walking upstream…
Shakira
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll grew up in Barranquilla, Colombia, the daughter of a Colombian mother and a father of Lebanese descent, and folded belly-dancing, Arabic melodic inflection, hard-rock guitars, and Colombian rhythm into a single restless pop signature. She broke through across Latin America with the rock-leaning Spanish albums 'Pies Descalzos' (1996) and '¿Dónde Están los Ladrones?' (1998) before her English-language crossover 'Laundry Service' (2001) turned her into a global superstar. Across the 2000s she became one of the best-selling Latin artists of all time, prized for a quavering, unmistakable voice and a fusion sound that refused to sit in any one tradition.
the sound in question
2006
Hips Don't LieShakira
walk the tributaries ↓
The Beatles1960s · Rock / Pop rock
Shakira has repeatedly named The Beatles among the rock acts she devoured as a teenager, and she has tied 'Underneath Your Clothes' directly to that devotion, describing herself as 'so in love with that rock sound.' It surfaces less as imitation than as songwriting instinct — the way one of her ballads climbs on a patient, singable chord progression toward a wide melodic release.
listen: upstream & here
1969
SomethingThe Beatles
2001
Underneath Your ClothesShakira
listen forThrow on The Beatles' 'Something' right after — hear how a tender, unhurried verse swells into that aching, wide-open melodic lift? 'Underneath Your Clothes' reaches for the same kind of chord-led ballad climb, holding back before it opens up.
Gloria Estefan1980s · Pop / Latin pop / Dance
Estefan is both a named inspiration and a pivotal career figure: Shakira's English-language crossover was steered through her partnership with producer Emilio Estefan and his wife Gloria, and Estefan's own blueprint — a Latin-rooted rhythmic core dressed in radio-ready pop — is the template Shakira ran with. You hear it whenever she plants a Colombian or Andean rhythmic hook at the dead center of a global pop record.
listen: upstream & here
1985
CongaGloria Estefan
2001
Whenever, WhereverShakira
listen forPlay Estefan's 'Conga' and its irresistible clave-driven horn party, then 'Whenever, Wherever' — hear how each builds the whole hit around a Latin rhythmic engine, Estefan's conga line answered by Shakira's Andean panpipes and charango churn?
Led Zeppelin1970s · Hard rock / Blues rock
Led Zeppelin sat near the center of the rock diet Shakira has said she absorbed growing up, and their appetite for pairing heavy rock dynamics with Eastern, non-Western scales models the very collision she leans into. Her Arabic melodic sense comes from her own Lebanese heritage, but Zeppelin is a clear precedent for welding that exotic modal color to a pounding rock engine.
listen: upstream & here
1975
KashmirLed Zeppelin
1998
Ojos AsíShakira
listen forCue 'Kashmir' and its lurching, string-swept modal riff, then drop into 'Ojos Así' — hear how both ride a serpentine Eastern-scale melody over relentless rock momentum, the unfamiliar mode and the heavy groove locked tight together?