The title "Hips Don't Lie" comes from Shakira's in-studio mantra about how her band members need to watch her hips to determine where a song they're working on needs to go - if they're not moving, something is wrong. "I would tell them, 'Listen, hips don't lie. If they're not moving, this isn't working. If they shake, we're in good shape,'" she said.
Shakira then took her private joke with the band and put it in the context of the song, which is about "a woman dancing, her seductive powers through dance."
Wyclef Jean does the rap. He based it on his song "Dance Like This," which he recorded with Claudette Ortiz for the Dirty Dancing (Havana Nights) soundtrack in 2004. Jean explained to Live Daily why he remade it with Shakira: "God works in mysterious ways. I had to do a record for Shakira. They wanted me to remix 'La Tortura.' I was like, 'No. I have this record that I really think if Shakira comes in with me and we redo it, I really think it'll work.' I think it just missed in 2004 because it wasn't promoted right and probably the right artist wasn't on the record. I guess my instincts were right."
The intro comes from the song "Amores Como El Nuestro" by Jerry Rivera. The trumpet flourish was taken from the song "Deja Vu (Uptown Baby)" by Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz.
A "Fan-Only" version of the video comprised of amateur footage of various fans dancing and singing to the song made the rounds on Yahoo Videos and other streaming platforms soon after the song was released in 2006. It eventually
made its way to YouTube, igniting a trend of fan-made videos.
The costumes and characters in the video were inspired by the Barranquilla Carnival, a major celebration in Spain. British director Sophie Muller, who helmed the clip, is known for her collaborations with Gwen Stefani, Sarah McLachlan, Annie Lennox, and many others.
Wyclef's line, "Back like when Pac carried crates for Humpty Hump" refers to when Tupac Shakur was starting out his rap career as a member of Digital Underground and was mentored by their leader, Shock G, who was also known as "Humpty Hump."
According to Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, this song was the most-played pop song in a single week in American radio history. It was played 9,637 times in the week ending June 2, 2006, eclipsing the previous record held by Gwen Stefani's "
Hollaback Girl" of 9,582 plays in a week.
"Hips Don't Lie" topped the charts in most countries and was the most successful song of 2006 worldwide. The only major nation where the song didn't reach a Top 20 position was Sweden, where it peaked at #45.
This was the top-selling single in the world during the 2000s. Runner-up was "
Crazy In Love" by Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z, followed by the Black Eyed Peas' "
My Humps."
The song was used on the TV series Ugly Betty in the 2006 episode "Queen For A Day," and in Silicon Valley in the 2014 episode "Optimal Tip-To-Tip Efficiency." It was also featured in the 2008 romantic comedy 27 Dresses.
"Hips Don't Lie" earned Shakira and Wyclef Jean a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals in 2007. They lost to Tony Bennett and Stevie Wonder for their duet "
For Once In My Life."
This is the song that elevated Shakira to superstar status in America and other English-speaking countries. She was already a big star in most Spanish-speaking countries (especially her native Colombia) when she released her first English-language album,
Laundry Service, in 2001, with the hit "
Whenever, Wherever." "Hips Don't Lie" was part of her 2006 album
Oral Fixation Vol. 2. The song became her only #1 hit in America, entrenching her on the A-list there. A year later she teamed with Beyoncé on "
Beautiful Liar."
Shakira sang this at halftime of the 2020 Super Bowl between the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs. Doing away with acts like Maroon 5 and Coldplay, the NFL injected some Latin flavor into the show by having Shakira and Jennifer Lopez to perform.
"Hips Don't Lie" wasn't even supposed to be on Oral Fixation Vol. 2. Shakira had a dream about Wyclef Jean and the next day her manager coincidentally called saying Wyclef wanted to collaborate. She fought to pull already-distributed albums from stores so they could repackage them with the new track.
