Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll is a Colombian singer. Born and raised in Bar… Read Full Bio ↴Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll is a Colombian singer. Born and raised in Barranquilla, She made her recording debut with Sony Music Colombia at the age of 13. Following the commercial failure of her first two albums, Magia (1991) and Peligro (1993), she rose to prominence in Hispanic countries with her next albums, Pies Descalzos (1995) and Dónde Están los Ladrones? (1998). She entered the English-language market with her fifth album, Laundry Service (2001), which sold over 13 million copies worldwide. Buoyed by the international success of her singles "Whenever, Wherever" and "Underneath Your Clothes", the album propelled her reputation as a leading crossover artist. Broadcast Music, Inc., described Shakira as a "pioneer" who extended the global reach of Latino singers.

Her success was further solidified with the Spanish albums Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 (2005), Sale el Sol (2010) and El Dorado (2017), all of which topped the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart and were certified diamond (Latin) by the Recording Industry Association of America. Meanwhile, her English albums Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 (2005), She Wolf (2009) and Shakira (2014) were all certified gold, platinum or multi-platinum in various countries worldwide. She served as a coach on two seasons of the American singing competition television series The Voice (2013–2014).

With a catalog of 145 songs, Shakira has sold over 80 million records, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Forbes Colombia reported that as of 2018, she is the top-selling female Latin artist of all time. She is credited with opening the doors of the international market for other Latin artists. She has received numerous awards, including three Grammy Awards, twelve Latin Grammy Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, seven Billboard Music Awards, thirty-nine Billboard Latin Music Awards, twenty-one Guinness World Records and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She was named the Top Female Latin Artist of the Decade by Billboard twice (2000s and 2010s). For her philanthropic work with her Barefoot Foundation and her contributions to music she received the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year and Harvard Foundation Artist of the Year awards in 2011. She was appointed to the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics in the US in 2011, and Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government in 2012.

1968
Shakira Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Dime quién conocía
Qué era entonces la vida
Andaba el mundo en plan de hallar la libertad
Y rechazar lo que el mundo les imponía

Dime quién encendía
Toda esa rebeldía
Ruseau y Luther King, Sartre y Gagarín

Qué es lo que me perdí cuando yo no existía?

Allá no fue mentira

Sin miedos liberemos nuestros sueños
Y vamos a recorrer por eses tiempos

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Shakira's song 1968 are a reflection on the iconic year of 1968, a year marked by social and political upheaval throughout the world. Shakira implores the listener to tell her who knew what life was then, as people all over the world were seeking freedom and rejecting the societal norms that were being imposed upon them. She wonders who it was that ignited the rebellion and resistance that marked the era, citing several figures such as Rousseau, Luther King Jr., Sartre, and Gagarin. She laments that she was not alive during that time, and wonders what she missed.

The lyrics call for fearless liberation of dreams and a journey back through time to the era when the world was fighting for a better world. Shakira implies that they are still fighting, and that liberation and the pursuit of dreams are still needed today. The song serves as a call to action, reminding us that there are still battles for freedom and equality to be fought and won.

Line by Line Meaning

Dime quién conocía
Who knew?

Qué era entonces la vida
What life was like back then

Andaba el mundo en plan de hallar la libertad
The world was searching for freedom

Y rechazar lo que el mundo les imponía
To reject what the world imposed on them

Dime quién encendía
Who sparked

Toda esa rebeldía
All that rebellion

Ruseau y Luther King, Sartre y Gagarín
Rousseau, Luther King, Sartre and Gagarin

Qué es lo que me perdí cuando yo no existía?
What did I miss when I didn't exist?

Allá no fue mentira
It wasn't a lie back then

Sin miedos liberemos nuestros sueños
Let's liberate our dreams without fear

Y vamos a recorrer por eses tiempos
And let's go back to those times