{"id":495820,"date":"2026-06-12T09:59:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T09:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/495820\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T09:59:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T09:59:13","slug":"shakira-in-yellow-wows-crowds-at-world-cup-opening-ceremony-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/495820\/","title":{"rendered":"Shakira in yellow wows crowds at World Cup opening ceremony \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shakira<\/a> and Burna Boy were among the stars who performed at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City for the 2026 Fifa World Cup<\/a> opening ceremony.<\/p>\n

The Colombian<\/a> singer-songwriter wowed crowds in a vibrant ensemble consisting of a yellow top and matching fishnet gloves, a white skirt and colourful trainers as she took to the stage.<\/p>\n

The chart-topper was joined by a host of back-up dancers as she sung along to her new track Dai Dai, and was joined by Burna Boy for the high-energy performance.<\/p>\n

The Nigerian<\/a> singer-songwriter emerged among a crowd of dancers, wearing a light wash double-denim ensemble, a white T-shirt and aviator sunglasses as he enthusiastically sang along to the track.<\/p>\n

The performance was among the celebrations to mark the start of the eagerly anticipated football competition \u2013 which kicked off on Thursday evening with a match between Mexico and South Africa.<\/p>\n

\"ShakiraShakira and Burna Boy perform during the opening ceremony. Photo: Carl De Souza\/AFP\/Getty \"ShakiraShakira performed her new song Dai Dai. Photo: Rodrigo Oropeza\/AFP\/Getty \"TheThe World Cup kicked off on Thursday evening with a match between Mexico and South Africa. Photo: Nick Potts\/PA <\/p>\n

Other stars who took to the stage at the opening ceremony included Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli<\/a> and South Korean singer EJAE, who performed a rendition of their song DNA.<\/p>\n

Opera singer Bocelli posted to Instagram shortly after the event and hailed the experience as \u201cunforgettable\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cGrateful to have been invited to be part of a moment where music and football brought people together through a shared language that transcends borders, cultures, and generations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ShakiraShakira and Burna Boy embrace after the performance. Photo: Ryan Pierse\/Fifa\/Getty <\/p>\n

EJAE, who is known for her role in fictional girl group Huntr\/x from the Netflix film KPop Demon Hunters, posted a behind-the-scenes video embracing Bocelli after the performance.<\/p>\n

Over the video, which was shared to her Instagram story, she wrote: \u201cCan\u2019t believe that just happened!! Such a huge honour.\u201d – PA<\/p>\n

[\u00a0World Cup 2026, Day 1: I stayed up all night so you didn\u2019t have toOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shakira and Burna Boy were among the stars who performed at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[18833,9151,61,60,2628,21913,112,4018],"class_list":["post-495820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-andrea-bocelli","tag-colombia","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mexico","tag-nigeria","tag-sports","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}