Weird robots have been discovered in the thumbnails for several Shakira music videos, and if this is part of some bizarre marketing campaign, you’ve really got to hand it to her.

An eagle-eyed fan shared the strange find on Reddit: the thumbnail for the Colombian singer’s ‘Waka Waka (This Time fr Africa)’ music video seems normal at first, but a closer look reveals a robot hanging out in the background.

That wasn’t the only Shakira thumbnail to feature a robot, with other ones swiftly being spotted in thumbnails for ‘Hips Don’t Lie’, “GIRL LIKE ME’, and more.

Seriously, what is going on? At the time of writing, neither Shakira nor Vevo has publicly commented on the matter, but that hasn’t stopped fans from speculating wildly.

Some think that the mysterious robots signal a potential NFT collaboration from the pop icon; others suggest that it’s proof that Shakira is entering her “electropop” era, and the robots are simply heralding a new chapter of her musical career. Even stranger would be if there’s some form of the “Mandela effect” happening here, and the weird robots have always been in Shakira’s videos.

Other fans expressed concern that the singer’s account had been hacked, which isn’t that outlandish considering artists like Eminem and Drake had their YouTube accounts hacked just last week. The list of those affected was even longer, with Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Lil Nas X, and Harry Styles also subjected to hacking. Although Shakira didn’t confirm if she was hacked at the time, it’s entirely plausible that she was also one of the victims.

We’ve become accustomed as music fans to bizarre marketing strategies in recent times but if the new Shakira strategy to have weird robots lurk in the background of her music video thumbnails is intentional, it’s up there with the most ridiculous.

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