Shakira On How She Landed The Official World Cup Song

Shakira spoke with Al Jazeera’s David Foster before her performance of the official World Cup song ‘Waka Waka’ at Johannesburg’s Soccer City stadium on Sunday before the 2010 final between Spain and the Netherlands. The Colombian pop singer talked about how she’s become a soccer fan, why she was selected instead of an African singer, and how the opportunity came about.

“My record label was putting together the album, the ‘Listen Up’ album for the World Cup and they asked me to write a song for the World Cup,” Shakira explained. “Since I had some time off at the beginning of the year I jumped on it, but I never expected it was going to be selected as the official World Cup song, so imagine my surprise and my excitement because I know what football represents, what it signifies to the world, at least what it does to me now. I know the power that it has to bring people together from all different cultures and religions. The power of football is enormous.”

Watch the interview via YouTube below.