Shakira was actually paying homage to her Arabic roots with her Super Bowl “tongue meme”
On Sunday night, February 2nd, Shakira and Jennifer Lopez absolutely slayed during the Super Bowl LIV Pepsi Halftime show. There were so many good moments that made the rounds on Twitter—J.Lo’s daughter Emme joining in on the performance and surprise cameos from J Balvin and Bad Bunny, to name just a few. However, one specific moment was meme-ified when it probably shouldn’t have been. Shakira paid homage to her Arabic roots with a “Zaghrouta” celebration (a shouting and tongue-flicking motion), and it instantly became Twitter’s favorite joke of the week. And some are now arguing that we should wrap this meme up in order to save face and not be offensive.
Shakira, for those of you who aren’t aware, is part Lebanese, and to show appreciation for her Arabic roots, she worked the Zaghrouta into her halftime set during “Hips Don’t Lie.” The Zaghrouta is commonly done at weddings, parties, and other Arabic celebrations, according to ArabAmerica.com. It’s basically a culturally-significant way of saying “Woo! I’m having fun and expressing joy!”
The celebratory noise is also connected to the “Son de Negros” dance that takes place at the Carnaval de Barranquilla in Barranquilla, Colombia, where Shakira is originally from.
Not everyone immediately made this connection, though, which resulted in tweets like these:
If I ain’t seen anything ever that’s more meme-worthy, I give you Shakira tongue lol pic.twitter.com/6HcOGBa7Mx
— Neek✊🏽 (@Sarcastic_asset) February 3, 2020
When she ask me what that tongue do #Shakira pic.twitter.com/jmGjvgF6Nm
— yuyu (@ifrequentlyROFL) February 3, 2020
Therefore, those who know a thing or two about Shakira’s heritage/the Zaghrouta had to fill in the blanks.
"I hate to disappoint but Shakira’s tongue expression is called zaghrouta, a way to express joy in Arab culture," one Twitter user explained. "It also [alludes] to the dance “Son de Negros at the “Carnaval de Barranquilla where she is from in Colombia."
I hate to disappoint but Shakira’s tongue expression is called zaghrouta, a way to express joy in Arab culture. It also aludes to the dance “Son de Negros” at the “Carnaval de Barranquilla” where she is from in Colombia. Now you can go back to whatever interpretation you like 🤭 https://t.co/al54ohDTQA
— Paulina Restrepo-Echavarria (@paures12) February 3, 2020
Shakira sticking her tongue out wasn't a random bullshit.
It's a gesture that is made in the The Carnival of Barranquilla, which is one of the biggest carnival in the world and declared it one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
So STFU pic.twitter.com/uftynTQmxa— Yisel ⎊✪𐋀४🇨🇴 (@SalchiGomez23) February 3, 2020
Shakira is part Lebanese. Her “tongue-flicking” is something she has done for years at her concerts. One of her most famous songs features her singing in Arabic. Just cause the rest of the world is getting that moment wrong doesn’t mean you should too.
— Meesh (@meeshsparks) February 3, 2020
It's not called #shakiratongue. It's called Zaghrouta and this is how its properly done. pic.twitter.com/E7X7fWd46I
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) February 3, 2020
And when Shakira busted out her bellydancing moves during the halftime show, that was also a tribute to her Arabic roots. The beat switched up during “Ojos Así,” which she performed in both Spanish and Arabic, and changed to a traditional Arabic bellydancing rhythm.
Therefore, having put all the pieces together, the Zaghrouta wasn’t random at all.
Now that we know the significance behind the hashtag #ShakiraTongue, we should probably agree to stop meme-ifying it. Instead, let’s celebrate it and call it what it is—that’s what the Zaghrouta is used for, after all!
