BARRANQUILLA, Colombia (WJW) – A larger-than-life bronze statue of Shakira is now swaying its hips on the riverfront of the singer’s Colombian hometown.
The six-ton statue, which stands 21 feet tall, was unveiled on Tuesday on the promenade in Barranquilla, in a ceremony attended by her parents and the town’s mayor.
A plaque under the statue says that on Feb. 2, 1977, the town of “Barranquilla and the world witnessed the birth of a heart that composes, hips that don’t lie, a voice that moves masses and a pair of bare feet that walk for the good of children and humanity.”
The “Hips Don’t Lie” singer reacted to the statue’s unveiling on Instagram.
“It makes me happy to share this with my parents and especially my mother on her birthday,” the singer wrote, in part, in a post with a picture of her parents in front of the statue.
“This is too much for my little heart,” she said.
The singer also thanked artist Yino Márques in a post shared to X.
“Thanks to the sculptor Yino Márquez and the students of the district arts school for this example of the enormous artistic talent of the people of my land,” she wrote.
The giant statue, however, is not Barranquilla’s first Shakira statue. In 2006, the Caribbean town unveiled a Shakira monument that depicts the pop star in her early days, playing an acoustic guitar and wearing jeans and boots. That statues stands near the entrance of the local soccer stadium.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
