Shakira – Zoo (From Zootopia 2)

Ed Sheeran And Blake Slatkin Are Now Sheep

Released on October 10, 2025, Shakira’s “Zoo” marks her return to the world of Zootopia nine years after her breakout Disney hit. The pop star reprises her role as Gazelle, the animal metropolis’s biggest celebrity, and delivers another original song for Walt Disney Animation Studios. Co-written by Shakira alongside Ed Sheeran and hitmaker Blake Slatkin, the track dropped as a digital single through Walt Disney Records with production from Slatkin, Alex Castillo, Shakira, and Sheeran. Here’s the twist nobody saw coming: both Sheeran and Slatkin wanted in on the movie so badly they convinced directors Jared Bush and Byron Howard to write them into the film. Now they voice sheep characters named Ed Shearin and Baalake Lambkin. Yes, really.

Disney positioned “Zoo” as the signature song for the sequel, which hits theaters November 26, 2025. The full soundtrack featuring Michael Giacchino’s score launches November 21. The studio gave the single a collector’s edition release on purple translucent glitter vinyl, banking on the same audience that made the first film’s soundtrack a commercial juggernaut. SiriusXM’s Disney Hits channel premiered the track on October 8, playing it every hour before the worldwide digital release two days later. The strategy mirrors how Disney rolled out the original film’s song nine years earlier, but this time they’re chasing an even bigger number: 2.7 billion streams, which is exactly what the first song accumulated since 2016.

Shakira originally recorded another song for the first Zootopia back in 2013, but that version never made the final cut. Australian singer Sia and production duo Stargate wrote what became the eventual hit, and Shakira recorded it for the 2016 release. That song peaked at number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100 with 33,000 digital downloads and three million US streams in its first week. The wild part? Fifth Harmony recorded it first in 2013 for their debut EP before Disney scrapped it and handed it to Shakira. The track appeared whenever Judy Hopps played it on her MP3 player and during the end credits when Gazelle performed for Zootopia’s citizens. It became exactly what Disney hoped for: a cross-generational earworm that parents didn’t mind hearing on repeat.

The recording sessions for “Zoo” brought together three major songwriting forces who’d never collaborated before. Sheeran’s acoustic sensibility blended with Slatkin’s modern pop production and Shakira’s Latin-influenced rhythms created something designed to work both in the film and on streaming playlists. Director Hannah Lux Davis shot the hybrid music video combining live performance with animated footage, filming Shakira in multiple Gazelle-inspired looks. The video weaves through key locations from the sequel including the Zootenial Gala celebrating the city’s 100th anniversary, the Zootopia Express approaching the metropolis, and a steep cliffside where Shakira scales rocks alongside animated characters Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde. The approach mirrors the first film’s video, which mixed studio footage of Shakira with movie scenes.

“Zoo” anchors Zootopia 2: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, which features 24 tracks total including Giacchino’s orchestral score. The sequel reunites directors Bush and Howard with producer Yvett Merino, following their Oscar win for the 2016 original. New voice cast additions include Ke Huy Quan as mysterious pit viper Gary De’Snake, Quinta Brunson as therapy quokka Dr. Fuzzby, Fortune Feimster as oddball beaver Nibbles Maplestick, Andy Samberg, Macaulay Culkin, Brenda Song, and David Strathairn as the prominent Lynxley family. Returning voices include Ginnifer Goodwin as Judy Hopps, Jason Bateman as Nick Wilde, Idris Elba as Chief Bogo, and Nate Torrence as receptionist Clawhauser. Shakira told Good Morning America back in 2016 that she changed her character’s design, demanding the animators add curves because the original Gazelle was too skinny and fit. They gave her bigger hips, different eye color, and more eyelashes.

The first film’s success created impossible expectations for any follow-up song. That track racked up over 140,000 downloads, 90 million Spotify streams in its first months, and the music video hit 70 million YouTube views almost immediately. Home Free’s a cappella cover added another 8.5 million YouTube views, and South Korean group Purple Kiss covered it in 2020. The song became so ubiquitous that it transcended the film itself, playing at schools, youth sports events, and motivational contexts worldwide. Shakira’s YouTube strength in Latin America particularly drove those numbers, as she’s accumulated nearly 45 billion views across her entire catalog. Her 2017 album era featuring tracks like Chantaje and La Bicicleta generated 9 billion YouTube views alone, making her one of the platform’s most-watched artists globally.

What makes “Zoo” work is how it doesn’t try to be the same message wrapped in different packaging. Where the first song emphasized perseverance and trying despite failure, this one pushes pure joy and letting loose. The shift matches Shakira’s own evolution as an artist, from the calculated crossover attempts of the early 2000s to her current confidence balancing English pop with Spanish reggaeton bangers. Her ability to code-switch between markets while maintaining authenticity makes her the perfect voice for a franchise about a diverse animal city learning to coexist. And if Ed Sheeran and Blake Slatkin wanted to be animated sheep badly enough to write themselves into the script, who’s going to stop them? Sometimes the best collaborations happen when everyone’s having too much fun to care about looking cool.