The artwork’s hips definitely do not lie, but its face might.
Last week, a 21-foot-tall cast bronze sculpture of award-winning singer and performer Shakira was unveiled at the riverfront of her portside hometown of Barranquilla, Colombia. Sculptor Yino Márquez immortalized the artist’s signature belly-dancer pose with her hands above her head and her hips engaged, delighting the singer, her parents who attended the unveiling ceremony, and the mayor of Barranquilla who led the event. The Mega-Shakira, perpetually gleaming in the sunlight as she towers over citizens and tourists alike, might have been constructed with her lyricism in mind.
Shakira’s extensive discography is known for using her body as a channel for romance, confidence, and sensuality. The most famous example is perhaps “Hips Don’t Lie” (2006), in which the artist sings about “all the attraction, the tension” conveyed through her dancing. There’s also her 2001 hit “Whenever, Wherever,” where she notes that she’s “lucky that [her] breasts are small and humble / so you don’t confuse ’em with mountains,” and that she has “strong legs like [her] mother.”
Now, it looks like Márquez took those lines to heart when constructing the clay sculpture of the singer-songwriter to mold and then cast — Mega-Shakira’s hips are tilted backward with her “strong legs” taking center stage, and her breasts, while not necessarily small or humble, are perfectly proportional not easily confused with mountains at all. Credit shall be given where credit is due!
Márquez also paid special attention to Shakira’s fixation on going shoe-less. The singer’s third studio album, Pies Descalzos (1995), directly translates to “bare feet” or “barefoot” from Spanish and features the track “Pies Descalzos, Sueños Blancos.” In “La Bicicleta” (2017), Shakira sang about moving her body “like a ship in the ocean” and going barefoot “like a child she adores,” and drew an analogy between her long, flowing hair and the sun. As presented in the sculpture’s undulating pose, shining golden-bronze waves cascading mid-torso, and enormous (but appropriately sized) feet, Márquez checked off all three of those boxes!
And who could forget her 2001 hit “Objection (Tango),” whose Spanish version, “Te Aviso, Te Anuncio (Tango),” compares the singer to an icon of art history: “Por ti me quedé como Mona Lisa / sin llanto y sin sonrisa” (“Because of you I’m left like the Mona Lisa / without tears and without a smile.”)
Frozen like a pH๏τograph but alive with pᴀssion, the Mega-Shakira is a testament to Márquez’s success in portraying the singer and her artistry. It looks like it’s a hit on Colombian social media, too, with Spanish speakers immediately commenting on and meme-ing the artwork. The most divisive feature of the sculpture seems to be Shakira’s face, which some users criticized as unrealistic. Concerns over the new statue’s likeness were apparently brewing even before the piece was unveiled, with Colombian news outlets foreboding that Shakira’s face would be as disappointing as the much-ridiculed bust of soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo unveiled at Madeira airport.
