Latin Women In Music

This story is part of Billboard‘s Mujeres Latinas en la Música package.
Maria Becerra‘s charisma and versatility have made her a force to be reckoned with. Since emerging on the international scene of the ever-expanding global Latin music community with her debut album Animal two years ago, the Argentine singer-songwriter continues to chart in her native Argentina and beyond with her unique style and unmistakable voice.

With La Nena de Argentina (2022) — her most personal and multifaceted album to date — she has garnered more than 301 million plays on Spotify alone. Her delectable mix of pop, cumbia villera, bachata and reggaetón, with lyrics that speak of love, heartbreak and female empowerment, has resonated with a growing and diverse audience. In her own words, her goal is to deliver “quality music with songs that transcend time.”

Becerra started as a YouTuber as an adolescent and was nominated for a Latin Grammy for best new artist in 2021. To date, she has achieved three entries on Hot Latin Songs, including her hit with “Qué Más Pues?” with J Balvin, as well as two top 10 entries on Latin Airplay (the No. 1 hit “Te Espero” with Prince Royce, and “Éxtasis” with Manuel Turizo at No. 9) and five entries on Latin Rhythm Airplay.

La Nena de Argentina will be honored as a Visionary at Billboard‘s inaugural Latin Women in Music gala, which will air on Telemundo on Sunday, May 7.

Billboard: What does being a visionary mean to you?

Maria Becerra: I really feel that you have to have a lot of confidence in the project, and a lot of people around you who also trust, who push forward and constantly contribute ideas. I am a very active person, a person who shoots ideas, who wants to generate new concepts, who wants to make new and different genres. I think it goes more on that side, in the sense of not stagnating and always thinking about new things and looking to the future.

It’s been two years since you released your debut, Animal. What have you learned since then that you value today?

What I value most is having learned to work. I was very young when all this happened to me. I started with music at 17, and at 19, suddenly I was living alone, I had a career, I had a salary, I had to record myself in the studio, do publicity, photos, interviews. And today, at 23, I can say that I love infinitely what I do and I make a very long trip of a month away from my family, but I’m not bad. [Before, I was] “No, no, no, no, I can’t handle this, I can’t handle this pressure, I can’t handle this job.” Today, yes, I am 23 years old, but I am an empowered woman, I am independent, I go out, I go to another country, I go for a month, I go to work, I go to learn about culture, and to make music with producers.

I am happy because my self-esteem goes up incredibly, because I am working for what I love. Having understood that, I feel that it was what has given me answers and peace of mind.

Before you became a singer, you started making videos on YouTube and achieved success on the platform at a very young age. Tell me about those beginnings.

It was around 11, 12 years old. Actually, I started on YouTube when I was very young. I made videos singing covers: One Direction, Whitney Houston. And I would upload them to YouTube, I was happy. Very few people saw them. I did a lot of casting also online. When I was about 15, I had a video that went super viral, and then I said “this is my moment.” It was four years in which I uploaded videos all the time, blogs, videos [of me] singing, doing sketches. I recorded them, I edited them myself, I was always very autonomous. And the people were encouraging me to “leave the channel aside and dedicate yourself to music.” It was at 19 that I decided to dedicate myself [to music] professionally and that’s when it all started.

Seizing the moment!

Totally. If the world is not giving me the opportunity […] I’m going to do it myself. I think it is something that, thank God, is happening to the new generations because of all the social networks, because of all the massification there is with the networks, with everything. So, luckily we can undertake it, and we can make ourselves known.

How did you get the nickname La Nena de Argentina?

La Nena de Argentina came up on a song “Animal” with Cazzu. At the end of the song, when we were recording it in the studio, we said: “Let’s record some taglines to finish.” She threw one at me, “Las nenas de Argentina” (or Argentina’s baby), but people didn’t understand that she had said “Las nenas de Argentina” (plural). They started to call me “La Nena de Argentina”, and it stayed.

How did you feel when your songs started appearing on the Billboard charts?

Unbelievable. Billboard is a very important media in music. Being part of a list or an interview is extremely important, it is a very nice recognition for any artist. I think that since I was a little girl, you have Billboard in your head, because your favorite artist appears on Billboard. So it is something very gratifying.

Tell me about your musical inspirations.

My biggest inspirations have always been the great women in music — Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Amy Winehouse, Montserrat Caballé, Ariana Grande, Rihanna. I was always a big fan of women with big voices, with incredible stage presence, with vocal strength, in their gestures, in their performance, in everything. Their strong way of being, so empowered, filled me with desire.

You have several tattoos, which was the last one and what meaning does it have for you?

The last thing I tattooed was an upside down wine glass. I did it with my manager and his daughter. It’s a shared tattoo. We were drunk, actually. We had a release party for my song “Automático,” and we brought tattoo artists. There was a lot of alcohol and we said, “Shall we tattoo something together?!” “Well, come on!” “The glass!” we said, because he [her manager] likes wine. It’s nice to have it shared, I think that’s the important thing.

Do you have any hidden talents that the public doesn’t know about?

I am a very good cook. I make very good pot roast, mother’s food. I love to make potato pie, polenta, pasta and lots of it. I cook with a lot of love.

Tickets to Billboard’s Latin Women In Music can be purchased here.

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This story is part of Billboard‘s Mujeres Latinas en la Música package.
The first person to believe in the musical talent of María Guadalupe Araujo Yong, later known as Ana Gabriel, was her grandfather, Roberto Yong. Born in China, his sister had been an opera singer, and it was he who taught the little girl to control her breathing, to take care of her voice, to respect the stage. It was also he who told her: “Among the green apples, try to be the red.” 

She did so, and against all expectations — she was told, since the very start, that her signature hoarse voice was “anti-aesthetic” — she landed 27 albums on Billboard’s Latin Pop Albums chart (the woman with the most titles on this list) and six No. 1s on Hot Latin Songs, including megahits “Ay Amor” and “Evidencias,” both written by her, just like 90% of her hits. 

On the exclusive Billboard Greatest of All Time Latin Artists chart, Ana Gabriel is currently listed at No. 25. 

Today, in her 60s, the Mexican singer-songwriter is still a force of nature. Her current Por Amor a Ustedes world tour, which spans 36 arenas across the United States, Mexico and the Dominican Republic, is sold out, and she’s planning a performance at the historic Olympia Theater in Paris — a perfect venue for a living legend. 

Billboard: I can’t think of any other Latina who at this age continues to tour the world’s stages with such success. Why do you do it? 

Ana Gabriel: Because there is an audience behind me that is my base, that takes me by the hand in what I give them as a person, as a human being, as a singer, as a composer. Because there are no lies when I’m onstage. I am the same: the one below, the one who is talking to you right now, and the one onstage; the only difference is one has makeup and one doesn’t. 

This audience is responsible for making me a living legend. They’ve supported me for many years because I have not lied to them. They know me so much, so much, so much that when I keep my distance or silence it is because they know that I’m taking time to recycle myself as a human being. 

You told me that you had been working on your spiritual side for some time. Tell us a little about that. 

Over the past 25 years I have reaffirmed that quest. The years open up other fields for you; they turn on little lights and turn off others. But my spiritual search comes from childhood because of the close and direct contact I had with my Chinese grandfather. He talked to me a lot about how they handled Zen, the center. How sometimes we have to control ourselves and how we have to learn to control ourselves. Because it is one thing to have character, and another to be strong in character. You have to define it. And that has taken me a lot of work. The only thing I can assure you is that I never stood on a little brick. I always kept my feet very much on the ground to know how tall I am.

Was your grandfather the one who taught you to sing? 

My grandfather is the one who gave me advice as a singer, how to position my voice, how to breathe so as not to hurt my vocal cords. He gave me the exercises that I didn’t understand when I was very young, and after standing on [a stage] for the first time in 1974, I realized what he was teaching me. He taught me to read aloud with a pencil under the tongue, for diction. 

Did he actually see you perform onstage? 

He did see me recording, but not standing on a stage. [Even so,] he was quite moved to see me and understood that I was born for that. My great inspiration to sing was my grandfather. He spoke to me a lot about the spiritual, about that side I must protect. To say thank you before stepping on the stage and to ask permission before entering it. 

It took you 10 years to get a label to believe in you. Why? 

It didn’t take me 10 years to sign with a label, but rather for someone at the label to believe in the voice, to believe in what Ana Gabriel brought to the table and support it. They said: “It’s just that your voice is strange.” They called it “anti-aesthetic.” It was the complete opposite of what was heard at that time, which was very high-pitched voices, and I arrived with the complete opposite. Even though my voice is very hoarse, I have a very high range. That’s what they didn’t understand. But also the record companies, to say it openly, have always been risk-averse. If one song worked, they want another one just like it. And as I learned from my grandfather: Try to be the red apple that stands among the green ones. Being different requires hard work, but if you have patience, you can do it. 

Do you consider yourself a composer first and then a performer? 

I identify as both. There is a very great duality. In fact, when I started composing I was ashamed to show my music. I said, “How am I going to open my spirit? How am I going to open my soul to people I don’t know? I prefer to sing songs by other composers.” But my first composition came along and that’s when I realized that what the public liked were my songs. Although I perform songs by other composers, 90% of my recordings are my own compositions, music and lyrics.

“Ay Amor” was your first No. 1 on Hot Latin Songs. Do you remember what you felt at that moment? 

I thanked God. I thanked my parents. My family. And again, the public. Without the public you cannot reach those levels. I never said, “Oh, I finally made it.” In fact, I must say, I have not made it yet. If I think I’ve already made it, I’m going to just sit in a comfortable spot and won’t allow myself to grow. You can’t just settle. 

At the end of this great tour, what’s next for you? 

First of all, continuing to be healthy. I have to take advantage of the fact that I can still sing, I can still move, jump onstage. What I don’t want is to fail the public onstage. When my tour in Europe is over, I’m going to pull myself together a bit and get back in the studio. In fact, we’re going to start recording a song that I perform in honor of two departed friends: Juan Gabriel and Rocío Dúrcal. And [I’m going to] plan what I’ll be doing at the Olympia in Paris — to appear there is one of the biggest dreams of my life. [After Lola Beltrán and Chavela Vargas,] I would be the third Mexican woman to step on that stage. 

Tickets to Billboard‘s Latin Women In Music can be purchased here.

This story is part of Billboard‘s Mujeres Latinas en la Música package.
On a recent Sunday in Miami, Thalia waits for me at the entrance of Sony Music’s 50/20 recording studio, dressed in sweatpants and a T-shirt, with a baseball cap over her almost makeup-free face, to talk about her new project, Thalia’s Mixtape El Soundtrack De Mi Vida.

“You don’t know what this project means!” she tells me, brimming with emotion. “It’s that mixtape back from when I was a teenager! Those songs that were the soundtrack of my life were rock in Spanish.” 

With or without makeup, in front of or behind the camera, Thalia always speaks with exclamation points — her voice rises and falls in a narrative arc that keeps her listener in a state of engagement. It is an essential quality that has permeated the work and the very essence of Ariadna Thalia Sodi Miranda, from her days as a child TV actress, to her tenure with pop group Timbiriche in the 1980s, to her rise to queen of soap operas and then, to queen of the Billboard charts. Since her 1995 debut album, En Éxtasis, Thalia has placed 13 top 10 hits on the Top Latin Albums chart, as well as four No. 1s. 

Now, she blends visual and musical content, past and present, on the 11-track album Thalia’s Mixtape (out April 28 on Sony Music Latin), for which she covered not only her favorite songs — including Soda Estéreo’s “Persiana Americana,” Aterciopelados’ “Florecita Rockera” and “Duélveveme a Mi Chica” by Hombres G — but also sought out their authors, including Charly Alberti and David Summers, for the recording of both the songs and new music videos. The audiovisual product, Thalia’s Mixtape El Soundtrack De Mi Vida, is available as a three-episode series on Paramount+. 

“My great challenge as an artist is to give the best quality to my audience. The experience, the fun, entertaining them, singing for them, expressing myself through all kinds of musical genres is part of the package,” says the artist, who will be honored with the Global Powerhouse award at Billboard‘s inaugural Latin Women In Music event, airing May 7 on Telemundo.

How do you feel about being a part of the first group of Latin Women in Music honored by Billboard? 

I feel proud, I feel honored; I feel that I belong to a group of extremely talented, powerful women, full of vigor, full of that strength that is so contagious. It’s that sisterhood, that friendship; it is that family that we have built for years that includes singers, producers and executives. 

Who inspired you as a child? 

My mother! Yolanda Miranda de Sodi, period. Setting gender aside, that person’s soul was so powerful that she spoke face to face with any man, with a security and strength that at that time, in that patriarchal system, was impossible. And this woman went against the tide. Also, we are five sisters. My father died when I was 6 years old, so I grew up in a matriarchy. Everything was woman power. I tasted it, I lived it in my house. Women first, women above. 

Did you feel embraced by her? Empowered? 

We have to find a word other than “empowered.” What other word? 

Powerful? 

A powerful woman! A woman with power! A being with power. That’s it.

You stand out, among other things, for having helped many women in your career by recording with artists on the rise. Why have you done that? 

It has always felt good for me to do it. From my perspective, we are better together. If you look good, I will look better. If it’s good for you, it’s good for me too. That’s how I think, and especially when it comes to young, female artists. They go against many prejudices, and in an industry dominated by men it’s important for them to have another woman to support them. 

You opened doors that were closed. Was there a particularly difficult moment? I remember reading that when you were a teenager you were scolded by a TV host on-air. 

Yes. Just imagine the patriarchal system that we lived in, and that still exists. A girl who had just released her first song, her first album, with stars in her eyes, and suddenly they tell you, live: “You’re ordinary, you’re cheap, how can you wear that makeup?” If something like this happened to you now, you’d say: “Wow, there are millions [of women] behind me, and you stop right there.” But at that time there was a system that allowed everything, and everything was normalized. 

You are heavily involved in the production aspect of both music and video. Why? 

When I went solo, I became 100% involved in my videos, in the mix, in the composition. Remember, I lived for many years under the telenovela regime: “Stand here, stand there.” I was up to here with instructions. Now I’m the one calling the shots. And I know what my audience wants to see from me, and I have an inkling of what young people want. 

What advice do you give up-and-coming artists? 

To be themselves. Don’t be afraid of not fitting. It’s OK not to belong, because there is only one person like you on the planet. And we have this society where we’re constantly taught that you have to fit in the pack. I have news for you — you can be yourself and you will find your audience, and you will find your niche, and you will find your expression. 

What’s your mantra? 

I don’t know if it’s a mantra, but it’s faith. I believe that God is always giving me light. That is my gift. 

At the Academy Awards, Michelle Yeoh, at 60, accepted her Oscar for best actress and said: “Ladies, never let anyone tell you you’re past your prime.” What do you think of those words? 

One hundred percent! I believe that life is a constant evolution. Everyone is going to die, everyone is going to grow old, we are all going to depend on each other. That’s life. And if you go there, do all you can to enjoy the trip. Do everything that challenges you, do everything that gives you a vision, do everything that you fear. 

Are you in your prime? 

I am always in my prime! It’s a constant prime state of mind. 

Tickets to Billboard‘s Latin Women In Music can be purchased here.

This story is part of Billboard‘s Mujeres Latinas en la Música package.
When their baby, Índigo, turned 40 days old, new parents Evaluna Montaner de Echeverry and Camilo Echeverry packed their bags and embarked on their first tour as a family of three. “She fits in perfectly with this [tour] life, thank goodness,” says Evaluna proudly of her daughter, the superstar couple’s first child. 

It’s late March and the multifaceted artist — singer-songwriter, actress and director — is home in Miami after wrapping up the first leg of the couple’s ambitious De Adentro Pa’ Afuera world tour, which kicked off last year. “The crew became Índigo’s second family.” She adds, “It’s just so much fun to see her surrounded by many people that love her.” 

Evaluna, 25, and who goes by her first name only, grew up in a similar environment. Her father is prolific singer-songwriter Ricardo Montaner, her mother is director Marlene Rodríguez Miranda — who directs all of Ricardo’s music videos — and her brothers are recording artists Ricardo and Mauricio Montaner (known as the duo Mau y Ricky). 

While Evaluna’s name is often seen side by side with those of her famous husband, siblings and parents, she’s a powerhouse in her own right. With a distinctive soothing voice that has captured more than 4 million monthly listeners on Spotify and 4 million YouTube subscribers (as well as 21 million followers on Instagram), her ability to balance life as a Montaner (on- and offscreen), in addition to a marriage, a recording and directing career and now motherhood on the road, embodies a different kind of pop star: One that makes family part of her success. 

“It has been wonderful to grow up in the family that I’ve grown up in, where they are open to all of us following our dreams. Our dreams all happen to go hand in hand, and we’re able to work together.” 

That modeled her own relationship with Colombian star Camilo (who also goes by his first name), whom she married in February 2020. The pair collaborated on “Por Primera Vez,” “Machu Picchu” and “Índigo,” which peaked at No. 16 on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart and No. 26 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart. She has also directed all of Camilo’s music videos, following in the footsteps of her mother, who would take Evaluna to work with her while she was directing on set. “I’d be her AD [assistant director], and it would be great because she’d make me do a bunch of things although I was really young,” she remembers. “I felt I was being productive, and that really encouraged me to say, ‘I think I can do this too.’ I don’t know if I’ll be as good as her, but I can try.” Even after directing for three years now, Evaluna confesses she’ll still call her mom to ask: “Do you think this idea for a music video is cool or do you think this is going to be lame?” 

Aside from touring and directing, Evaluna’s music career (she’s managed by Jorge Ferradas at FPM Entertainment, who also manages Camilo) is “very much a priority.” Her latest single, “Refugio,” a sunny ballad released last year with a video (directed by her mom) with over 4 million YouTube views, is a preview of what’s to come. “I’m not one to release a whole bunch of songs and go single after single,” she explains. “I like taking my time and nurturing a song before releasing it. I’m getting closer to the stripped-down, raw sound I want to have for myself.” 

A few weeks after Billboard spoke with Evaluna, the family of three will pack up again and kick off the second leg of the tour in Central America and Mexico. “Having to wake up early after you’ve had a long night, that’s intense,” she says of touring with a baby in tow. 

Still, that doesn’t compare to the comments she was seeing online after giving birth, the less-talked-about side effect of having millions of eyes on you. “That was the hardest part,” Evaluna says. “They were saying that childbirth had ‘done a number on me.’ The only reason I’m sharing this is because I wouldn’t wish that upon anyone. I regret feeling for a moment that those people might be right. I regret it because my body is incredible. It has been doing some crazy things since the moment I got pregnant.” She then adds confidently, “I feel like I’ve really grown as a woman, being a mother to this beautiful girl. I can say that I’m the woman I always dreamed of becoming.”

Tickets to Billboard‘s Latin Women In Music can be purchased here.

This story is part of Billboard‘s Mujeres Latinas en la Música package.
Emilia has conquered millions of fans with an urban pop sound that’s both mischievous and sensual; a sweet, recognizable voice; and honest but playful lyrics. Since her debut as a solo artist in 2019, after a stint as a member of Uruguayan band Rombai, she has placed 18 songs on Argentina’s Billboard Hot 100 chart — most recently “En la Intimidad” with Big One and Callejero Fino, which in early April had spent seven weeks at No. 1. 

She has also placed two songs on Billboard’s Latin Pop Airplay chart: “Blessing” with Alex Rose at No. 13 and “No Soy Yo” with Darell at No. 38. And this year she performed at the Viña del Mar Festival, where she received golden and silver Gaviota awards. 

All that glamour began with a folk guitar. 

María Emilia Mernes Rueda (her full name) was about 6 when her grandfather — the only musical reference in her family — gave her the instrument so she could start taking music lessons. “Actually, he’s a plumber, but his hobby, his lifelong passion, has always been playing the guitar,” says the Argentine singer-songwriter, her eyes sparkling with pride. 

As for Emilia’s parents, her father was a baker and her mother a cook. Originally from Nogoyá, a farming town with a population of 45,000 in the Argentine province of Entre Ríos, she grew up admiring “megapowerful women,” from Rihanna and Beyoncé to Paulina Rubio and Thalia. 

“I would watch them on TV and I couldn’t believe it. I’d say: ‘I hope one day I can see myself like them!’ Because whenever I listened to them, they instilled a message of power and confidence in me,” she recalls from her home in Buenos Aires, where she now lives. 

That desire led her to form her own bands in her early teens. From cumbia covers she transitioned to rock and began playing shows in her city and its surroundings. 

Over the years, music continued to be an integral part of her life, but due to her circumstances she thought it couldn’t be more than a hobby. “I was like, ‘No. It is impossible to live from this. If I don’t have the financial resources I can’t travel to Buenos Aires, where everything happens.’ ” Instead, she moved to Rosario to study literature.

Her life took a radical turn only months later, when she started uploading videos of herself playing the guitar and singing covers to Instagram. They caught the attention of Rombai. At the time, the Uruguayan cumbia-pop band had gained popularity in South America and was looking for a new female vocalist. In a matter of days, Emilia was singing with them in front of 12,000 fans. 

Two years later, she decided it was time to take the next step and left the group to pursue her solo career. Whereas with Rombai she only got to sing songs written by her bandmates, she now started to write her own for the first time. “I had a lot of uncertainty, to be 100% honest. I didn’t know what kind of music I wanted to make, I didn’t know which side to face, I didn’t know who to work with,” she recalls. 

She headed to Miami to work on developing her own voice as a singer-songwriter. 

Some of the first people she shared with in the studio were Camilo and Farina, with whom she wrote the song “Recalienta.” “I said: ‘I think this is going to be the one with which I start my career.’ And it was beautiful,” she adds, also naming Sebastián Yatra and TINI as artists who didn’t hesitate to lend her a hand. 

Today, Emilia is still signed to a management deal with Walter Kolm (who was previously Rombai’s manager) and has a recording deal with Sony Music Latin. And she has forged a trusted “songwriting crew” that includes Elena Rose, FMK and Duki, with whom she worked for her 2022 debut album, the very personal tú crees en mí? 

For this year, she’s working on a “more conceptual” second album that will include her most recent single, “Jagger.mp3,” a funky, upbeat dance track in Spanish sprinkled with some English. 

In Argentina, her parents and grandfather “cannot believe” the success she has had. “My grandfather is very shocked. He recently went to one of my shows — he had never had the opportunity to see me — and I dedicated it to him that night. It was very emotional.” 

As for the guitar he gave her when she was a little girl, Emilia keeps it somewhere in her hometown: “I don’t know if I gave it to him or if it is at my house with my parents,” she says. “But I have it in Nogoyá.” 

Tickets to Billboard‘s Latin Women In Music can be purchased here.

This story is part of Billboard‘s Mujeres Latinas en la Música package.
In the last 12 months, Shakira has placed four songs at No. 1 on the Billboard Latin charts and has broken 14 Guinness World Records. She has also been celebrated with a retrospective exhibit at the Grammy Museum. 

Oh, and she has sparked something of a female revolution along the way. 

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The Colombian superstar turned one of the most difficult years of her life into an unprecedented return to Spanish-language music by opening her heart to teach us that it’s OK to be vulnerable, and even “cash in” when suffering from heartbreak. 

The latest winning streak by the artist — who was already the woman with the most top 10 hits on Hot Latin Songs (34), the most No. 1s on Latin Airplay (18) and the most entries on Latin Pop Airplay (50), among other milestones — began in April 2022 with “Te Felicito” with Rauw Alejandro. The song reached No. 1 on the Latin Airplay and the Latin Pop Airplay charts, the latter of which Shakira had not led since “Clandestino” with Maluma four years earlier. 

Then came the heartfelt bachata “Monotonía” with Ozuna, which peaked at No. 1 on Latin Airplay and spent six weeks atop the chart. 

Shakira finished off the trilogy in January with the forceful “Shakira: BZRP Music Sessions, Vol. 53” with Argentine DJ Bizarrap, in which she declared her new motto: “Women don’t cry anymore, they cash in.” The song earned her her first No. 1 on Hot Latin Songs since “Chantaje” with Maluma in 2016. 

The track also “cashed in” by breaking 14 Guinness World Records, including most played Latin song on Spotify in 24 hours (14.4 million) and most viewed video on YouTube in 24 hours (63 million). 

“What for me was a catharsis and a relief, I never thought would go straight to number one in the world at 45 years old, and in Spanish,” Shakira posted on social media, in Spanish. “I want to embrace the millions of women who stand up to those who make us feel insignificant… They are my inspiration,” she added. 

Shakira

Jaume de la Iguana

And just when it seemed like she had said it all, she made history again with “TQG” with Karol G. The collaboration — an explosive goodbye kiss for their respective exes — not only debuted at the top of Hot Latin Songs, but also earned both Colombian powerhouses their first No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts. 

Having back-to-back hits is nothing new for Shakira, who debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2001 with “Whenever, Wherever” and hit No. 1 in 2006 with “Hips Don’t Lie.” But being at the top of the global charts two decades later, singing in Spanish, reaffirms her place as a true superstar — one capable of transcending languages, generations and borders as very few can. 

“What for me was a catharsis and a relief, I never thought would go straight to number one in the world at 45 years old, and in Spanish”Shakira

And her influence and contributions go far beyond music. Shakira has been an advocate of education through her Fundación Pies Descalzos, which since 1997 has built and adapted nine public schools in Colombia that have benefited more than 152,000 children and their families. “It’s part of my mission,” she told Billboard nearly a decade ago, and she has kept it that way. 

In this inaugural edition of Latin Women in Music, the Woman of the Year — for her unprecedented past and current success — is, unquestionably, Shakira. 

Maluma, Bizarrap, Carlos Vives, Camilo and More on Shakira’s Staying Power

“Working with Shakira, I immediately realized exactly why she is such a powerhouse in our industry. She is phenomenally talented, hardworking, relentlessly detailed-oriented and always delivers musical excellence.” —Maluma, artist

“The importance of having a Shakira in our music industry as a Colombian, a woman, or an artist, is that she teaches us with her example that we can have our own voice; that difference coupled with excellence and delivery make a good combo.” —Goyo, artist 

“Shakira isn’t a powerhouse. Shakira invented powerhouse. She has the nerve and the talent. Everything else is ‘only’ a great capacity to work and give it all.” —Alejandro Sanz, artist 

“Shakira is a tireless warrior, megatalented and capable of getting up and reinventing herself every day. Nothing is impossible for her. Not in her profession, nor in her personal life.” —Afo Verde, chairman/CEO, Sony Music Latin Iberia 

“Shakira represents so many women so well that she deserves to be Woman of the Year. She’s like a force who has the power to protect [others] in times of difficulty. … I remember when we were doing the video for ‘La Bicicleta’ when I managed to break the protocol and we ended up roaming through the neighborhood and arriving at her school. At that moment I think she was like Shakira the pelaíta, the girl from Barranquilla. She ordered the director to ‘follow us already,’ and we started. And that moment is felt in the video.” —Carlos Vives, artist 

Shakira

Jaume de la Iguana

“I’ve worked with everyone. Whitney, Michael Jackson, and I’ve never experienced that [level of] detail. She conducts a session like she’s teaching! … This girl, she’s the definition of music.” —Will.i.am, artist-producer 

“I was proud to be a part of her growth from the beginning of her career, and she deserves everything she has achieved. Her great talent, her perseverance; she has always put her passion first to bring something new to music and her fans. [When I met her,] she didn’t speak any English, and I said, ‘We’re going to do the crossover with you.’ … Six months later, she went for an interview and she spoke English better than me.” —Emilio Estefan, producer-composer 

“What’s most impressive about Shakira, beyond what a multifaceted and talented force she is as an artist, is just how far-reaching her impact is … I remember my first trip to Colombia with her many years ago to inaugurate one of the new schools she built through her Pies Descalzos Foundation, I was so blown away to see and hear firsthand how knowledgeable, passionate and committed she was to providing universal access to quality education for all in her country, and how intolerant she was of achieving anything less. I saw then how her dogged perseverance is to thank for her level of success.” —Jaime Levine, manager 

“Working with her was a master class in my career. She’s an artist in every sense, a tireless worker, talented and kind. No. 1 without a doubt.” —Jorge Ferradas, founder of FPM Entertainment and former member of Shakira’s management team 

“Only wonderful things happen to people who are absolutely dedicated to the pursuit of excellence. Shakira is one of those people. … For me as an artist, and especially as a Colombian artist, having such a reference since I was very little pushed me to be the best version of myself. When I was able to meet her and sing with her, I was able to confirm that everything I thought and felt was true.” —Camilo, artist 

“Collaborating with Shakira this year was an incredible experience for me, from which I learned a lot. We worked a lot on this song [‘BZRP Music Sessions, Vol. 53’], right up to the last minute! I thought I was detailed until I met Shakira.” —Bizarrap, DJ-producer 

“I know Shakira the artist, and it is no secret to anyone that she is incredible. But I also know Shakira the mom, and this version of her is at another level. The way she loves and gives her life for her two children is admirable. Seeing how she enjoys her children, how she talks about them with such pride, how she takes them into account for everything, makes me admire her more.” —Keityn, artist-composer 

Tickets to Billboard‘s Latin Women In Music can be purchased here.

This story is part of Billboard‘s Mujeres Latinas en la Música package.
Karol G’s Mañana Será Bonito made history when it debuted at No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart dated March 5. Previously, only two all-Spanish albums led the list, both by Bad Bunny (Un Verano Sin Ti in 2022 and El Último Tour del Mundo in 2020). 

To some, the landmark moment symbolizes a turning point for women in Latin music and beyond. 

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The reality is that when you zoom out of that one history-making feat and look at the bigger picture, women artists (from singers to songwriters and producers) are still underrepresented in Latin music; they’re not streamed as much as men are, and they’re still not having major impact on the charts — artists such as Karol G and Selena notwithstanding. 

Two of the top five Latin albums of 2021 were by women (according to Billboard and MRC Data’s year-end report), only one of those, Karol G’s KG0516, was a new album. The other was Selena’s Ones, a chart mainstay. 

Karol G is also one of only two women who’ve had No. 1 releases on the Top Latin Albums chart between 2020 and 2023: Karol G, with KG0516 (2021) and Mañana Será Bonito (2023), and Selena Gomez, with Revelación (2021). Not a single woman placed a No. 1 album on the chart in 2020 or 2022. So far, men have placed 18 No. 1 albums in the past three years. 

Men outpacing women reflects what we’ve seen since the 1990s, around when the chart was launched. For example, from 2000 to 2009, 23 albums by women peaked at No. 1 on the chart, compared with 123 by men. From 2010 to 2017, just 19 women-led projects, compared with 150 albums by men, ruled the chart. They included the late Jenni Rivera, with six No.1 albums, Thalía with three and Shakira with two. Women did not place a No. 1 album in 2018 or 2019. 

On Hot Latin Songs, the story is similar. In the early 1990s and 2000s, women were scoring more No. 1s. But then there was a shift. From 2010 to 2019 — when reggaetón, a genre led by mostly men, dominated streaming and radio airplay — only 14 No. 1s were by women artists. In that same period, men placed nearly 80 No. 1 songs. 

So far, in the 2020s, men have placed 16 No. 1s on the chart, compared with just eight for women. 

They include Shakira and Bizarrap’s head-turning “BZRP Music Sessions, Vol. 53,” the first Spanish-language song by a woman to debut in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. That track, in turn, was followed by “TQG” by Shakira and Karol G, which peaked at No. 7, making it two in quick succession. 

So far, in the 2020s, men have placed 16 No. 1s on the Hot Latin songs chart, compared with just eight for women, according to Luminate numbers.

While it is a notable milestone, it also speaks to the lack of women-led tracks on the Hot 100; men have placed 15 No. 1s between 2020 and 2023 thus far. 

Elsewhere, only two women have reached No. 1 on the Latin Songwriters chart: Mexican music up-and-comer Yahritza Martinez (of Yahritza y Su Esencia) and Karol G. And not a single woman has appeared on the Top Latin Producers chart, which ranks the top 10 producers of the week. Both charts were launched in 2019. 

It’s hard to pinpoint why the numbers for women simply aren’t there, but “limited opportunities are definitely part [of the issue],” says Alexandra Lioutikoff, president of Latin America and U.S. Latin at Universal Music Publishing Group. “I think men tend to bring their friends — usually other men — into writing rooms without really thinking twice about it. It’s changing, but it’s going to take more time.” 

The numbers also reflect what is happening outside the United States; more specifically, how women artists are performing in Latin America. According to Luminate data from eight Latin American countries, women make up 23% of the top 100 artists overall in Latin America by total audio and video streams. Men make up 70%. Five percent is mixed (a group made up of women and men), and 2% is null (unable to pull gender makeup). In streaming, based on the top 100 artists, women don’t compare to men. For example, in Colombia, men comprise 79.6% of the streams and women 11.7%. (All data is based on the week ending Feb. 23.) 

The root of the issue is a bit more systemic, says Grammy- and Latin Grammy-winning producer-composer Claudia Brant. If there’s to be any significant change for women representation, it needs to start from the top. “There’s a disconnect when it comes to labels hiring women producers or doing songwriting camps that are all women. It’s always a mix. In most cases it’s 10 men and a woman. That also affects the language that is being used in a song, hence why women are still objects.” 

Brant adds that she hopes more women take more risks to stand out and defy structural or industry expectations. “Rosalía, I don’t know what planet she’s from; she has her own ideas and her own point of view and her own style of producing and writing. She blows everyone’s mind because she doesn’t care, she does whatever she wants.” 

“There’s a disconnect when it comes to labels hiring women producers or doing songwriting camps that are all women. It’s always a mix. In most cases it’s 10 men and a woman. That also affects the language that is being used in a song, hence why women are still objects.” Claudia Brant, songwriter

The Spanish star — who this year became Billboard’s first Women in Music producer of the year honoree — previously expressed to Billboard why producing was a way to gain creative control of her artistry. “I realized that I wanted to decide what I was going to sing. I also wanted to decide what I was going to say and how it would sound,” Rosalía said. “I became a songwriter and producer because I cared way too much.” 

There are organizations that are taking matters into their own hands to advance the representation of women on the charts and beyond. She Is the Music and We Are Moving the Needle focus on mentorship, networking and providing scholarships for women who are in the early stages of their careers. 

“We have the largest global database of female creatives and executives in music,” says Lioutikoff, who is the co-chair of the Latin committee for She Is the Music. “It’s not only placing women in their first jobs in the industry, but also providing one-on-one opportunities for women to learn about the business, whether on the executive or creative side.” 

Brant, who’s part of the Latin Recording Academy’s mentorship program, says that it’s all about telling women that nothing is impossible. “We have to make them understand that it’s doable, that they have to go for their dreams and make them a reality.” 

Tickets to Billboard‘s Latin Women In Music can be purchased here.