Shakira on Starting Out as a Rock Singer | Fallon Flashback (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon)

-Hey, that video is number one on YouTube. It just debuted yesterday, and it's everyone -- everyone's forwarding it to each other. It's gigantic.

-I can't believe it. -It's so cool. And you're doing -- it's a different type of dance thing for you, too, because.

. . -Yeah.

Stepping, actually. -Stepping. -Yeah.

Don't ask me how I learned that, because I'm really bad taking choreography. -Oh, really? -Yeah.

I'm not a trained dancer, so usually I just like to improvise on stage. -Is that what it is? -But this time around -- -Phenomenal.

Phenomenal improvising. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, you're so talented.

-This time around, I wanted to learn something new, and so -- so I kind of got into this whole, like, stepping thing, which is something -- -Yeah. -It's a dance form very much -- very common in colleges and, you know, sororities and fraternities. -Oh, yeah, they all.

. . -Yeah.

So it took me a couple of days, but after after a while, I got it. -Yeah, I -- -I almost gave up on it. -Oh, really?

-You know, it's all these like. . .

Don't even ask me to repeat it. [ Laughter ] -I like it. That's pretty good.

See, if I did that at a club, people would be like, "Hey, dude, you're -- you're in the wrong place. You gotta get out of here. Like, no one dances like that.

" I can't pull it off at all. But you do. You look amazing up there.

-You play the guitar really well. -I do, thank you. Oh, please, thank you.

-So everybody has a talent. -Oh, see? You're so positive and nice.

I just had three huge Giants, just football players just making fun of me. Yeah. So it feels really good.

I want you here more often. Now your accent, it's, uh. .

. What are you? -I'm Colombian.

-Colombian. That's right. But you -- [ Cheers and applause ] But you live in the Bahamas, right?

-I do. -That's right. That's gorgeous.

-It is great. -I mean, I vacation in the Bahamas. -Yeah.

I originally started going to the Bahamas because of this legendary studio where some of my favorite bands used to record, like Zeppelin and The Cure and Bob Marley, as well. -I was reading about that. Yeah, it's like -- -AC/DC, all those bands.

-AC/DC. -Yeah. So I was very intrigued by the place.

Yeah. Recorded in the Bahamas in this studio called Compass Point. So, from the times of "Laundry Service," I started going to the Bahamas until one day I said, "Let's just get a house here.

" And, um -- And I love it there. You know, the Bahamians are so chill, and sometimes I don't even wear shoes for days. And I'm in my PJs all day, and it's great -- when I'm not working, of course.

- Oh, I do that around the office here, and no one seems to mind. Yeah, I'm in my PJs all day. Yeah.

Barefoot. -You get away with it. -Absolutely.

I'm just dancing, like. . .

"Guys. " We're getting canceled. Come on, stop it.

Uh, but. . .

Yeah, because you're huge in pop music. I think it was first, like, the Latin at first. That's what you did first, Latin pop.

But I didn't know that your roots were like rock 'n' roll. I guess you have to go pop first. You can't really go from rock 'n' roll to pop.

-Yeah, it all seemed like I was going to be a rock chick. Like, when I was 18 and I started touring Latin America, I was very much influenced by rock music, and I used to listen to Nirvana and, you know, Metallica and all these, like, hardcore -- -Really? -Yeah.

And then, I did the famous crossover, and, I became a pop artist, which is great because it gives me so many licenses. You know, it gives me the license to go anywhere, in any direction I want to go. I can go -- It's just -- I can explore any, any.

. . any field.

-Type of genre of music, yeah. -Exactly, 'cause rock 'n' roll sometimes has certain rules that you cannot break or you're not supposed to break, you know? But as a pop artist, there's a certain freedom to it that I really enjoy.

-That's super fun. Yeah, because I was -- I also read, too, that you -- to learn English, you read a lot of Bob Dylan lyrics? -Bob Dylan, yeah.

-Is that right? -Leonard Cohen. -Yeah.

Leonard Cohen, yeah. -Yeah, if I was gonna do it, you know, if I was gonna learn English, I better, um, learn from the masters. -Yeah, they're great.

-I think I did everything about, you know, um, uh, the resources of English literature and composition and all of that, so. . .

-Thank God you didn't end up singing like Bob Dylan, because that would have been really hard to listen to. It's like [As Dylan] ♪ I'm going out tonight ♪ ♪ But my hips don't lie ♪ [ Laughter ] ♪ On the field now, boy ♪ -That would have been interesting. -That would've been interesting.

You'd have been like, "I wish I should've got into rock 'n' roll. " [ Laughter ] But more on this. You have to tell me about the -- Is that the Barefoot Foundation?

-Yeah. -Now tell me, what is that? And what are you doing with that?

-Uh, when I was 18, I decided to establish this foundation in Colombia. Um, basically, we focus on providing education and food and, um, psychological support and building schools for kids who have -- who belong to families who have lost it all, who've been displaced by violence, or who live in extreme poverty or situations of conflict, you know, in the middle of the crossfire because of internal conflict in my country. So we've been working on that since I was 18 years old.

-Wow. -And, yeah, we're about to -- -That's cool for you to get in at 18. That's pretty -- That's pretty adult of you.

At 18, I was like, doing whippets in a parking lot somewhere. -Good for you. -For charity, for charity.

[ Laughter ] But I mean -- but I mean, that's pretty cool. I mean, you have good guidance. I mean, is it your parents or your manager, or who is helping you through this?

-Well, I grew up in the developing world, and I grew up seeing so much social injustice and so much inequality. You know, Latin America is the one region in the world with the biggest inequality. And that means that a lot of people have nothing, and a few people have a lot.

And there's a huge gap between the poor and the rich. And I know, for sure, that education is the way to close that gap or to make it smaller. And it's the right strategy to fight poverty.

You know, I've seen it with my own eyes. I've seen how education transforms the lives of not only the kids but also their families. And that's why, in our schools, we really insist on not only providing food for the kids and making sure that they receive high-quality education, but also making sure that the schools are also community centers, that they're open to the entire community, to the youngsters, that they can enjoy the sports facilities.

And that is really, like, a mother with -- with open arms, almost, like, or an analogy to that. Because in many places in Colombia there's a lack of government presence, you know, or there has been for many, many years. -How do people find out more about this?

They go -- Do you have a website? Is it just. .

. ? -Yeah, we do have a website.

Um, BarefootFoundation. org. -BarefootFoundation.

org. -Yeah. -That's really cool that you're doing that.

That's very, very awesome. Because you got that fame and you do something with your fame. You're doing it.

That's really, really cool. -I feel it's like my -- it's also my moral duty, too, you know? But it also gives me so much -- so many satisfactions.

You know, it's not a sacrifice at all. It's something I enjoy. It gives me a lot of joy.

-You're so much fun. Every time I see you, you always looks like you're having so much fun. -But I don't do it by myself.

Not at all. -No. Of course.

-A lot of people who help and volunteers and even American people who travel sometimes to Colombia and volunteer their time and their energy and their efforts, and that's what makes it exciting, you know, when you know that -- -You can't do it alone, yeah. -No, you can't. -There's power in numbers.

Yeah. I was going to ask you, did you see "Saturday Night Live" a couple weeks ago? Taylor Swift hosted the show, and she did an impression of you.

-I know. -Have you seen it yet? -Yeah, I've seen it.

It's so funny. -It's pretty good. -Yeah.

I was like, "I haven't seen --" -We all have a she-bunny part. That we all have a she-bunny inside. -'Cause you have the record "She Wolf.

" -Yeah. -That's your record. -I always say that we all have a she wolf inside.

-Yeah. So she said you have she-bunny inside. And they're doing, like, this fake, like, cartoon called "Office Bunnies" or "Bunny Business" or something like that.

And she sings one of the songs on the soundtrack as you. We have a clip. Take a look.

-She was so cute. Oh, my God. ♪♪ -♪ So many bunnies on the floor tonight ♪ ♪ Hopping and shaking their bunny hips ♪ ♪ There's a she-bunny in all of us ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Jump on the dance floor, don't be shy ♪ ♪ We're consultants, send a fax ♪ ♪ Bunny girls, hop on your bunny boys ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ Ooh, ooh!

That was pretty good. [ Cheers and applause ] That's pretty good, right? -Very good.

-♪ Your bunny ♪ She's very good. Well, the one and only right here -- Shakira.