Shakira is making waves with her latest single…
The 44-year-old Colombian singer and songwriter has released her new single “Don’t Wait Up,” her first all-English track since her 2017 recordings “When a Woman” and “What We Said” ft. MAGIC!, which appeared on her album El Dorado.
“I have to say, I’m very nervous because it’s my first English song in a long time because I’ve been focusing on Spanish songs only lately, but this song came about and I’m like, yeah, it’s time,” the chart-topping artist told Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1. “It’s time to do this again and I’m happy, and I’m so inspired right now.”
The EDM track, co-produced by Shak and Ian Kirkpatrick, starts off with a soft melodic beat but quickly picks up speed to introduce the earworm chorus “don’t wait up.”
In the official music video, Shakira rides a glow-in-the-dark surfboard, harnessing a wave while letting pink neon light up her face. It’s a stunt that very few artists could pull off, and underlines Shakira’s effortless cool.
Filmed in Tenerife, Spain, Shak noted the “very nostalgic” but in an “awesome way” music video took two months of preparation and was very challenging.
“Those scenes of me riding those waves, it was at two in the morning. From two to five in the morning, three hours in the water,” she added. “I made sure that the water wasn’t cold because I’m such a chicken for cold water unless I have a full wetsuit. But the director was like, you’re not going with a full wet suit on this video. You’re going to be in a bathing suit, in a bikini. I’m like, no, no, no, I’m not going to be in a bikini, surfing in a bikini. I’m not that fit. I need to wear something to hold everything in properly, but okay, I’ll give you some legs. I said that. So we kind of compromised.”
The new single arrives more than a year after the release of her Anuel AA-assisted song “Me Gusta” and seven months after her chart-topping collaboration with Black Eyed Peas on “Girl Like Me.”