Q&A: Shakira says she feels like she's just getting started. A Rock Hall nomination begs to differ

Shakira says her new world tour is turning lifelong dreams into reality as she sets attendance records and earns major recognition

NEW YORK -- NEW YORK (AP) — Shakira is on her way to drop her son off at flag football practice. It's an ordinary experience for a mother who, in the not-so-recent past, has been at the center of some pretty extraordinary circumstances.

The boundary-breaking Colombian performer has spent the last year on her first global tour since 2018, where she has made history: Nearly 20 years after her first concert in Mexico City 's Zócalo, the capital's main square, Shakira returned earlier this month to break the plaza’s attendance record with about 400,000 fans showing up to see her.

It's impressive for any artist and one that certainly backs up her reputation as the Queen of Latin Music. Across her three-decade-plus career, Shakira has set records and challenged genre lines: from 1991, when she signed a deal with Sony Music Colombia at just 13 years old and released her debut album “Magia” — to breakthrough albums like 1998's “Dónde Están los Ladrones?” and 2001's “Laundry Service” — all the way to her most recent, 2024's “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran.”

But this year is different.

“I'm being able to make so many of my dreams, as an artist, come true on this tour,” she told The Associated Press over the phone on Tuesday. “It's everything I ever dreamt about.”