14 DAY TRIAL // Shakira and her hips took the season finale of America’s Got Talent by storm with what is being described as one of the most incendiary performances on modern television. The Latino sensation performed “She Wolf,” the first single off the album with the same name that will drop on October 13, and suffice it to say it was one memorable performance.
Dressed in a cut-out, black leotard and balancing herself on very high heels, Shakira recreated the dance sequence from the video of the single, minus the cage and with more body waves. The reaction of the public was, as expected, amazing, with the singer literally having the audience eating out of the palm of her hand as she wiggled her hips and undulated her body in ways even a contortionist would probably envy.
There was a downside to the performance, though, as several reports in the media have it that, for once, Shakira went the Britney Spears way and lip-synched for the entire duration of the performance. The dance routine, they say, was not complex enough to serve as an excuse for not singing live and, for what it's worth, Shakira has been known to do even more challenging moves and still managed to not compromise herself by lip-synching.
The only plausible explanation at this point seems to be that she might have had some sort of problem with her voice, but, given that at least she gave it all she had to dancing, fans are not that upset, judging by their reaction on dedicated forums. As Nick Cannon also promised in the brief introduction, Shakira not only brought down the house with “She Wolf,” but she also made it so that the atmosphere got “really hot.”
“Really, Shakira has taken the art of body-contorting to new (somewhat unsettling) highs in ‘She Wolf.’ She herks and jerks, folds herself in half, torques vertebrae, lifts legs over her head, pops her shoulders in and out of their sockets, hangs upside down, nearly topples over... the list goes on and on. She out-dances everyone in the business, and even manages to out-Beyoncé Beyoncé.” MTV was saying upon the release of the official video for “She Wolf.” The same goes for her performance on America’s Got Talent – video of it included below. Enjoy.