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50 free Shakira trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Shakira was thrown out of her school choir for a vibrato that sounded like a goat, won a bicycle in a TV talent contest at ten, and sold 1,200 copies of her first album. Then came Pies Descalzos, the Estefans' Miami studio, a blond crossover called Laundry Service and a run of hits that made her the best-selling female Latin artist in history, with four Grammys and fifteen Latin Grammys. This quiz covers all of it: the Lebanese roots behind the belly dancing, the Alejandro Sanz and Wyclef Jean collaborations, She Wolf and Sale el Sol, three World Cup songs, Gazelle in Zootopia, The Voice, the Super Bowl with Jennifer Lopez, the Bizarrap diss track that broke fourteen Guinness records, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, the Spanish tax case and the record-breaking 2025–26 tour. Fifty questions, four options each, with a short explanation after every answer. Play on your phone or print it for a music quiz night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which Colombian city was Shakira born?
Barranquilla
The Caribbean port has honoured her with a six-tonne sculpture in 2006 and a 21-foot bronze statue in 2023.
Q 02Shakira's father is of which ancestry, a heritage she credits for her belly dancing?
Lebanese
Her mother is of Catalan Colombian descent; she learned to belly dance, she says, by trying to flip a coin with her stomach.
Q 03Why was the young Shakira rejected from her school choir?
Her vibrato was too strong
Classmates told her she sounded like a goat; she was also often sent out of class for hyperactivity.
Q 04What prize did a ten-year-old Shakira win in a local TV talent contest?
A bicycle
She had regained confidence after the choir rejection; by 13 she had been signed by Sony Music Colombia for three albums.
Q 05What was Shakira's first song, written at age eight, called?
Gafas Oscuras
'Dark Glasses' was inspired by her father, who wore them for years to hide his grief after her half-brother's death.
Q 06How many copies did Shakira's 1991 debut album Magia sell in Colombia?
1,200
She was 13 when recording began; the money still let her buy her parents a car at 14.
Q 07Shakira's father, who went bankrupt when she was eight, worked in what trade?
Jeweler
She returned from a stay with relatives in Los Angeles to find the cars, furniture and colour TV gone.
Q 08In which 1993–94 Colombian telenovela did Shakira act, playing Luisa Maria?
El Oasis
It came between her second flop album Peligro and the breakthrough Pies Descalzos.
Q 09Which 1995 album was Shakira's breakthrough, later lending its name to her foundation?
Pies Descalzos
'Bare Feet' sold over five million copies and spawned six US Latin top-20 singles including 'Estoy Aquí'.
Q 10Who was Shakira's principal collaborator on her third album and the two that followed?
Luis Fernando Ochoa
He returned to the stage with her for the 2025 anniversary EP alongside Ed Sheeran and the New York Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra.
Q 11At 19, Shakira was named a national cultural ambassador alongside which Colombian writer?
Gabriel García Márquez
The Nobel laureate's Love in the Time of Cholera later became a film for which she contributed three songs.
Q 12Dónde Están los Ladrones? was recorded at the Miami studio of which couple?
Gloria and Emilio Estefan
Emilio was executive producer and later managed her; Gloria helped improve her English for the crossover.
Q 13What was the Spanish-language title of 'Whenever, Wherever'?
Suerte
The song leaned on Andean charango and pan flute and reached No. 6 on the Hot 100.
Q 21Which guitarist features on 'Illegal', the third single from Oral Fixation, Vol. 2?
Carlos Santana
The album's lead single 'Don't Bother' had missed the US top 40 before 'Hips Don't Lie' rescued the campaign.
Q 22Shakira's duet 'Beautiful Liar' was with which singer?
Beyoncé
It leapt 91 places on the Hot 100, from 94 to 3, a record jump at the time, and topped the UK chart.
Q 23What was the value of Shakira's ten-year Live Nation deal signed in July 2008?
$312 million
It covered touring, recordings, sponsorship and merchandise worldwide.
Q 14Shakira said which Laundry Service track shows her devotion to the Beatles?
Underneath Your Clothes
Her teenage diet was Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Nirvana and the Police; Depeche Mode's 'Enjoy the Silence' sold her on the electric guitar.
Q 15Which soft-drink brand signed Shakira to a global deal negotiated by manager Freddy DeMann?
Pepsi
She recorded four songs for the campaign, including 'Ask for More' and 'Pide Más'.
Q 16Which Aerosmith song did Shakira perform at the band's 2002 MTV Icon tribute?
Dude (Looks Like a Lady)
Aerosmith was one of her teenage rock influences, alongside The Cure and Tom Petty.
Q 17Shakira's first worldwide concert run, launched in November 2002, was named after which animal?
Mongoose
Its 61 shows spanned four continents; the Rotterdam concert became the Live & off the Record set.
Q 18Which Spanish balladeer features on 'La Tortura'?
Alejandro Sanz
It spent a record 25 weeks atop the Hot Latin Tracks chart; they reunited for 'Bésame' in 2025.
Q 19Who is the featured artist on 'Hips Don't Lie'?
Wyclef Jean
It was her first Hot 100 No. 1, topped charts in over 55 countries and was performed at the 2006 World Cup closing ceremony.
Q 20'Hips Don't Lie' mixes salsa and reggaeton with which other style, and samples Jerry Rivera?
Cumbia
The duo marked its 20th anniversary on The Tonight Show in May 2025.
Q 24At Obama's 2009 'We Are One' inauguration concert, Shakira sang 'Higher Ground' with Usher and whom?
Stevie Wonder
The event took place at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Q 25Which South African band joined Shakira on the 2010 World Cup song 'Waka Waka'?
Freshlyground
It has sold over four million copies, the biggest-selling World Cup song ever, and its video is where she met Gerard Piqué.
Q 26Which 2009 album, mostly electropop, had 'Loba' as its Spanish title track?
She Wolf
Its clubby sound was a sharp break from her rock past; the title song became an LGBTQ anthem.
Q 27Shakira replaced Christina Aguilera as a coach on which TV show in 2013?
The Voice
She and Usher took over for season four; she returned for season six.
Q 28Which singer duets with Shakira on 'Can't Remember to Forget You'?
Rihanna
The reggae-rock track led her 2014 self-titled album, her highest-charting on the Billboard 200 at No. 2.
Q 29What is the name of the character Shakira voices in Zootopia?
Gazelle
She sang 'Try Everything', written by Sia and Stargate, and returned for the sequel with the Ed Sheeran co-write 'Zoo'.
Q 30'La Bicicleta', a Latin Grammy Record of the Year, paired Shakira with which Colombian singer?
Carlos Vives
The vallenato hit won both Record and Song of the Year; Maluma later remixed it before 'Chantaje'.