The pop icon just proved that a bikini, a bay, and a bit of sunshine are all it takes to get an entire comments section talking at once.
Shakira, 49, spent part of this week soaking up the sun on the water in Miami Beach, Florida, wearing a red fringe bikini that showed off her famous curves.
The outing landed days before her tour picks back up and just ahead of a worldwide stage that has just added a brand new artist, but people couldn’t stop commenting on her face.
Many netizens thought Shakira’s face looked different in her recent outing in a bikini. | Source: Instagram/tmztv
A Red Bikini and a Dip in the Bay
Shakira spent an afternoon on the dock outside her Miami home, and the photos, released on July 7, 2026, show exactly why fans can’t stop talking about her. The Colombian singer wore an all-red look, with a fringed bikini top and bottom paired with a matching short skirt.
She topped off the outfit with a pair of polarized sunglasses before wading into the bay for a swim. Once she climbed back out, she grabbed a hose to rinse off, chatting with someone off-camera the entire time.
But many others online simply focused on her body and how natural she looks at 49. | Source: Instagram/tmztv
Fans Weigh In on Her Look
The comments section did what comments sections do, and split almost immediately. Plenty of people showed up simply to gush over how she looked at 49.
“A beautiful woman with a beautiful body and soul. 🤩🤩🤩 The best of all celebrities.🥰🥰🥰 She has such a gorgeous body and face at the age of 49 without a single plastic surgery.🔥🔥🔥🔥🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩” one person wrote on Instagram, while another kept it simple:
“Very beautiful for her age 😍.”
A third added, “She looks amazing.” But under the bikini photos themselves, the conversation took a different turn. “Those hips don’t lie ❤️,” one commenter wrote, echoing her own lyrics, while another admitted, “Ok she’s pretty but I think she’s touching her face a lot😳.”
From there, the debate picked up steam. “She looks different in the face,” one person observed, and another went further, “She’s starting to look a little plastic. She’s so gorgeous without cosmetic procedures.”
Someone else mourned the change outright, “Nooooo…..she got fillers…she was so beautiful before,” while another pointed to the photos themselves as the culprit: “Without all the filters and Photoshop, yeah…. she looks different 😳😬.”
Not everyone agreed with that read. “She looks super good for her age 🔥 and it’s worth noting that it’s a natural body,” one fan countered.
Over on Facebook, the tone shifted back to pure praise. “Body goalsssss [sic],” one commenter wrote under the reel, and another simply said, “Always she looks gorgeous!”
A Halftime Slot 20 Years in the Making
While fans debated her look online, Shakira has had bigger things on her mind, namely, the biggest stage of her career: the World Cup. The photos came out just before Colombia faced Switzerland in the round of 16, a match that ended in a heartbreaking elimination for the South American team.
Argentina is now the only Latin American country left standing in the tournament. Meanwhile, the singer’s connection to this event goes back two decades, and she has said it changed the course of her life.
Although “Hips Don’t Lie” was a huge hit and she performed a remix at the 2006 closing ceremony, it wasn’t an official World Cup song. Shakira sang her first, “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa),” at the 2010 tournament.
This happened to be the same event where she met her former partner, retired Spanish soccer player Gerard Piqué. The two went on to have sons Milan, now 13, and Sasha, 11, before splitting in recent years amid his alleged infidelity.
During a recent interview for People at a Manhattan studio, the singer reflected on everything she has weathered. She said, “I always thought that I was more fragile or weaker than what life proved me to be.”
She credits that stretch of her life with teaching her something she now repeats often. “Behind every experience in life, there’s always a lesson, and we have to be grateful for all those lessons, even for the people that leave you with scars,” she said, “because they just make us better.”
In the decades since her debut, Shakira has sold more than 95 million records worldwide, making her the bestselling female Latin artist of all time, while helping pave the way for stars like Bad Bunny and Karol G.
“I had to really fight for my dreams,” she said. Looking back on her younger self, she added, “I would say to that girl back in her 20s to enjoy more, to believe in herself more. I think women, as time goes by, we just acquire this new confidence. Even though we don’t look as perfect as in our 20s, it’s beautiful to just be yourself and accept who you are.”
Now she is preparing to co-headline the first-ever FIFA World Cup Final halftime show, a milestone that arrives alongside her new single with Nigerian singer Burna Boy, “Dai Dai,” the tournament’s official song. She is donating all of her royalties from the track to the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund.
She has described her bond with the tournament as something that runs deeper than any one performance. “I have this connection with [soccer] that seems unbreakable,” she said, adding that this year’s show carries extra weight given the state of the world.
“Every World Cup is really magical, and I think this one is going to be all about bringing people together in this very sensitive moment in time, socially and politically.”
Her sons will be along for the ride too. Shakira kicked off the U.S. leg of her tour on June 13, with Milan and Sasha in tow, and she has shown no signs of slowing down. “You know what’s strange? I’ve done this professionally 30 years already,” she said, “and it feels to me like I’m just starting.”
Five Artists, One Stage, One World Cup Final
The halftime show itself is shaping up to be unlike anything the tournament has done before. On July 8, 2026, FIFA and Global Citizen confirmed that Justin Bieber will join Shakira, Madonna and BTS as co-headliners for the 11-minute performance at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on July 19.
Burna Boy, Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel, and the Webby Award-winning PS 22 Chorus featuring Coldplay will also take part, with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin curating the entire show.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino tied the lineup back to the tournament’s broader mission, noting that the performance would help fund education and football access for children around the world.
Speaking on “The Capital Evening Show with Jimmy Hill” the day after the announcement, Shakira admitted she is still figuring out exactly how the moment will come together.
“I played at the inauguration, and now I’m playing at the final,” she said in the interview. “I’ve got to wrap my head around it, make it a little different from what I did at the inauguration.”
She also made clear that this will be a group effort rather than a solo spotlight. “It’s going to be a shared halftime show,” she said. “It’s going to be pretty historic, five amazing artists. Well, four amazing artists plus me.” She added that she is hoping Martin steps out from behind the scenes for at least part of it.
But even the singer, who has spent three decades on some of the world’s biggest stages, sounds genuinely unsure of what July 19 will look like. “We’ll all get together and we’ll all figure it out how it’s gonna be, but I’m really curious,” she said. “I’m as curious as you are right now!”
Between the bikini photos, the fan debate, and a World Cup Final performance still coming together behind the scenes, Shakira has managed to stay the center of attention in more ways than one this week.
