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Carmen Hernandez
Professor Julia Intawiwat
English 112
February 5, 2016

Changing Culture Through Music

The lights go off, the crowds start cheering from excitement.
Everyones favorite song of the summer starts playing as the silhouette of
the artist appears under the spotlight. The feeling of great enthusiasm and
eagerness is revealed by the loud cacophony of strangers singing out of
tune. Music is the instrument for all the existing human souls of earth to be
able connect as one. Its admirable how a musician can influence millions of
people and society by reaching the spotlight. We have seen musicians
become so influential that they have changed the history of music over time.
Shakira is one of the many influential artists on culture. She has changed the
way the music industry works, broken boundaries between different cultures,
and influenced others with aspects of her personal life.
Shakira is a Colombian singer born and raised in an impoverished part
of her country called Barranquilla. Being the daughter of a Colombian
mother and a Lebanese father greatly influenced young Shakira (Shakira).
This explains the reason why some of the songs Shakira has written have an
Arabic sound to them. At a very young age, Shakira discovered her talent
and love for music. She knew that her talent wasnt going to be known if she
stayed in Barranquilla. In search of a better opportunity in being heard, she
moved to the countrys capital called Bogota. There she was able to get

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signed to sonic music Colombia (Shakira). By the time she was thirteen,
Shakira debuted her first album made up entirely of songs she had written
between the ages of eight and thirteen (Shakira). The album was titled
Magia but it wasnt very successful. From her first debut album she was at
least able to gain attention of her country which helped to kick off her
professional career (Shakira).
Shakiras musical genre is a unique blend of pop and rock with
influences from her Colombian and Arabic cultures. This type of music was
unlike anything anyone was doing at that time so it was very innovative. She
was taking a huge risk with choosing to do something that had never been
done in Latin American pop culture. The blend of music luckily worked for her
because it attracted the audience attention. Her first successful debut album
was called Pies Descalzos and it was the singers decision to abandon her
light pop format and establish for herself a distinctive and somewhat new
style (Shakira). It wasnt easy for her to get this album done because her
label wasnt very supportive of it. The music industry and recording labels
have been known to mold artists carrier based on the interest of the
audience solely to make as much profit as possible. Shakira has helped
changed the way the music industry works. Thanks to artist like her, now in
the 21st century musicians know that they dont have to follow their labeling
companys guidelines to become successful in the music industry.
Her tours have crisscrossed the globe because her music is liked by
many groups of people and different cultures. The tour for pies descalzos

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lasted nearly two years (Shakira). Shakira decided that change was needed
when she realized that her music had the power to reach many kinds of
audience and more than she could ever imagine. Shakira decided that the
next move in her career was to conquer the coveted American music
industry. She moved to Miami where she learned to speak English and was
quickly signed by Emilio Estefan and Glorias Estefans label company.
Estefan expected Shakira was the next big crossover start from the Latin
music industry to the American music industry (Shakira). He predicted that
middle eastern combined with Latin music was the next big sound
(Shakira). Her new English-language album was one of the first ever. When
Shakira was able to crossover she started an innovative idea in which many
would follow after.
Apart from her professional accomplishments, Shakira is an influential
person through her personal life. She realizes that the platform she has
achieved through her music can help influence people to do good in society.
The singer and song writer was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador
on 24 October 2003 (Goodwill Ambassador). As a goodwill ambassador for
UNICEF she worked to increase awareness in areas such as HIV/AIDS,
education and child protection (Goodwill Ambassador). She urges and
influences people like global leaders to invest heavily in things like early
childhood development. Her message is to spread message to fundraise as
much as possible to give back to all the children in the world. Her character

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has the capacity to have an effect on many of her followers to improve our
society by giving back to those that are most in need.
Shakira used her platform to be a cultural example of what a woman
can do by sharing the obstacles she faced in society. She was able to bend
the norm and therefore change the culture we live in by example. Shakira
has changed the way the music industry works. She had to overcome recordlabel resistance and machismo to achieve success. Shakira has broken
boundaries between different cultures by overcoming culture shock to reach
the ultimate crossover success with her multiplatinum English debut. She
has influenced others with aspects of her personal life by being the goodwill
ambassador for UNICEF to this day. Shakira is able to influence people
therefore she is able to effect society in all because she is able to unite
people to do good and change society for the better.

Works Cited
"Goodwill Ambassador." UNICEF. N.p., 15 May 2015. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.

"Shakira." Contemporary Musicians. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 5 Feb. 2016