Shakira's 'Waka Waka' Video Hits 1 Billion Views and Beyond
A song that debuted more than five years ago recently reached a YouTube milestone -- Shakira's "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)" had recently reached the one billion view mark.
Despite the fact that the song is half a decade old already, Shakira did not miss a beat by tweeting about the milestone.
"Wow! Waka Waka now has more than a BILLION views! The song and the video that changed my life," the Colombian artist's Twitter post read Monday.
Her note about the song changing her life was down to the fact that she met her current partner Gerard Pique, a Spanish soccer player, when she made the video for the song, according to Fox News Latino. They have been together for more than five years now and already have two sons.
"Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)," which was created as a result of the Baranquilla native's collaboration with South African band Freshlyground, had been chosen as the official 2010 World Cup theme song. However, the single reportedly did not impress South Africans, the host country of the 2010 edition, as reported by The Telegraph. Some had criticized Shakira's involvement in the song considering she was not African, although the song had incorporated sampled Cameroonian music and involved a South African artist.
Despite this, the song went on to top the charts and became one of the most viewed videos.
The concept of the clip, according to Ogilvy & Mather Executive Creative Director Antonio Navas, was "to take the viewer on a trip around the world, ending in Africa."
"I had worked with Shakira and her team in the past and was flattered to be called to develop the conceptual approach to this amazing song and bring its message to life," he noted in a press release given in connection to the song's release back in 2010.
The video was made in multiple languages and includes a number of soccer stars, such as Brazil's Dani Alves, Argentina's Lionel Messi and Spain's Gerard Pique, who later went on to be her real-life partner.
According to Fox News Latino, the video's billion views make Shakira the third Latin artist to enter the group which had cracked the billion view mark. The other two are Bruno Mars ("Uptown Funk") and Enrique Iglesias ("Bailando").
Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull may not be far behind, though, as views for "On the Floor" are currently close to a billion.
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