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Shakira’s iconic hit, Hips Don’t Lie, just turned 20 years old, and the singer shared some cool behind-the-scenes stories about the song during her appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. This 2005 track not only changed her career but also became one of the biggest dance hits ever.
The song was a collaboration with rapper and producer Wyclef Jean and quickly soared to the top of the charts, even reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s been streamed over 2 billion times worldwide and is famous for instantly getting people on the dance floor.
Shakira told Jimmy Fallon how the song came to be. She said her album was already finished and out, but then she had a very strange dream about Wyclef Jean. Right after waking up, her manager called with exciting news: Wyclef wanted to work with her. Shakira found it wild because she had just dreamed about him the night before!
At first, she wasn’t sure about adding the song to her album and hesitated to release it. But Wyclef encouraged her to trust the process. So, Shakira pulled back her album from stores and re-released it with Hips Don’t Lie included—and that decision totally changed her story, bringing her huge success.
Besides the fame, the song gave Shakira a fun nickname moment. She joked that after the song’s release, people started calling her “Shakira, Shakira,” referencing the catchy lyric repeated in the chorus.
Back in 2023, Shakira told Billboard that releasing Hips Don’t Lie was a bit risky because Latin music wasn’t as mainstream in the U.S. as it is today. Many radio stations were hesitant at first because the song sounded “too Latin” for their usual playlists.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the song, Shakira and Wyclef performed Hips Don’t Lie together on The Tonight Show, giving fans a fun trip down memory lane.