Quick, name the most talented current female pop singer? I expect a lot of people to say the usual suspects; Beyonce, Rihanna, Britney Spears, or even Kelly Clarkson. Who are you forgetting? Shakira. Now name who you think the hottest woman in the world is. Who did you say? Megan Fox? Adriana Lima? Olivia Wilde? Jessica Biel? Again, I'm sure almost no one said Shakira. Why is that? How can this be? No one combines the awesome raw talent of singing, dancing and overall hotness better than Shakira. Yet she constantly fails to achieve the credit for her awesomeness she deserves. In fact, Shakira is so awesome, that even though I always thought she didn't get the respect she deserves for being awesome, it wasn't until I started doing research on her for this article that I realized I was underappreciating her awesomeness, when I thought I was praising her. I mean I just didn't realize how highly she rated on the awesomeness scale, and I'm sure nobody does either. It's time we change that.
Shakira is out of this world gorgeous. There's just no other way to put it. She is so hot that there are three different levels of her beauty. She is exotic hot, sexy hot, and beautiful hot, and yes there is a difference between all three. Dictionary.com defines exotic as of foreign origin or character; not native; introduced from abroad, but not fully naturalized or acclimatized. Based on this definition, Shakira is as exotic as it gets. Born in Colombia, Shakira is of Lebanese, Spanish, and Italian descent. It's not just that, its her tan skin, blonde hair, and brown eyes that makes your heart skip a beat every time you look at her. It's the type of knockout beauty that you rarely see in anyone that truly makes her stand out from the pack of other celebrity hotties. She's sexy hot in the sense that she personifies sex appeal. From her dancing, to her body, to the vibe she gives off, let's just say that she is the type of woman a man dreams about from the age of 15-105 to make his wildest fantasies and dreams come true. Finally, she's beautiful hot in regards to her overall hotness. I mean, look at her! Do I even need to get into detail here? She has that classic feminine beauty look to her. There's not a man on the planet who wouldn't sell his soul to walk around with Shakira arm in arm and have the biggest smile on his face for an hour. When you think of the requirements of what it takes to be beautiful, Shakira meets all of them. She is as perfectly awesome as one can possibly be in terms of looks.
Therefore, it totally makes no sense that in its annual Hot 100 List, Maxim Magazine didn't even rank Shakira in 2009. Again, I repeat for emphasis, not even ranked! That's blasphemous as far as I'm concerned. I mean, how can the Red Sox win the World Series twice in a decade, and Shakira goes unranked in Maxim's Hot 100? This is even more mind-boggling especially when you consider they ranked several "hotties" like Michelle Obama (93), Chelsea Handler (91), Milla Jovovich (63), and Cameron Diaz (37). Now don't get me wrong, these are all very beautiful women. However, none of them compare to Shakira in the looks level. I mean can you really say any of them is as hot as Shakira?As my fellow New Jerseyite Tony Soprano would say, faghedaboutit! Now, I'm not saying Shakira should be number one on this list and that she's the hottest woman in the world, but I definitely think she deserves to be listed. In my personal opinion, I would say that she definitely belongs in the top 25. Which begs me to ask the question, is Shakira the perfect combination of looks and talent in the music field today? I think so, if not she's definitely in the top three with Beyonce (52) and Christina Aguilera (14). Beyonce and Aguilera frequently get the praise they deserve for their awesome combination of talent, beauty, and success, yet not Shakira. It pretty much seems that people don't realize how talented and successful Shakira really is, just like they overlook her hotness.
Some of the records that Shakira has broken in the music industry are as insane as her dancing movies. However, it almost make one's head explode when you read these facts and realize that Shakira isn't considered one of the most successful artists of the past two decades by the general public. I bet you didn't know that according to, Shakira was the fourth highest-earning woman in music for 2008 behind Madonna, Barbara Streisand and Celine Dion. You should also know that Shakira recorded her first album, Magia, when she was only thirteen years old. Now most artists that age have someone write their songs for them, but not someone as awesome as Shakira. The songs on the album were written by Shakira when she was eight years old. Eight! Most eight year olds can barely write complete sentences, and Shakira was writing songs. Shakira's second album Pies Descalzos, was just as awesome since it debuted at #1 in eight different countries. She also received a World Music Award as the best selling Latin artist for this record. Then, her fourth album ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones?, sold 300,000 in one day in Miami alone. It wound up selling over 1,500,000 copies in the United States, making it one of the best selling Spanish albums in U.S. history. Around this time, Shakira performed her hit song "Ojos Así" at the inaugural ceremony of Latin Grammy Awards. Shakira did such an awesome job that he was named the Greatest Latin Grammy performance of all time. In 2002, Shakira released her first ever English album, Laundry Service, which became the best selling album of 2002, selling more than 20 million copies worldwide, and was certified three time multi platinum by the RIAA. Still not impressed? Well, you're about to be.
In 2005, Shakira released Oral Fixation Vol. 1 and 2. Volume 1 spent a record 25 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks chart and sold 157,000 copies in its first week of release in the U.S., becoming the highest debut ever for a Spanish language album in America. It also was certified eleven times multi-Platinum. But now, here's the ridiculous statistics. On the day of its official release in Venezuela, it went Platinum, in Colombia it went triple Platinum and in Mexico, it was sold-out. Think about that for a second. I just suffered an aneurysm at the thought of a record selling out in an entire country...in one day! The album wound up selling over one million copies in three days. The most successful song of the album "Hips Don't Lie", was rated the number one song in at least 55 countries. It was also the most-played pop song in a single week in American radio history, getting played 9,637 times in one week, and according to was the best selling single of the last ten years.The tour she went on for this album was just as awesome. The tour had 125 shows, on five different continents: Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America, and Africa. Over 2.5 million people came to these shows. During this tour, Shakira performed a free concert in Mexico City and over 210,000 people were in attendance. Ok, now tell me you aren't impressed? I dare you.
Over the course of her career, Shakira has received 103 awards from 224 nominations from various globally recognized music organizations such as the American Music Awards, the Billboard Music Awards, the Grammys, the Latin Grammys, the People's Choice Awards, the World Music Awards, and the Golden Globe Awards, among others. Her two biggest wins were when she won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album in 2001 for Shakira MTV Unplugged and for best Latin Rock/Alternative Album in 2006 for Fijación Oral Vol. 1 Besides her two Grammy Awards and seven Latin Grammy Awards, Shakira has sold 50 million albums. She also happens to be the highest selling Colombian artist of all time, and the second most successful female Latin singer. If that's not enough to impress you, take an objective look at the talent she posses. Besides having a world class voice and dancing ability, Shakira loves all genres of music since she has covered Aerosmith, AC/DC, and Elvis Presely. Oh, and did I mention she plays the harmonica? Is this not one of the most awesome women in the world? Before you answer that, you have to understand, it gets better, you see she's even more perfect than you think.
Do you think this Colombian beauty is all looks? Wrong! Shakira has brains as well, and it is evident in her business ventures and charity work. I mean there is a reason why that it is reported that Shakira has an IQ of 140. In 1995, she founded the Pies Descalzos Foundation, a Colombian charity that builds special schools for poor children all around Colombia. Over the course of her career, Shakira has been known for performing at a large number of charity benefit concerts like Live 8, Live Earth, and the Clinton Global Initiative, Shakira is also a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and is one of their global representatives. She also served as the Honorary Chairperson for "Action Week" 2008, which was sponsored by the Global Campaign for Education (GCE), to generate awareness about the Education for All Act. She spoke with the U.S. Congress, the British Prime Minister, and the World Bank President to promote a move towards Global Education. She's spent days in Bangladesh visiting families effected by cyclones, open $6 million schools in her hometown, and has been named "Humanitarian of the Year" by People En Espanol.Shakira was also ranked the 48th most charitable celebrity by OK! magazine, which reported she donates around $55,000 a year to charity. The Spanish government has committed over $45 million to her cause of helping people who are victims of natural disasters, and help education in Latin American countries. She clearly has a face, voice, and heart of gold.
It is very hard for a woman, especially a celebrity, to be considered underappreciated. They are often frequently discussed in the press, tabloids, are guests on talk shows and are pretty much always recognized for their talents and beauty. However, just like Shakira's hips, the facts don't lie; Shakira is unbelievably awesome, and doesn't get the credit she deserves for it. I mean who ever really knew that she could dance like that? And she really does make a man wants to speak Spanish. If you could do those two things, and don't get the praise you deserve, you definitely deserve a spot in The Underappreciated Celebrity Blog. Having an awesome name usually helps too. After all, Shakira means thankful in Arabic. I like to think the meaning of her name shows not only a twist of irony, but it also displays the humble side of Shakira as well. You see, in actuality we are the ones who are thankful for her hotness, talent, charity work, and most importantly, her awesomeness.
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