latest cover girl Shakira last night at the Bowery Hotel in New York City. La Loba looked lovely in a black sequined jacket, loose white tank, sky high black pumps, and tight jeans. Pero fue su pelo that caught everyone's attention. Looks like Shaki is heading back to that twisted locks look.
What do you think? Love it or Hate it?
Shakira also accepted a plaque commemorating 1 million copies sold of her album's title track. Su nuevo album, She-Wolf, will be released en los Estados Unidos in two weeks. Will you pick it up?
Para los que no lo sepan, this Thursday, November 5th, the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awardswill take place in Berlin, Germany. The star-studded event will be hosted by Katy Perry, and will feature a slew of other celeb guests and presenters including Joss Stone, Brody Jenner from MTV's The Hills, and even the Backstreet Boys, to name a few. But we all know the best part of these awards shows are the performances, and we guarantee this one will not disappoint! We just got word that hip-hop legend Jay-Z and British pop rock icon Robbie Williams are confirmed to hit the stage!
Other confirmed performers will be Green Day, Tokio Hotel, y nuestra loba Colombiana, Shakira!
And if you thought we were gonna let you miss the show, ya puedes dejar de llorar, because MTV Tr3s is bringing you the best of the 2009 MTV EMAs on Saturday, November 21st at 2pm.
The music business is in dire straits as patrons opt for free downloads over purchasing their personal soundtracks, however Shakira is cool with all this! In a recent entrevista, la Colombiana explained that she feels close to fans who appreciate her music enough to download it legally (or otherwise).
She states:
"It's the democratization of music in a way. And music is a gift. That's what it should be, a gift."
Hmmm... We wonder if her peers feel that way! Of course they're not sitting on STACKS like Shaki! [Perez Hilton]
Shakira is releasing a new U.S. single off her She Wolf album due out this November, and for this one she hooked up with none other than Lil Wayne. The track called "Give It Up To Me," fué producida by hit maker Timbaland, which makes us think this one should be sending us straight out to the dancefloor. Weeepa, it's Miss Shaki baaaby!
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