Carlos Vives Teams Up With Shakira for New Song ‘La Bicicleta’: Exclusive
Shakira has teamed up with fellow Colombian superstar Carlos Vives for "La bicicleta" (The Bicycle). The track, a catchy, danceable mix of vallenato, pop and reggaetón was written by Vives and…
Shakira has teamed up with fellow Colombian superstar Carlos Vives for the new song “La Bicicleta” (The Bicycle), Billboard has learned.
The track — a catchy, danceable mix of vallenato, pop and reggaetón — was written by Vives and Shakira and will be released globally to radio June 20 and the next day to digital and streaming services. It will be included in Vives’ upcoming fall album Vives. Both artists are signed to Sony.
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“I’ve always dreamt of writing, producing and recording a song with Shakira so that together we can show our Colombia to the world,” Vives says. “She has taken our country’s music to unimaginable heights, and finally being able to collaborate with her is a realization of this dream.”
“La Bicicleta” kicks off with a sensual solo played by an indigenous Colombian wind instrument (sources say it’s called a flauta de millo) before giving way to a sultry cumbia/reggaetón beat. “La Bicicleta” marks the first time ever that Shakira has recorded with another Colombian star, but the track’s significance goes beyond that.
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Both Shakira and Vives are from Colombia’s Caribbean Coast: she from Barranquilla, he from Santa Marta — cities less than an hour’s drive from each other. The two have known each other for many years, share common social concerns and even performed together in a 2008 Concert for Peace on the Colombian border. But actually recording together only became a possibility in the past year, once Vives returned to the public spotlight after nearly a decade away from recording commercially.
A video is set to be shot in the coming weeks in Colombia.