Kalasuara -

Shakira's costume for the 2026 World Cup final halftime show appeared on screen for only about two minutes, but it took more than 120 hours to build. Workers hand-set over 200,000 Swarovski crystals across more than two weeks before the Colombian singer took the stage at New York New Jersey Stadium in East Rutherford on July 19, 2026. The piece was designed by Roberto Cavalli under creative director Fausto Puglisi, and drew attention on its own once the details of its construction became public.

The halftime show ran 11 minutes and was the first in World Cup final history, according to FIFA. Shakira and Burna Boy performed "Dai Dai," the official song of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The Associated Press noted the song had played before all 104 matches of the tournament. The same broadcast also featured Madonna, BTS, Justin Bieber, Gustavo Dudamel, Coldplay and the PS22 Chorus.

Why is the costume's color palette inspired by Mexico City?

The costume's bright pink, yellow and orange weren't chosen just to stand out in the stadium. Puglisi traced the palette to a corner of the La Condesa neighborhood in Mexico City, the World Cup 2026 host city.

"I've always been obsessed with the energy of Miami Beach and Mexico City. There's a corner in La Condesa that blends bright pink, bright yellow and sunset orange," Puglisi said.

Shakira herself proposed the sunset tones as the design's starting point. The result, an open-bodice piece with a long fringed skirt, carried a Latin American visual thread onto a final held in the United States. Shakira performed barefoot, a choice that supported her hip movement and choreography.

Two minutes on stage, two weeks of handwork

The Associated Press noted that each headline performer got about two minutes out of the show's 11-minute total. The gap between that brief stage time and the more than two weeks it took to build the costume shows the scale of production behind a short appearance: 200,000 crystals and 120 hours of hand-setting for a moment that lasted minutes on screen.

Two decades of Shakira at the World Cup

This wasn't Shakira's first World Cup appearance. She performed "Hips Don't Lie" at the 2006 closing ceremony, "Waka Waka" in 2010, and "La La La" in 2014. Working with Roberto Cavalli again, the house that also dressed her in 2010, gave the string of performances a stylistic thread.

"The World Cup has been part of my journey for a long time, so being invited to perform in the first halftime show in its history is incredibly meaningful," Shakira said.

She also said the performance brought together two parts of her life. "Since I was 18, I've spent my entire life doing two things: making songs and building schools. So, finally, during this (FIFA) World Cup, those two paths meet, come together, and I'm very excited," said Shakira, who sits on the advisory council of the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund.

The show was curated by Coldplay co-founder Chris Martin and produced by Global Citizen with Live Nation and Done + Dusted.

The education fund behind the show

FIFA directs $1 from every World Cup 2026 ticket sold to the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund. Ahead of the final, the fund had raised more than $50 million toward its initial $100 million target, meant to expand access to education and soccer opportunities for children.

Justin Bieber, another performer on the same stage, tied his appearance directly to that goal. "The FIFA World Cup brings the world together in a way nothing else can. I'm grateful to be part of this Halftime Show, and even more grateful knowing it's already helping expand access to education for children around the world," he said.

The fund's final total, disbursement reports to recipient countries, and FIFA's decision on whether to keep a halftime show at future World Cup finals will determine whether the 11-minute format becomes a fixture of the tournament or stays a one-off experiment.