Shakira's Super Bowl 'tongue meme' is actually a traditional Arabic celebration

The internet seems confused by Shakira's Zaghrouta celebration during her halftime show performance

Shakira's Zaghrouta celebration has caused quite a stir on social media. 

The Super Bowl halftime show is a career-defining moment for many entertainers, and 2020 was the turn of Shakira and Jennifer Lopez.

As expected, the stars used Sunday's show to champion their Latino roots, but Shakira, who is part-Lebanese, also paid homage to her Arabic background in what has now become a viral meme.

During Hips Don't Lie, Shakira included a Zaghrouta celebration, a special sound made in many Arabic countries to mark times of joy or great celebration. It involves a high-pitched tongue trill that usually takes some training, and is most often used at weddings or engagements, or to mark other big celebrations.

Clips of Shakira’s animated Zaghrouta have gone viral overnight. “Alright Shakira I really need to know what that tongue thing was,” read one tweet, while another said, “Honestly that Shakira tongue thing was the highlight of the Super Bowl.”

While many were quick to make jokes, others pointed out that it was a common celebration is Arabic countries as well as many other cultures around the globe.

Shakira was born and raised in Colombia after her paternal grandparents emigrated from Lebanon to the US. The name Shakira is Arabic for “grateful”, and the star has been incorporating Arabic tradition into her performances throughout her career. In fact, she has said that it was seeing Lebanese belly dancers perform when she was a child that made her want to be a star.

After seeing her halftime show, Lebanese Twitter user Danny Hajjar said, “You really have to understand how huge Shakira’s performance was for the Middle Eastern community. She had belly dancing, a mijwiz and a derbeke, performed ‘Ojos Asi’ which was one of the few Shakira songs to have Arabic in it, did a Zaghrouta, all love on the biggest stage.”

The halftime show saw her perform her biggest hits including She Wolf and Wherever, Whenever, while J-Lo performed Jenny from the Block, Love Don't Cost a Thing and Get Right. Fellow Latino star J Balvin also made a guest appearance, and they used the end of the performance to make a powerful political statement. During a medley of Waka Waka (This Time For Africa) and Let's Get Loud, dozens of young singers, including Lopez's 11-year-old daughter Emme, appeared onstage and in the field in circular cages, prompting many to see the moment as a statement about families being separated due to the US's border crisis.

If that wasn't symbolic enough, J-Lo closed the performance by draping herself in a Puerto Rican flag while singing Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA.