“Hot Ones”: Shakira says she “can take spice” while discussing her first album release in 7 years

Shakira Craig T Fruchtman/Getty Images
Shakira Craig T Fruchtman/Getty Images

Shakira joined host Sean Evans on this week’s episode of “Hot Ones.” The Colombian singer-songwriter reflected on her musical career, revealed that she’s a huge fan of “Family Guy,” and discussed her latest album “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran,” which is her first in seven years. The album itself is being marketed as Shakira’s grand comeback following her highly-publicized breakup from partner Gerard Piqué.

When asked by Evans if she has any “gut-wrenching” tales of losing her handwritten song lyrics, Shakira said there’s one moment that comes to mind: “When I was, like, 21 I had written a whole body of work and it got lost at an airport in bogota. I had all my lyrics in my dad’s briefcase because I used to travel with my parents back in the day.

“And I think that it just disappeared at the airport and that’s why I named that album, ‘Where Are The Thieves?’ (‘Dónde Están los Ladrones?’) after that story,” she continued, referring to her fourth studio album. “I had to reconstruct all of the lyrics in my head and I was able to after a great deal of effort.”

Shakira, whose accolades include three GRAMMY wins, numerous Billboard top hits and more, has become the most successful Latin female artist of all time. So much so that she’s been hailed as “The most successful Latin female artist of all time.” Despite her successes, Shakira said she does have some regrets when it comes to her earlier tunes.

“I think I used to overdo the cries in my voice,” she said, before replicating her old style: “‘Lo de lo de lo de’ — it’s too much. I think I was exaggerated. Too much, Shakira.”

She continued, “And I noticed that after my pregnancies my voice got thicker, more rounded, more full. Also my choices are more mature. I have evolved as a woman, as a person. My intellect has evolved.”

As for which of her songs she’s most likely to hear fans sing to her in public, Shakira said it’s definitely “Hips Don’t Lie.”

“‘Shakira! Do your hips lie?'” she imitated her fans. “I’m like, ‘I have other songs, you know.'”

Elsewhere in her interview, Shakira said she wanted Seth MacFarlane to do the English translation of her 2009 hit “She Wolf” because she’s a huge fan of his sitcom “Family Guy.”

Want more great food writing and recipes? Subscribe to Salon Food's newsletter, The Bite.

“I was a huge ‘Family Guy’ fan and I always thought that he was so creative and so musical as well,” Shakira said of MacFarlane. “I really admire the musical production of the show so I looked for him but then I ended up writing it myself. I found the right words, I found what I wanted to say.”

Shakira’s latest release, “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran,” recently debuted at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the Top Latin Albums chart. It features collaborations with Cardi B, Bizarrap, Rauw Alejandro, Karol G and more.

“Once you put out an album, it doesn’t belong to you,” Shakira said. “It belongs to others and it becomes a soundtrack of peoples’ lives. That’s the ultimate purpose of albums, I think.”