Shakira Shakira! It’s been almost twenty years since Shakira released her smash hit, “Hips Don’t Lie,” with Wyclef Jean — and if you closed your eyes watching The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on May 6, you’d think you’ve been blasted back in time to 2006.
The pair celebrated the song’s milestone anniversary by putting in a flawless performance. Wearing a bright red lace dress and a giant smile, the Colombian pop queen opened the number with her classic belly dance-inflected moves. She stood on a sandy “beach” set as the stage lights burned bright as sunshine behind her.
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As Shakira prepares to launch her North American tour on May 13, the performance was a powerful reminder of how electric the former The Voice Coach is onstage.
Shakira and Wyclef Jean lit up Jimmy Fallon’s with “Hips Don’t Lie”
Twirling and shimmying to a percussive beat, Shakira clapped sand into the air as she strutted across the sand.
“Give it up for Wyclef!” she commanded, grabbing a mic, as the two “uno, dos, tres, quatro“-ed their way into the track that still hits as hard as it did two decades ago.
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“COLOMBIA!” Shakira shouted as she launched into her second dance break, Wyclef taking over with his verse. Contrary to what Wyclef sings, we absolutely did know she could dance like this, but it’s still a wonder to behold. Watch Shakira and Wyclef Jean’s May 6 “Hips Don’t Lie” performance above.
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When did “Hips Don’t Lie” come out?
Shakira released “Hips Don’t Lie” feat. Wyclef Jean on February 28, 2006.
The single was an added track to the re-issue of her 2005 album, Oral Fixation, Vol. 2. It’s a reworked version of Wyclef Jean’s 2004 song “Dance Like This,” which samples the same iconic horn from Puerto Rican salsa artist Jerry Rivera’s 1992 recording “Amores Como el Nuestro.”
“Hips Don’t Lie” was Shakira’s very first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2014, Shakira explained the meaning of the song’s title to Women’s Health (quotes via HuffPost).
“The reason why I named that song that is because, when I’m in the studio, I know when a song is ready and it can be taken out of the oven, and it’s exactly when my hips start moving — when my body reacts physically to a song, I know — if it’s a dance song — that song is done,” Shakira told Women’s Health. “So I used to say to my musicians, ‘my hips don’t lie! Are they moving? They’re not moving! So this is not ready.’ And that’s how I came up with it, the idea of the song.”
