Shakira

I remember the first time I saw the 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' video. I will never forget that day. I just wanted to see Kurt Cobain's face. I had a feeling he was very cute. But, I couldn't see his face. When I finally did see him, he was even cuter than I imagined!

The worst frustration for a singer is choosing a career in making music and then not being able to make music because you're always giving interviews.

I love reading about history. Sometimes, I feel I was born in the wrong era. There was more creativity in the air when people were still discovering new worlds.

I'm lucky to have family around me. Otherwise, I'll be taking the risk of falling in love with myself.

Videos come definitely after the music has been created, but I have always felt, and especially today, that videos are vital in the album process. I think that we live in a very visual era, and if you make a mistake with a video, those images will accompany the song forever.

I know what I'm doing even when I'm wearing a pencil skirt.

I was five years old; I got addicted to being on stage. I felt like it was the most wonderful place on Earth, performing in front of an audience, who in this case were a bunch of classmates, kids my age.

At the age of eight, I discovered that I could write songs. My dad used to take them to the notary and register them so that nobody could steal them from me.

The music industry is dominated by guys. I work with men 98 percent of the time - producers, arrangers, musicians, engineers.

I feel a real sense of duty to use the voice and the platform I've been afforded by my fame to speak out for those whose voices don't get a chance to be heard.

I started the Pies Descalzos foundation in Colombia when I was 18, and since then I have been very involved in the crusade for education.

We need to provide higher quality and innovative early childhood development programs all throughout Latin America.

The Summit of the Americas is an excellent platform to raise awareness and secure commitments from heads of state and different sector leaders regarding Early Childhood Development.

Providing all Latin-American children with the education and early childhood development that they need is in the best interest of all, so it has to be a priority for all of us, not only the government and civil society, but also the business sector.

I did not want to spend the rest of my life not being able to ride in a nice car.

I feel comfortable in my pop shoes. They let me walk in any direction. I like to go from one extreme to the other. One day I feel that I want to do a song with reggaeton influence, I do it. The next day I feel I need to do a song with rock elements to it, I do it.

Guys don't like women telling them what to do. It reminds them of their mothers, or something like that.

In 2006 I was asked to sing at the World Cup in Germany, and in 2010 I was fortunate enough to be asked again.

The thing is, my dad's always been more of a bookworm; he was interested in more intellectual pursuits, but nobody can escape the passion that football stirs.

What happens is once you start to understand football, you realise that it's not just about the physical side of the game and chasing after a ball. It's a strategic sport which requires a lot of intelligence. It's a very mental game.

I'm convinced that promoting sport is an intelligent way of educating our children.

I thank God that I'm a product of my parents. That they infected me with their intelligence and energy for life, with their thirst for knowledge and their love. I'm grateful that I know where I come from.

My dad is a writer, and to see him always in front of a typewriter gave me the inspiration to write. He was my idol, my hero. I wanted to be just like him.

Always I was dreaming of a record contract. From 10 to 13, it was all I could think of. I worked hard for this dream. Nobody could say I didn't try.

I like fragrances that have some sweetness to them. All three I have developed have that as a common element.

'Elixir' means magical potion, so I wanted to depict the kind of bottle that was used in ancient times, but that looked modern and chic as well. I also wanted it to have a golden tint to evoke the memories of sands and sunsets.

I know that youngsters want to find something in common with each other and feel closer to each other ideologically through bridges such as the Internet.

I never thought it was fair for an 8-year-old child not to be able to afford shoes, or to wander the streets having to beg for money. To know that child's joy would end soon, when they realised there was no future.

I just want to grow old with a man who takes care of me, and I want to eventually have kids and want them to be good children to me. Just want to be treated nice and have respect.

I always knew that I was tremendously creative. I recited love poems, I wrote stories and I got excellent grades in every subject, except for maths.

The truth is that I'm more afraid of marriage than of death.

In the full light of day, I don't want to think about the sunset.

It's incredibly liberating to spend an hour talking to someone and not caring about what you sound like. It's about understanding myself. Sometimes I'll speak to my therapist for an hour a day. It's become part of my routine.

In their 20s, women try to be somebody they're not and try to turn themselves into something different. Now I'm in my 30s; I'm very happy with who I am.

My therapist taught me why I behave in certain ways and not to feel so pressured.

I feel like there is a part of me that represents a minority in the U.S., a minority around the world. People who struggle, people who want to succeed with drive and ambition.

I can take the spotlight that shines on me and shift it towards those issues that are infinitely more important than my own issues.

I'm barefoot whenever I can be.

I love food, and I'm a chronic over-orderer at restaurants.

Gerard is just like me, but two meters tall. We're very alike; it's not for nothing that we were born on the same day, it's just that he was born 10 years later... he's a happy guy, healthy here, in the head.

It's very difficult to think that you're with someone that you know, and all of a sudden you don't know them: it turns out that they betray you. It's painful, but it's best to turn the page.

I feel like I'm not on Earth just to shake it and shake it endlessly, you know?

Being raised in a developing country opened my eyes to so much I cannot tolerate. In Colombia, education is sometimes considered a luxury, not a human right. And it's not a priority in the agendas of many leaders.

We've built six schools in Colombia and do work in South Africa and Haiti. We teach 5,000 students.

I was a real mummy's girl - still am. And as for my father, well, I have an Oedipus complex I'm still working out. I love that man!

I tried to give my career a shot from Barranquilla, but the musicians would never show up. It was just not taken seriously.

When you have a baby, when you feel his love, you feel so at peace with the world. You just want to share the good news and share how happy you feel.

I have so many people out there that celebrate with me when they know that I'm happy. And they hate it when they know that I'm suffering because someone has hurt me.

I would love to have eight or nine kids with Gerard - my own futbol team.

I have gone through a lot of things, everything that you can imagine in life, but the best has been Gerard and Milan.